Hillsborough and Pinellas schools will not be using new PragerU Kids materials for upcoming academic year

Last week, Florida's Department of Education announced the approval of  “supplemental teaching materials" from PragerU, an unaccredited, far-right institution with a history of "downplaying systemic racism and promoting anti-immigrant theories."

In the announcement, state education officials maintained that the new K-12 curriculum from "PragerU Kids," aligns with the Florida's "revised civics and government standards” and "can be used by school districts at their discretion."

In a press release, PragerU celebrated the approval and said it plans to bring the new curriculum to every classroom around the country, because "thousands of American teachers and school board members" have contacted them "desperate for wholesome, quality, engaging resources to help educate their students.”

"They are sick and tired of curriculum laced with radical political agendas—from Critical Race Theory and gender fluidity to overt anti-Americanism," said the release. "PragerU is answering this call to serve our great nation on the most important front—the education of America’s youth."

However, a spokesperson for Hillsborough County Public Schools told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that PragerU Kids will not be in classrooms this fall. "It is not part of any of our curriculum nor does the district have any plans to purchase it," said HCPS Chief of Communications Tanya Arja in an email.

Pinellas County Schools also won't use PragerU in the 2023-24 academic year.

"The district has no plans of adding these resources to our curriculum,' said PCS Public Information Officer Isabel Mascareñas to CL. "Though the DOE has approved these materials, school districts retain the option of using them or not."

While PragerU's content has been incorporated by some private schools and homeschool curriculums over the years, Florida is the first state to officially accept and legitimize the institution.

Founded in 2009 by conservative talk show host Dennis Prager, PragerU is not actually a university and therefore does not issue degrees.
As Miami New Times pointed out, the (503) non-profit instead focuses on short videos hosted by names like Ben Shapiro, Candace Owens and Charlie Kirk, that highlight conservative issues like  "there is no gender wage gap",  and "the nuclear waste problem is a myth" and "Blacks in Power Don't Empower Blacks."

PragerU Kids is also unapologetically "non-woke."

"PragerU effectively counters the left-wing propaganda they are pushing on children,” said PragerU in a press release. "They don’t want children to be exposed to an education grounded in our nation’s founding principles and traditional values that inspires self-reliance, gratitude, and a love of America."

On Monday, the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), asked the state education department to "clarify and reject any relationship between the Islamophobic Prager University and Florida schools."

"Florida can do better by its students than serving them hate content from PragerU," said CAIR-Florida Executive Director Imam Abdullah Jaber in a press release. “PragerU’s founder was rebuked by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council for making an Islamophobic remark and that’s just the tip of the iceberg."

The group went on to cite a study from the Georgetown University Bridge Initiative, which claimed that "a number of PragerU’s videos spread anti-Muslim rhetoric and conspiracy theories." 

The study specifically took issue with videos like “Is Islam a Religion of Peace?” and “Where are the Moderate Muslims?”

Florida's recognition of PragerU comes after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the 2022 "Stop W.O.K.E. Act," which essentially bans schools from teaching about systemic racism, and most recently after the state approved standards requiring middle school students to learn how slavery taught slaves skills "that could be used for personal benefit."

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