Everyone talks about the kids and how we’re failing them, but nobody wants to take care of the people literally entrusted to take care of those kids. Florida is dead last for average teacher salary, with some of the worst wage stagnation in the country - worse than that, the average teacher salary is now below the average cost of living in Florida. Maybe that’s why we have thousands - repeat, thousands of teacher vacancies around the state. Every year, Tallahassee and the folks in power put a bandage on a gunshot wound and expect us to grovel and beg for access to the private schools they can afford because they’ve been ripping us all off. It’s time to snatch that money out of their greedy mouths, hand it back to the people, and make Florida a safe place for teachers to ensure the future of Florida is bright.
We must oppose the universal school voucher system expansion as it will only divert public school money into private schools. This gives the opportunity for only financially wealthy families to have the ability to get access to a quality education, while our working class children will be subject to a poor schooling environment. All because Tallahassee decided to put private schools and their rich donors as their top priority and the rest of us get scraps.
Teachers are a key part in a child’s development. It is time their pay reflects the herculean task they take on. I will push legislation that increases teacher’s base salary statewide. We need more teachers, and currently the state is giving them scraps. We need a shift back and restore experience based pay steps. Experienced teachers are making just as much as their first year colleagues, whose pay is already stagnated. If a 20 year experienced teacher is making just as much as someone with 1 year of experience it gives younger generations less of an incentive to pursue a career in education. Florida needs our teachers, I'm here to fight and see the fair pay they deserve delivered.
Unions give workers the ability to negotiate, and demand fair work practices. Teachers deserve fair work practices, a system that protects them, not persecutes them. I will push legislation to repeal SB-256 which creates a dues deduction ban, essentially starving a union’s operating capacity, hurting teachers ability to vote. As well as making the threshold of membership to maintain 60% membership among eligible employees or be automatically decertified and forced to recertify. No other public sector union has that restriction. I will fight to ban retaliatory efforts against any type of unionizing, not just teacher unions. We must also restore binding arbitration for bargaining impasses, as school board members side with the employer on negotiation stalls. This way it levels the playing field for teachers to have their voices heard.
Our teachers go to years of schooling to become qualified to teach in our schools. Just for a state appointed commissioner to take control over the curriculum. Biology, and history teachers deserve to have the ability to do their job and teach accurately, not what the Florida government thinks they should be teaching. As your state representative I will push legislation to repeal the “stop woke” act and K-12 classroom restrictions. Push to codify academic freedom protections for teachers teaching what may be considered sensitive topics accurately, as well as introducing a bill that will remove personal liability exposure for teachers and librarians acting in good faith. Teachers got their degrees to prove they know what they’re talking about, it’s time Florida put a little more faith in their teachers.