DeSantis mulls axing AP courses amid row with College Board over African American history course

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is mulling a plan to replace Advanced Placement (AP) courses in the state's curriculum amid a row over state law with the College Board, which determines the content of that curriculum.

DeSantis and the College Board clashed last month over the inclusion of certain materials in the AP African American studies course that the state Board of Education determined to violate Florida law. The state bars the teaching of Critical Race Theory and limits discussion of sexuality with younger students.

DeSantis, on Monday, noted that the College Board is an independent organization lacking compulsory authority and suggested that other groups might serve the same function just as well.

"This College Board, like, nobody elected them to anything. They're just kind of there, and they're providing service," he said at a press conference, according to The Hill. "So you can either utilize those services or not. And they've provided these AP courses for a long time, but, you know, there are probably some other vendors who may be able to do that job as good or maybe even a lot better."

The College Board previously revised some of the CRT and sexual elements of the curriculum in the aftermath of the Florida education board's determinations, but has denied being influenced by Tallahassee.

DeSantis has rebuffed criticisms of response to the course, saying that the College Board initiated the controversy by planting controversial elements in its course material.

"The College Board was the one that in a Black studies course, put queer theory in. Not us," the governor said, per the outlet. "They were the ones that put in intersectionality, other types of neo-Marxism into the proposed syllabus, and this was the proposed course. So our Department of Education looked at that and said, 'In Florida, we do education, not indoctrination,' and so that runs afoul of our standards."

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.