What your children read and learn in textbooks could change beginning July 1 if new legislation is passed.
And that concerns members of AWAKE Volusia, a grassroots group that is fighting not to give local school districts the right to change the information in textbooks -- including religion-related changes.
The group protested Monday afternoon at the intersection of Nova Road and International Speedway Boulevard, in Volusia County. About 20 people showed up for the protest.
AWAKE Volusia argues that the new legislation would allow each district to insert ideological and political views into public schools. This could eliminate textbooks that teach about Islam, evolution, or anything that someone believes isn't true.
However, the bill's co-sponsor, Rep. Matt Gaetz, from Fort Walton Beach, lists the bill as something that would give more power to the individual school districts and the right to use allocated money each year to purchase certain digital or electronic instructional materials.
Emily Averetts, of AWAKE Volusia, said evolution is a theory that has been taught over and over. It's a subject all students should learn, Averetts said.
"If you're not being taught that evolution exists ... maybe your parents aren't going to teach you,” Averetts said. “And then you go to college and take a college course, and they go over this ... and people already know what they’re talking about, and you're sitting there lost, looking at the person next to you."
The Florida Department of Education said it wouldn't be appropriate to comment on pending legislation but that individual districts already have wide latitude in choosing their own textbooks.
The bill is currently on the table in the House.