Last night Florida politicians betrayed our democracy. They betrayed us.
The Florida House stripped each and every one of us voters of our right to decide. Today, after last night’s likely criminal display, things are crystal clear. Public education and our ability to direct our collective destiny through local votes is dangling by a very thin thread. The only thing standing between catastrophic destruction of our greatest public assets – our vote and our public schools is US.
Join us right now in this epic battle to seize back the power of our vote and reverse the damage being done to Florida public education, our kids and their teachers.
HB 7123, usurps the will of voters by egregiously “reinterpreting” the 20 referendum votes recently held in districts across the state. In Palm Beach 76% of the voters stipulated that their money would go to district schools NOT profit-driven charters. This unmistakable will of the people was too much for the unmitigated greed and arrogance of political leaders bent on the destruction of Florida public education.
In a stunning episode of gas-lighting Rep. Bryan Avila argued that the legislature has the right to reinterpret the intent of voters, claw back funds and allocate them any way the dominant GOP sees fit. So HB 7123, which passed 69/44, reverses the vote and shares referenda money with charters. They did this because they can. The bullies have decreed that you and your vote are meaningless.
“We don’t want school districts acting on their own.” Rep. Bryan Avila, R, Miami
This is not a democracy, it’s a kleptocracy.
Florida, this is go time. WE need every soldier to join us and fight for the three million children who attend our public schools. That means parents, teachers, school board members, voters – everyone. It’s past time to make pro-public education policy a litmus test for holding office. Our most precious rights are at stake.
Read this account of what happened during the House debate last night.
Sign up to fight now: http://fundeducationnow.org/contact/
Be a #PublicEdVoterFL
