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Miami — A nonprofit based in Polk County announced Tuesday that it has reached a settlement with the MiamiDade County School Board to ensure that the board follows Florida’s Sunshine Law in the process of adopting instructional materials.

Florida’s public meetings law, Section 286.011, commonly called the Sunshine Law, provides citizens a right of access to governmental proceedings at the state and local levels.

In an October 2022 lawsuit, Citizens Defending Freedom (CDF) claimed that the Miami-Dade School Board was in violation of the Sunshine Law after the board allegedly delegated the selection of the school district’s human reproduction and disease education curriculum to hand-selected committees, which met privately to review the materials.

Later, the school board allegedly ratified the privately made decisions by those committees.

As part of the settlement, the school board does not admit fault or wrongdoing for its past actions but acknowledges that its instructional review committees will meet according to Florida’s Sunshine Law moving forward.

“Miami-Dade County CDF will continue to provide oversight to ensure the Miami-Dade School Board will continue to follow Florida’s Sunshine Law,” said Isabella Rodriguez, the executive director for Miami-Dade County Citizens Defending Freedom.