Familiar Names on List of House Education Committees’ Ranking Democrats

On January 4, 2019, House Speaker Jose Oliva released a memo announcing the Democrats appointed as Ranking Members for the PreK-12 Education committees and subcommittees for the 2019 Legislative Session:

• Education Committee – Rep. Bruce Antone
• PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee – Rep. Patricia Williams
• PreK-12 Innovation Subcommittee – Rep. Susan Valdes
• PreK-12 Quality Subcommittee – Rep. Jennifer Webb

If you’ve been reading our blog recently, you will recognize some familiar names. If you are a fan of Betsy DeVos’ American Federation for Students, you might be celebrating.

In case you missed it, Florida’s voucher program, Step Up for Students, was founded by Tampa billionaire, John Kirtley, who also serves as the chairman of the Florida Federation for Children, the Florida arm of Betsy DeVos’ American Federation for Children. For years, the Florida Federation for Children has been “heavily involved in Democratic primaries, where there are legislators who have supported their constituents’ desires for parental choice in education.”

In the recent 2018 August primary, Kirtley spent $360,000 on school board and legislative races and openly celebrated the wins. In a press release his foundation describes their “winning” strategy:

Additionally, parents with children on Florida scholarships were actively involved in this year’s primary, working with the FL Education Empowerment PAC to make calls to voice their support for Democrat candidates who support Florida’s scholarship programs. These parents connected with voters to explain the positive impact Florida’s scholarships have had on their children, and voters responded by backing candidates who support these programs. These calls were especially effective in Democratic primaries involving Kim Daniels, James Bush III, Susan Valdes and Patricia Hawkins-Williams.(emphasis added)

HTTPS://WWW.FEDERATIONFORCHILDREN.ORG/FLORIDA-VOTERS-SUPPORT-EDUCATIONAL-CHOICE-CANDIDATES-2/

It looks like those calls were VERY effective. Representatives Williams and Valdes now see themselves as the Ranking Member of key education subcommittees.

Of course, such campaign support (meddling?) does not automatically mean these representatives will do a federation’s bidding. Representative Hawkins did vote “no” on last session’s education “train” bill, HB7055, which expanded Florida’s Voucher system with the controversial Hope and Reading Scholarships. (Rep. Valdes is newly elected so has no past voting record in the House.)

We will be watching these legislators, and their support for public schools, closely. They must recognize that 2.7 million Florida students attend PUBLIC schools and those students must be the focus of the Florida legislature.