Jason Brodeur, left, was among pro-education choice candidates who prevailed in Tuesday’s primary election. Brodeur, whose mother was an elementary school teacher for more than 20 years, has voted multiple times to raise teacher salaries, expand vocational and technical training opportunities for students, and introduce financial literacy courses.
The American Federation for Children, the nation’s voice for educational choice, congratulates all the Florida candidates supported by the Florida Federation for Children PAC during Tuesday’s primary election.
The Florida Federation for Children PAC invested more than $500,000 in state races to support school choice proponents during the 2022 primary.
Long heralded as the “North Star” for school choice programs, Florida has continued to set the standard nationally for bipartisan support of ensuring families have the right to choose the best education options for their children.
“This fall, over a half million Florida students will attend charter schools or attend private schools on state scholarship programs,” wrote John Kirtley, co-chairman, American Federation for Children-Florida, in a prepared statement. “Thousands more will attend district-run schools of choice.
“I am thrilled that parents across the political spectrum are letting their elected officials know that educational freedom is a top issue at the ballot box, and they expect their elected officials to reflect their interests in the state legislature.”
The following successful candidates were supported by the Florida Federation for Children PAC:
Jason Brodeur – SD 10
Gallop Franklin – HD 8
Kim Daniels – HD 40
Lisa Ann-Marie Dunkley – HD 97
AFC would like to make a special acknowledgment to Democratic House candidates James Bush and Wengay Newton. Though they were not victorious, for years they were champions of low-income families in their districts who had or wanted educational freedom.
They both fought for this right against great pressure. AFC salutes them.
McCurry
In an American political system ripped apart by partisanship, the school choice movement stands out as a rare example of centrism, former White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry said Tuesday. But the movement can build even better bridges if it eases up on the name calling and finger pointing, he continued.
“We cannot demonize our opponents,” McCurry told several hundred people at the American Federation for Children summit in Washington D.C. “I hear too often, as I do the work I do at (the Children’s Scholarship Fund), hear people talk about teachers unions in a way that’s frankly ugly. Those people love our children just as much as anyone in this room. They happen to be particularly wrongheaded about the way … to improve their lives. But it’s not because they are ill motivated.”
“We need to recognize that, and have compassion for the people on the other side,” he continued. “Not everything needs to be mud wrestling on CNN with people calling each other names. … We’ve got to nurture the better angels on that side and understand where they’re coming from.”
McCurry worked for liberal Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (himself a strong school choice supporter) early in his career and later for President Bill Clinton. He serves on the board of the Children’s Scholarship Fund, which provides privately funded scholarships for low-income students in grades K-8.
The school choice movement’s appeal to all points on the political spectrum is a source of pride, McCurry said. The movement needs to continue doing the hard work of making the center hold, of putting aside differences on other issues to find common ground on kids and education. He suggested it might even model good behavior in other realms. (more…)
These folks were among those who attended the school choice rally in Tally earlier this month.
It’s true: ALEC likes school choice. Walton likes school choice. Jeb Bush likes school choice. Some of the folks who like school choice even say bad things about traditional public schools and teachers unions.
But this is true too: President Barack Obama is a fan of charter schools. Former President Bill Clinton is ga-ga about KIPP. Liberal lions like Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Hubert Humphrey supported public funding for private options.
More importantly, this is true: Growing numbers of parents and politicians of all stripes like school choice. Many don’t bash public schools or teachers unions. Many could care less who the Koch Brothers are.
I know this is obvious to anybody who’s managed to take a peek beneath the surface of the choice debate. But at this time of year, with state legislatures in Florida and elsewhere in session, complexity is not a common commodity. Anything having to do with school choice is sealed into a boilerplate narrative about for-profit this and right-wing that. This year in Florida, the privatization label has even surfaced in stories about student data and IEPs for students with disabilities.
It’s different in the real world. Out here, parents are flocking to new learning options for the most personal of reasons: the success of their kids. (more…)
Florida reforms make an impression. They’re a model for other states and influenced the Obama administration, writes The Guardian.
Still working. A teacher who lost his job in the Pasco school district after sending inappropriate text messages to a female student lands in the Hillsborough district, where he has been put on leave for undisclosed reasons, the Tampa Bay Times reports.
More outrage over Orange County charter school. Tampa Bay Times columnist John Romano links the $500,000 payment to a failing charter schools’ principal to other issues with charters and suggests state leaders are hypocrites and fools for not offering more oversight. Charter school supporters are also upset by what happened, redefinED reports.
Revisit new teacher evals. Editorializes the Tampa Bay Times.
Rick Scott’s ed plan has merit. Editorializes the Daytona Beach New Journal.
School choice politics. Surfaces over a school board election flyer in Duval County (Florida Times Union), in a key state senate race in South Florida (South Florida Sun-Sentinel), in this piece about campaign spending by education interest groups (Orlando Sentinel).
School board splits on public school choice in Lee County. From Fox 4.
Florida’s teachers unions among the weakest. According to a new report from the Fordham Institute.
Four prominent elected Democrats in Colorado - Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia, Denver Mayor Mike Hancock, U.S. Rep. Jared Polis and state senator Michael Johnston - felt strongly enough about the power of school choice to pen an op-ed this week for The Hill's Congress blog. Here's a taste:
In Colorado, school choice has appropriately always enjoyed support from both Democrats and Republicans. Nationally, choice has too often been divisive, with some Republicans using choice as a wedge issue to deconstruct the Federal role in education, while other Democrats have resisted change in any form in an attempt to preserve the status quo. But in Colorado, the emergence of elected Democrats independent from legacy policies and willing to form broad coalitions has reframed the debate on education reform.
School choice appeals to the best instincts of both political parties. It allows Democrats to adhere to their core principals of equality and opportunity – so that a student’s zip code does not determine the quality of their education. It allows Republicans to introduce moderate – and managed – market dynamics and the beginnings of limited competition in the public school sector.
