We need legislators that will promote public education consistent with the Florida Constitution

What’s the deal with the State Legislators promoting charters? Is the end goal to privatize education? Let’s posit that there is a place in our education system for charter schools. Shouldn’t the local school board decide which funds should be spent in the neighborhoods? The school board is made up of elected officials from our community. They know the community. For example, taxpayers shouldn’t be paying a lease to a for-profit entity (that a state legislator is personally profiting from) while a school building is standing in need of repair. The local school board (instead of state legislators) is better equipped to make decisions about allocating funds within our community for new school buildings, repair of school buildings and/or leases for charter school buildings.

School choice (at this time) means giving taxpayer money to under-regulated charter schools and to private schools via vouchers. “Charter schools are freed from many of the regulations that govern traditional public schools” is a quote from the Duval County Public School website. That wording troubles me. I would prefer that the website be clearer by saying : Our legislators do not require charter schools to follow the regulations that they have imposed on our neighborhood schools.

If the regulations are valuable, then why aren’t the charter schools required to follow them? If the regulations are not valuable, then why are they being imposed on our neighborhood schools by our legislators?

My guess is that most citizens would NOT want HB 7069 and SB 436 if they understood them. Am I wrong?

Thanks Richard Birdsall for these links explaining HB 7069.
A complete listing of what HB 7069 does from the Florida School Board Association: https://fsba.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/FSBA-Summary-of-HB-7069.pdf

A short interpretive analysis by the Florida PTA:
https://floridapta.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/White-paper-on-HB-7069.pdf

Valerie Strauss of WaPo’s “Answer Sheet” gives a high level political view of the issues surrounding HB 7069: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/05/31/its-hard-to-overstate-how-much-critics-hate-floridas-scam-education-bill-will-the-governor-veto-it/

Jason Fischer and Aaron Bean voted for HB 7069 so they want the state legislators to decide which charter schools are in our communities rather than letting the local elected school board make that decision. How can HB 7069 be constitutional based on Section 4 (b) of Article IX of Florida’s Constitution? Here is what 4 (b) says:

The school board shall operate, control and supervise all free public schools within the school district and determine the rate of school district taxes within the limits prescribed herein.

Florida’s Constitution Article IX Section 4 (b) seems a great idea to me. The school board can best determine what charter schools are needed in their district. And the voters can vote school board members in or out IF we don’t feel they are making good decisions for our city.

Paraphrased from an ARTICLE about the race between Kimberly Daniels and Paula Wright: Daniels said that people voted for her because they want
1. prayers said out loud at the podium at public school events
2. teachers to be able to proselytize their own religion at the public school
3. taxpayers to fund unregulated charter schools
4. to give taxpayer funds to private schools.

Were those the reasons people voted for Kimberly Daniels instead of Paula Wright? My guess is NO! My guess is that it was something in those flyers (funded by Republican PACs) and NOT that voters supported bills like SB 436 . My guess is that most people want their religion taught at home and at their religious institutions and NOT at the public school. The public schools include people from a variety of religions as well as the non-religious. This is the essence of SB 436 that Daniels and Bean and Fischer voted YES on:

Public schools (but not charter schools) must allow prayers said out loud at the podium at school events, and teachers must be allowed to proselytize their own religion at the school

Quote from this ARTICLE:

SB 436 will create a legal quagmire, as well as divisive consequences for Florida’s public schools. Our public schools are in no way devoid of religion. The First Amendment and federal law already provide students with the right to privately pray alone or in groups during non-curricular time, as well as pray to themselves at any time

The League of Women Voters have SUGGESTIONS for regulations for charter schools that will help prevent some of the abuses. Integrity Florida also has SUGGESTIONS

We need legislators that are willing to incorporate those ideas into the laws that allow funding of charter schools. Even one of the promoters of charter schools is now calling for more regulation. You can read about that at this LINK

Jason Fischer and Aaron Bean are the reps for my district. They (like Kimberly Daniels) voted YES on SB 436 and HB 989. Fischer and Bean voted YES on HB 7069 while Daniels didn’t vote on that one. Is not voting as bad as voting YES if the end result is to let the bill pass?

Kimberly Daniels, Jason Fischer, and Aaron Bean also voted yes on HB 989. If HB 989 is a good idea, then why doesn’t it apply to any school that receives taxpayer funds? HB 989 doesn’t apply to charter schools or private schools that receive taxpayer money. Why not? HB 989 is about allowing the community to debate what books are used to teach the curriculum in the school.

public education