Mission

To inspire and empower voters to advocate on behalf of Florida’s children and their right to a high-quality public education as provided in Article IX, Section 1 of the Florida Constitution.

History

FundEducationNow.org, was established in 2009 by Florida moms Kathleen Oropeza, Linda Kobert, and Christine Bramuchi, in response to the state Legislature’s aggressive public education funding cuts. According to the 2010 Census, Florida ranks 50th nationally in per pupil funding. The women resolved that Florida’s children would not be left unprotected in the halls of Tallahassee anymore. FundEducationNow.org is determined to arm children, parents, teachers and concerned citizens with the power to speak out against the Florida Legislature’s plan to defund public education, disrespect professional educators and cause deep and lasting harm to the state’s 2.6 million school children.Thanks to thousands of volunteer hours and in-kind donations, FundEducationNow.org quickly grew into a statewide non-partisan alliance of dedicated advocates. The group uses its web site, issue alerts, grass roots organizing and media outreach to increase its numbers and raise awareness about the orchestrated threat to Florida public education. FundEducationNow.org believes success is possible only through a well-planned and sustained collaboration that includes the broadest spectrum of advocates.In addition, FundEducationNow.org is currently a plaintiff suing the Florida Legislature for failing to perform its “paramount duty” to provide a free, high quality, safe, efficient and uniform system of public education as required by Article IX, section 1 of the Florida Constitution.

Awards

2013 Orlando Sentinel Central Floridians of the Year: Runners Up The Orlando Sentinel recognized Fund Education Now for being “one of Florida’s leading defenders of public education.” They acknowledged the statewide impact Fund Education Now has on education policy and building more support for school funding.

2011 President’s Award, Florida School Boards Association: In June 2011, the three founding partners of FundEducationNow.org received the President’s Award from the Florida School Board Association for their “extraordinary service to the children of Florida and for their leadership and advocacy for public education.” This is the highest honor the Florida School Boards Association can award to non-members.

2011 Orange County School Board Chairman’s Award: FundEducationNow.org was recognized in March 2011 with the Chairman’s Award for “extraordinary service to the children of Orange County and Florida and their effort and commitment to public education as the largest parent advocacy group in Florida.”