In the Name of Dismantling Public Schools, Let Us Pray
For the past 24 months, the Florida State Board of Education has begun its monthly meetings with an invocation. According the Chair Ben Gibson, this is “to start off our meeting in the right posture.”
On 7/16/25, the invocation was delivered by what Gibson described as “a very special guest,” Chief Kelvin Cochran—Senior Fellow and Vice President of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). Cochran also relayed greetings from ADF’s CEO, President, and General Counsel, Kristen Waggoner.
The Alliance Defending Freedom, formerly the Alliance Defense Fund, is a conservative Christian legal advocacy group. ADF works to expand Christian religious practices within public schools and in government, and is most known for its stances on outlawing abortion, opposing same-sex marriage and other LGBTQ rights, transgender rights, and anti-discrimination laws.
ADF is funded by powerful conservative interests including the DeVos family, the Koch brothers, and the Bradley Foundation. Since the election of President Donald Trump, ADF has become one of the most influential groups shaping conservative legal strategy—and has been designated an anti-LGBT hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
Among other things, ADF has advocated for the re-criminalization of consensual same-sex relationships both domestically and abroad, linked LGBTQ people to pedophilia and actively drafted and testified in support of laws targeting transgender rights.
As far as Education goes, ADF is actively working to dismantle public education by pushing nationwide school voucher mandates, diverting billions in public school funding to private religious institutions.
Leaked documents show ADF has planned to argue that public schools are “indoctrinating children with a secular worldview that amounted to a godless religion,” paving the way for a Supreme Court decision that would mandate the rights of parents to claim billions of tax dollars for private religious education or home schooling.
A leader of ADF’s funding group, Ziklag, admitted:
“Our goal is not to just throw stones. Our goal is to take down the education system as we know it today.”
I have questions… many questions…
- How are individuals selected to deliver the invocation at State Board of Education meetings?
- Who invited Chief Cochran?
- Why was he considered a “very special guest?”
- Did he otherwise meet with the Board or Commissioner? If so, what was discussed?
- Who paid for his travel to Florida?
- And finally-why is the Florida State Board of Education welcoming leaders from organizations actively working to dismantle public education?
(Never mind. I think I know the answer to that last one.)