Florida has been a busy place lately. Sue Kingery Woltanski offers a sundown on the latest developments in education. Reposted with permission.
Corporate charter chains are lining up to collocate in our public schools. “Schools of Hope” charter operators are scrambling to be the first to collocate in underutilized district-managed schools. Language, slipped into the June budget conforming bill, quietly redefined “persistently low-performing school” to include even ‘A’-rated schools, giving eligible charter chains the right to move in rent-free while districts cover essentials like food service and transportation. More than 600 public schools have been targeted so far, including brand-new schools deemed “under-enrolled” simply because they haven’t opened yet.
Voucher audit exposes massive financial failures. Public education advocates across Florida are saying, “We told you so.” House and Senate appropriations committees were briefed on the Auditor General’s report, 2024-25 School Year Funding Accountability Challenges, which found that Florida’s universal voucher system effectively bankrupted the K–12 funding formula, creating a $47 million deficit. With the FLDOE relying on voluntary surveys to determine where students actually were, the audit details failures “at every level.” In summary: “Whatever could go wrong, has gone wrong.” Hundreds of millions were misspent. As USA Today reported on 11/19/25:
“The amount of money we cannot account for as being in the right place at the right time exceeds $270 million on any given day.“ – USA Today
State Board of Education:
The 11/13/25 FLBOE meeting made one thing clear: Florida’s highest education policymakers are NOT focused on the needs of our public school students. Chair Ryan Petty opened by celebrating “School Choice” and referring to public schools as merely “the default option” — a clear illustration of the Board’s diminished regard for the system that continues to serve the vast majority of Florida students.
Other troubling moments included:
•The Phoenix Declaration.
The State Board proudly made Florida the first state to adopt the Heritage Foundation’s Phoenix Declaration, calling it a set of “common-sense” principles all Floridians can support. Yet barely an hour later, Vice Chair Esther Byrd stated that the next step, following adoption, would be to convert all Florida public schools to a classical education model (something that all Floridians certainly do not want).
• Claims of “communism in our schools.”
Board member Layla Collins—wife of the current Lt. Governor and possible gubernatorial candidate—warned that “socialism and communism [are] penetrating every avenue of our life and every aspect of our child’s education,” and believed God placed her on the board to fight against this intrusion.
The next day, she tweeted a Washington Times article blaming teachers’ unions and “the radical left” for infiltrating “government schools” and turning children into agents of a socialist agenda. The proposed solution? Publicly funded private “school choice,” naturally.
• Overreach and erosion of local control. Board member Daniel Foganholi focused less on communism and more on expanding state authority. He wants the state to help local school boards make “the hard decisions” regarding local public school facilities by advising them on which schools should be closed or consolidated. He seemed to believe that funds raised by selling a school building could be used to increase teacher salaries. Will local communties welcome Tallahassee’s input into the closure of their schools?
And finally, the Inquisition of Alachua School Board Vice Chair, Tina Certain.
Summoned before the FLBOE over a Facebook comment she made about the late Charlie Kirk’s televised, political rally–styled memorial service, Certain refused to “canonize” Kirk and firmly defended her First Amendment right to free expression. When board members questioned her ability to lead and suggested her remarks were unbecoming of a public official, she responded by defending her record, her integrity, and her good name.
Her attorney, Gary Edinger, reminded the Board in a letter sent prior to the meeting that her appearance was entirely voluntary, noting: “The Board of Education does not have the authority to compel Ms. Certain’s attendance at the November 13 meeting. The Board lacks the power to issue subpoenas and is not authorized by statute to conduct investigations or adjudicate offenses.”
When Certain stood up to this board accustomed to watching people cower, people noticed. Many people noticed.
In a recent Tampa Bay Times column, John Hill asked: “In Florida school wars, are locals finally pushing back?”
He wrote:
“I don’t know when Floridians are going to take back their local schools and demand that political apparatchiks in Tallahassee stay in their lane… But if you had to timestamp the moment the tide started to change, it may have been Nov. 13, at a meeting of the state Board of Education, when Tina Certain told the board, in no uncertain terms, to get lost.”
Hill observed that despite the state’s fixation on culture wars and imagined indoctrination, “Floridians value their public schools and see them as symbols of neighborhood pride.” Indeed, voters across the state have repeatedly approved tax increases to support teacher pay, school safety, and high-quality educational opportunities.
And while the State Board clutches its pearls over Certain’s choice of t-shirt, school districts are actively pushing back against the Schools of Hope taxpayer giveaway to corporate charter chains — and the Auditor General has now issued a report openly questioning whether the Department of Education, which they govern, is even capable of doing their job.
Is the tide starting to change? Will fiscal conservatives step in to rein in the rampant, unaccountable voucher spending? Are school districts now feeling threatened enough to push back against corporate charter cronyism? Are school board members ready to stand up and demand what is necessary to provide high-quality public schools for all children? And are communities engaged enough — and fed up enough — to protect and defend the local public schools that have served generations?
The answers to those questions will determine the future of public education in Florida. The pressure is building. The failures are impossible to ignore. And the pushback is beginning. The question now is whether Floridians are ready to turn that momentum into real action — and reclaim their schools before it’s too late.