SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. — On Monday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a divisive bill that limits classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in schools across the state.
The governor signed HB 1557 at Classical Preparatory School in Spring Hill.
The legislation, officially called the "Parental Rights in Education" bill, has been dubbed by critics as the "Don't Say Gay" bill because it bars educators from teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity to students in kindergarten through third grade. School districts may opt to ban topics of sexual orientation or gender identity beyond third grade if leaders deem them not to be age or developmentally appropriate.
"In Florida, we will make sure that parents can send their kids to school to get an education, not an indoctrination," DeSantis said during the news conference.
The governor specifically called out six school districts in the state that he said had policies on the books denying parental notification on certain issues, including Hillsborough and Sarasota.
"We found at least six school districts that had policies to cut parents out of decisions regarding their child’s wellbeing and to shield them from knowing about various forms of mental health services," DeSantis said at the news conference.
10 Tampa Bay obtained those guidelines from the Sarasota and Hillsborough County school districts.
Spokespeople with both districts emphasized the documents are guidelines and not policies.
Sarasota school board member Bridget Ziegler opposed the guidelines when they were first introduced in 2018, specifically the section which encouraged educators to use pronouns preferred by the student.
"The provision that it’s up to the student and student alone to determine what pronoun or facility they want to use," explained Ziegler adding, "We are a government body and that’s the government citing they know better than parents."
Some advocates for LGBTQ youth say it's about giving young people a safe place.
"In an ideal world, we want parents to be clued in and supportive of their children and oftentimes, parents aren’t," said Ryan Thoreson, a researcher with Human Rights Watch.
Thoreson says educators are often paranoid to address any LGBTQ-related topic because most of the laws are vague and teachers don't know where the line is.
When 10 Tampa Bay started asking questions about Sarasota's Gender Diverse Student Guidelines, a district spokesperson notified us that the guidelines had been updated. Now, staff is advised to use a student's preferred pronouns with parents' consent.
Some language in the legislation still leaves room for interpretation about what topics can be talked about and at which grade level. The Florida Department of Education is expected to issue more concrete guidelines in the coming months.
"It’s a great opportunity for the department to make clear guidelines and guardrails for teachers and I think teachers will be happy for it," said Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran.