Back To School Message From President Ford

Whether it’s your first year in Florida’s public schools or you are a seasoned veteran, I want to extend my best wishes for a successful school year. …  Welcome!

Together, we have made a difference in Florida’s public schools because of our involvement.  If our state is to make further, significant progress, it falls upon the FEA to once again lead the way and drive the discussion. Last year, there were approximately 3.75 million students enrolled in Florida’s public education system (2.66 million students in Florida K-12 public schools, more than 800,000 in our community colleges and nearly 300,000 students in Florida’s 10 universities). It is the responsibility of all Floridians to prepare our young people for the future. The membership of FEA takes on that responsibility because education is our calling.

Our state’s constitution also speaks clearly in declaring education a key responsibility of government:

“The education of children is a fundamental value of the people of the State of Florida. It is, therefore, a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders. Adequate provision shall be made by law for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education and for the establishment, maintenance, and operation of institutions of higher learning and other public education programs that the needs of the people may require.”
FEA believes that it’s vital for our political leaders to heed the words of the Florida Constitution.

Often, circumstances dictate that we oppose bad policy in order to protect the interests of our children. We don’t spend enough time talking to politicians, the media, the public and each other about those core issues that we support. I want to make sure that we talk about the things we support during the upcoming school year. Around the office in Tallahassee, we call these key issues the “Critical Four.” In short, here are the four critical concerns that we need to keep in mind as we assess our commitment to Florida’s public schools and the 3.75 million students we are educating.

FEA believes in the importance of smaller class sizes, with a focus on learning versus a focus on testing.

FEA believes that we must close achievement gaps by moving beyond a conversation toward a vision of what our schools should look like in the future.

FEA believes that we must reduce Florida's high school drop-out rate. Our elected leaders and special interest groups must stop arguing about whether the percentage graduating is 60 percent or 70 percent. … In either case we are losing a third of our children and the impacts both personal and economic are huge.

FEA believes that we must continue the work to improve the base salaries of ALL education professionals in a meaningful way that allows Florida to compete on both a regional and national level to recruit and retain the very best people.

This year, we must actively engage in an honest conversation about our public schools with all Floridians. For too long, too many people have been left out of conversations about public schools. Over the past two years, the members of FEA have done a superb job of raising concerns about public education in public forums. Our members have sent thousands of letters to the editor, written commentaries in newspapers, placed calls to radio programs talking about the overemphasis on testing and the lack of proper funding.  Together, our association continues to be the leading advocate in calling for the respect and compensation that you deserve.

We’ve got to keep it up; in fact, we need to turn up the volume. Many people still don’t get it. The futures of our children, our communities, our state, our nation are at stake. We are the experts on public education in this state. Our classroom is the state of Florida and class is now in session.

While we talk about the critical things that we support, it’s important to remember that FEA must still defend our children against bad public policy. There is no shortage of bad public policy proposals out there today. Many of them involve the manner in which our schools are funded. Almost universally, the implementation of these proposals would damage our schools and our children.

Today Florida’s budget is based on economic estimates of tax revenues, largely from sales taxes. Most of our state economists believe that the estimates from earlier this year were too optimistic. In a few weeks the Legislature will convene in special session to approve a revised budget to address these projected shortfalls. While our elected leaders could make up the difference by tapping into the states monetary reserves, Governor Crist and legislative leaders say they want to make budget cuts to alleviate the problem. They are cutting this year’s education budget while telling the public that they intend to hold education harmless.

FEA is asking a simple question to our elected leaders: How can you cut the education budget and hold education “harmless” all at the same time?

The anticipated budget cuts are going to have an impact throughout the state, in your district and in your classroom.  Most contracts have yet to be negotiated – in large part because districts are unsure of how much money they have. Raises will likely be smaller, despite the fact that public school salaries in Florida are thousands of dollars below the national average. Programs may be cut, school services curtailed and there may even be layoffs in some places.

Meanwhile, the Legislature has put a constitutional question on the ballot for January 29, which is the date of the presidential primaries in Florida. That ballot initiative would give homeowners the option of taking a higher homestead exemption, which would lead to further revenue problems. This initiative is being monitored closely by all of us at FEA. Currently, this initiative faces a court challenge and many in our state, people that share our values, are watching and deciding how and when we should oppose this glaring example of bad public policy.

All this comes at a time when public education in Florida is at a crossroads. The state has always underfunded education. When compared to other states, Florida languishes near the bottom in nearly every category related to education funding. Government and the public are asking schools to do more and more. If you’ve been working in schools for more than 10 years, you know that there has been a steady, upward spike in what schools are bring asked to do.

A new school year is beginning and it’s going to be a challenge.  And I’m not just talking about the challenges of curriculum, discipline and paperwork.  Our state is in the midst of a financial crisis that will undoubtedly have an impact on our public schools.

FEA is ready to stand beside you in fighting for the things that you believe in.  We are ready to stand beside you in fighting against bad public policy that threatens the future of Florida’s children.

Welcome back! Let’s roll-up our sleeves and get to work …  there is much to be done.