'Social-emotional Learning' language revised in next year's budget by Sarasota County School Board
SARASOTA, Fla. - The Sarasota County School Board approved next year’s tentative budget.
Board members made sure the budget was up to the state’s standard after Governor Ron DeSantis banned what’s called "Social-emotional Learning" (SEL), which was part of curriculum for years to help students understand and manage emotions, set and achieve goals, feel and show empathy toward others, maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.
School board members had to adjust the language that was in next year's budget to meet new standards.
Governor DeSantis has said it’s part of an unacceptable liberal agenda, and forced districts statewide to make changes.
"I do believe that it’s deeply entrenched a lot more than people recognize into our instructional material and professional development because it has been the practice for so long," said Bridget Ziegler, the school board chair.
When next year’s budget was initially drafted, language from older budgets was used automatically, including SEL-type programs. That raised some eyebrows.
Some parents say changing the language isn't enough.
"The budgeting software produced a report that summarized all of the goals and strategy numbers and the wording was based on the original draft language from 2021," said Superintendent Tom Connor.
READ: How parents can prepare for their kids to head back to school
He says staff worked to revise the language in order for the new budget to align with the state’s new rules. Some board members and parents argue "changing the language" isn’t good enough.
"I’m sorry, you can call it whatever you want, you can call it resiliency, you can call it life skills, you can call it whatever you want, but it is still social emotional learning, and it takes away from the education process," said a parent during the public comment portion of the budget meeting.
The board says it will continue working to focus on core learning objective like reading, math, and science.