If You Are as Angry as Rep. Polo, Read This.

On April 30, 2019, two significant and controversial bills were discussed in the Florida House. Both are now headed for the Governor’s desk:

• CS/SB7070, which established the Florida Empowerment Scholarship, an expanded voucher program for lower to middle income families, to be used at private (mostly religious) schools, funded directly from dollars earmarked for public education via the Florida Education Finance Programs (FEFP), and
• CS/CS/SB7030, which would expand the current Guardian program to allow classroom teachers to carry guns (on a voluntary basis).

Both bills were opposed by the House Democrats, who filed multiple amendments, all of which were voted down by the GOP majority.

Frustrations were high when Rep. Cindy Polo (D-103) presented her amendment to CS/CS/SB7030, which would have only allowed active ammunition in a teacher’s gun when an active assailant incident was occurring at the school. She explained her amendment language was a safety measure designed to prevent negligent discharge and was modeled after the Federal Deck Pilot Program, created in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which allowed airline pilots to carry guns. The amendment was defeated.

It is worth watching her entire speech (watch at 54:42) but pay attention to this important advice:

“I started debating and asking questions about this bill and the first thing I was told, so that I would be reminded as to what my place was, is that I wasn’t here a year ago, and I didn’t take advantage of the moment to tell everyone exactly where I was a year ago.

Where I was a year ago was raising my son.

And after the tragedy that happened at Parkland, I got on a bus for 12 hours to come to Tallahassee, because that’s what you do, if you want stuff done, you come to Tallahassee so that lawmakers can hear from you, so that you can let them know if you are against something or for it. It’s the democratic process. We have days of action.  We welcome people. We send to our printing department all of these signs, every single day, that we’re welcoming some delegation. We do it here in the Chamber.

But it seems to me that we do that for show. Because if you’re coming to Tallahassee to speak to your lawmakers, to try to change their mind on something, I hate to break it to you, but it doesn’t seem to be happening.

And so the result of that is, to anyone and to everyone that is listening, find out how they have been voting on these amendments, and shortly there after, if you are as angry as I am, if you are as angry as I was last year, file and run against them.

Because this is shameful.”

Great advice.

Please pay attention to how your legislators are voting on these critical education issues and, if you are as angry as Rep. Polo is (we know we are), file and run against them. Because that, too, is part of the democratic process.

This is shameful.