DeSantis kicks off feud over College Board's AP psych class

The College Board has rejected changing a high school Advanced Placement psychology course's lessons on gender and sexual orientation, in a direct challenge to Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration that could reignite conflict between the education giant and the presidential hopeful.

Florida school districts had raised questions about an AP Psychology “learning objective” that covers gender and sexual orientation, the College Board acknowledged Thursday, after the DeSantis administration expanded restrictions and regulations on classroom instruction in April.

But the college admissions nonprofit suggested it would hold its ground after a separate scrap with DeSantis entangled its planned African American Studies course in political controversy this spring. It is unclear whether Florida will now block the AP psychology course from classrooms, the College Board told educators.

“Please know that we will not modify our courses to accommodate restrictions on teaching essential, college-level topics,” the board said Thursday in a letter about the psychology course to Florida’s education department. “Doing so would break the fundamental promise of AP: colleges wouldn’t broadly accept that course for credit and that course wouldn’t prepare students for success in the discipline.”

The latest fracas between Florida and the College Board stems from a recently revamped state rule that expands legislation — panned as the “Don’t Say Gay” law by its critics — to restrict classroom instruction on sexual orientation or sexual identity to all K-12 students, instead of targeting only lessons for children in kindergarten through grade 3.

On May 19, Florida’s education department pressed the College Board to review all of its courses to determine if any “need modification to ensure compliance” with Florida laws and regulations by this week. “Some courses may contain content or topics prohibited by State Board of Education rule and Florida law,” the state wrote to the board in a letter obtained by POLITICO.

The College Board retorted that its psychology lessons should remain unchanged, signaling a shift in how it will address Florida’s legal demands following this year’s battle over its proposed African American Studies course.

“The learning objective within AP Psychology that covers gender and sexual orientation has specifically been raised by some Florida districts relative to these recent regulations,” the board wrote to Florida officials. “That learning objective must remain a required topic, just as it has been in Florida since the launch of AP Psychology more than 30 years ago.”

Cassie Palelis, press secretary for the Florida Department of Education, said Thursday that the College Board is responsible for ensuring that their submitted materials comply with Florida law.

“We applaud the College Board for standing up to the state of Florida and its unconscionable demand to censor an educational curriculum and test that were designed by college faculty and experienced AP teachers who ensure that the course and exam reflect the state of the science and college-level expectations,” American Psychological Association CEO Arthur Evans Jr. said in a statement.

Florida’s objections to the AP African American studies course angered many Black leaders nationwide, leading some to accuse DeSantis of stoking a cultural fight to boost his presidential aspirations. Hundreds of people, including Black lawmakers and clergy, demonstrated against the DeSantis administration in February and civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump threatened a lawsuit over the governor’s rejection of the course.

“We don’t know if the state of Florida will ban this course," the College Board said of AP Psychology in a message to educators and schools. “To AP teachers in Florida, we are heartbroken by the possibility of Florida students being denied the opportunity to participate in this or any other AP course."

The College Board also had a message for all educators: “Please know we will not modify any of the 40 AP courses — from art to history to science — in response to regulations that would censor college-level standards for credit, placement, and career readiness,” the board said. “We are resolute in this position, in part, because of what we learned from our mistakes in the recent rollout of AP African American Studies.

Florida is creating its own high-level courses and exams to rival the nationally recognized AP courses. State lawmakers earlier this year agreed to spend a combined $2.8 million developing a homegrown program and, in another challenge to the College Board, paved the way for students to use the Classic Learning Test, or CLT, as an alternative to the SAT and ACT.

Bianca Quilantan contributed to this report.