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Privatization

Inside each neighborhood public school there is a diverse community of professionals who dedicate themselves to making sure your child thrives and succeeds.

From transporting students safely to and from school to feeding nutritious meals to performing maintenance and custodial work, education staff professionals are the backbone of strong schools.

In misguided attempts to save money, many school districts have begun to consider turning over important public services like these to private, for-profit companies. While the promise of saving a few dollars might sound alluring to cash-strapped districts, these savings are all-too-often short-lived and come with a loss of accountability, and diminished services.

In fact, any “savings” a district realizes is almost always the product of slashing pay or benefits of our hard-working education staff professionals.

“Contracting out” these jobs also ignores that education staff professionals play an important role in their community. They live in the same community where they work and they are invested in their schools and their students’ success.

You simply won’t find that same level of commitment from employees hired by private contractors. In places where privatization efforts have been successful, newly hired staff have considerably higher turnover rates than those they replaced. This is easy to understand considering they work for lower pay and less benefits than their predecessors.

We believe that all students deserve to attend schools staffed with a workforce of highly-trained, dedicated, and accountable education staff professionals. The benefits to students, schools, and the community at large of having public employees serve as the essential staff in our schools far outweigh any short-term “savings” that might come from outsourcing their jobs.

Additional Resources

FEA files federal lawsuit against SB 256

As was announced today at a virtual press conference, the Florida Education Association (FEA) and three affiliated unions have filed a federal lawsuit against Senate Bill (SB) 256, which was…

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At governor’s bidding, House stands against working people

The Florida House sealed the deal. When it comes to the governor’s political ambitions versus working people, working people lose. Senate Bill (SB) 256, passed by the House today and…

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NEA report: Florida’s teachers remain among nation’s worst paid

Despite Gov. DeSantis’ claims about educator salaries, Florida continues to rank 48th in the nation for average teacher pay, according to figures released this week by the National Education Association…

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FEA leadership: We stand united for our students

Let us say first, we are honored to lead this organization and to have you as a member.

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Help for kids who are hurting

Through Steve’s Club, Cori Lake Walls wants to ensure no grieving student goes unnoticed or unheard

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$1,200 worth of turkeys and a lot of love

Lakisha Ayers-White and her student volunteers provide supplies for Thanksgiving dinners with all the trimmings to dozens of union families

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