TAMPA, Fla. — When Ron DeSantis took the inauguration stage for the first time in 2019, he didn’t sound like a national conservative leader on education policy.
Far from scorching pronouncements about critical race theory or transgender athletes, DeSantis delivered standard-issue Republican talking points about vocational training, expansion of school vouchers and the importance of civics education.
By his second inauguration in January, DeSantis’ tone had changed. Children were to be defended from “those who seek to rob them of their innocence,” he said. Colleges and universities must be safeguarded from “the imposition of trendy ideology.”
