The College Board is hitting back at top officials in Florida over the state's ban on a new AP African American Studies course that's being piloted in several states.

In a lengthy statement released Saturday, the national education nonprofit said it should have more quickly addressed claims by Florida's Department of Education that the course was indoctrinating students and lacked educational value, which the College Board called "slander."

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The organization also said that Florida's public and private objections had no bearing on changes the College Board made to the final curriculum of the course, which it released earlier this month.

"Florida is attempting to claim a political victory by taking credit retroactively for changes we ourselves made but that they never suggested to us," the College Board said in a statement.

"While it has been claimed that the College Board was in frequent dialogue with Florida about the content of AP African American Studies, this is a false and politically motivated charge," the statement said. "We had no negotiations about the content of this course with Florida or any other state, nor did we receive any requests, suggestions, or feedback."