• “Public education belongs to all of us, including the parents
  who choose to send their students to neighborhood public
  schools. For decades, politicians in Tallahassee have turned their backs on our neighborhood schools and grossly underfunded public education. We need tough leaders who will resist special interests and fund the public schools that will educate our workforce and drive our economy forward inthe future.”

• The 2022-23 Florida budget grew by 10.4%, but per pupil education funding grew by only 4.96%; why didn’t public education get a full slice of the larger pie?

• In inflation adjusted dollars, 2022-23 education budget is 13% less than Florida’s 2007-08 budget.

• Since 2011, Florida teacher pay has decreased by 7.4% in inflation adjusted dollars – the worst in the nation.

• Even with so called “record levels of funding,” Florida’s per pupil spending is 33% lower than national average.

• “CRT doesn’t happen in K12, and we do NOT support
  teaching it in K12. However, we support teaching our full
  history and lived experiences that have happened.”

• “You have to know history before you can move forward.”

• “I love America and think it’s the greatest country ever. But
  I think we can make America even better if we take an
  honest look at our history and learn from our mistakes – the same way great sports teams always want to get better.”

• https://youtu.be/wcQ6CNBNHt8

• “We want students to grow up free from the fear that someone will come to school and shoot up their classroom and friends. Adults are responsible for protecting all of our students by keeping firearms and other weapons out of the hands of children.”

• “The "Don't Say Gay" bill deliberately combines
  broad and vague language with the ability to sue
  school districts. This will result in unnecessary
  investigations and lawsuits that will financially
  burden our local school districts and divide our
  students, families, teachers, and schools. It is
  another attack on public education, and
  communities across Florida will not stand for that.

• Let's make this clear: DPECF does NOT
  support sexualizing children of any age. We do NOT
  support curriculum or classroom instruction on
  sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten
  through 3rd grade. However, we do support
  providing ALL students and families, including those
  in the LGBTQ+ community, a welcoming and safe
  place to learn and thrive.”

“There is no threat to students from transgender students who use the bathroom and locker rooms that align with their consistently expressed gender. Anyone suggesting otherwise is looking to divide students from each other for personal political gain. However, there is a significant chance that high school students will be sexually assaulted or raped. In the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), 10.3% of female Florida high school students reported being physically forced to have sexual intercourse when they did not want to in the past year. Let’s unite to solve this real problem so our children can grow up free from fear of sexual assault.”

“We want to have a wide variety of book choices available for our students. Instead of banning books from libraries, we trust that families will make the right choice for themselves. What may be unacceptable to one family is acceptable to another. Just as most parents give students the freedom to use the internet, we should give students the same freedom to read
– or ignore – books in our school libraries.”

• “We support parental choice, especially for the 90+% of parents who choose public schools over charters or voucher schools, as well as the parents of ESE students who rely on public schools for critical services.”

• “Most students with disabilities depend on public schools to receive occupational, physical, and speech therapies, as well as other medical care and assistive technology. We need to fund these critical programs.”

• “The Gardiner and McKay scholarships that used to be dedicated to ESE students have been replaced by a woeful managed program no longer dedicated to their original purpose and more likely to exclude vulnerable students.”

• “We respect parents’ right to know what’s best for their students. The number one indicator for student success is parental involvement. The best way to get parents involved is to give teachers, counselors, school administrators enough time to have a meaningful dialogue with each family. When educators are overworked due to shortages,
  communication with parents naturally suffers.”

• “We support responsible charter schools that provide educational services to underserved student populations. We oppose for-profit charter schools that seek to monetize our children by turning public education into an ATM for rich people. Local school boards should approve and renew/terminate the charter schools in their districts and should not be forced to share locally generated revenue.”

• “Public education builds our shared sense of community and country. It also prepares our children mentally and
  socially to become the workforce that will drive our economy forward in the future. Even if you haven’t started a family, or if your children are grown, public education is critical for the community you live in.”

• “We must treat teachers as the professionals they are and pay them as such. Florida should not have the 17th largest
  economy in the world yet be in the bottom five states in teacher pay. Even more importantly, we must support teachers with affordable benefits and more time to teach
  their students. If Florida does not pay and treat their teachers better now, there will be a drastic teacher shortage over the next five to ten years.”

• “Over 85% of Floridians want to keep politics out of public education. That’s why we think that school board races
  should be non-partisan, and it’s also why those same local elected school boards – not unelected and unaccountable state officials – should be empowered to make decisions about our children.”