Florida clarifies AP psychology can be taught after confusion

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida is allowing schools to offer the College Board’s Advance Placement psychology course after Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. late Wednesday confirmed to superintendents that the class at the center of controversy can be “taught consistent” with state laws.

The guidance from Florida’s top education official, the second such memo in the last few days, is meant to clarify confusion set off when the College Board last week claimed the psychology course was “effectively banned” in the state due to its laws restricting K-12 lessons on sexual identity and gender orientation. Several school districts, however, already moved on from the class amid the uncertainty and are instead offering different psychology options when school starts as soon as Thursday for some counties.

“I believe I was clear in my previous letter, but I want to make sure there is no room for misinterpretation,” Diaz wrote in a letter to school leaders Wednesday. “It is the Department of Education’s stance that the learning target … ‘Describe how sex and gender influence socialization and other aspects of development,’ … can be taught consistent with Florida law.”

The latest letter from Diaz could put an end to a saga prompted by Florida education officials pressing the College Board in May about whether the nonprofit’s courses fell in line with state rules prohibiting most lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools. The nonprofit at the time pushed back on Florida’s attempt to influence lessons under the guise of parental rights law, referred to as “Don’t Say Gay” by critics.

The College Board’s claims that the course was banned sent some schools scrambling to find replacements last week while others were left weighing their options with mere days before classes start.

To illustrate how quickly things changed in Florida, officials schools with Palm Beach County School District announced Wednesday that local campuses will offer AP psychology just one day after apologizing for axing the course.

"If there was a way we could teach this course and not have our teachers get arrested, we would do it in a second," Mike Burke, Palm Beach’s school chief, said Tuesday morning at a back-to-school breakfast, as reported by the Palm Beach Post, before the district reversed course.

Some school districts quickly dropped AP psychology and instead are offering Cambridge Advanced International Certificate of Education, or AICE, and International Baccalaureate programs. One district — Pinellas — ordered new AICE textbooks the same day it was announced the AP course could be disallowed.

But other districts trudged forward with the AP course, even before Diaz clarified the state’s stance on Wednesday. Broward County, as one example, is asking parents to “opt in” for students to take the course. Schools in Leon County, meanwhile, are moving ahead without such a designation.

“I have communicated to our staff to respect the law and follow the law, but not to fear the law and do more than it requires,” Leon County Schools Superintendent Rocky Hanna said in a statement Tuesday.