JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Throughout a press convention at Trinity Christian Academy in Jacksonville, Gov. Ron DeSantis highlighted Florida’s schooling reforms emphasizing their potential as a nationwide mannequin.
He urged Congress and President-elect Donald Trump’s administration to think about adopting Florida’s faculty alternative framework, asserting that this may very well be achieved with out counting on the federal Division of Schooling.
“The Congress has a chance to make a distinction,” DeSantis stated. “You are able to do it via a tax credit score program, via the tax code, and thru the Treasury Division. You possibly can even cross it with funds reconciliation within the U.S. Senate.”
DeSantis criticized trainer unions in cities like Chicago and Los Angeles, stating they block faculty alternative by dominating native schooling methods and political processes.
“We beat the unions once we handed our household empowerment scholarship in 2019 and common alternative in 2020,” DeSantis stated.
He pointed to measures like paycheck protection, which prohibits automated deductions of union dues, as additional steps to empower educators in Florida.
MORE: Florida law takes aim at teachers union that defied DeSantis
DeSantis additionally pointed to Florida’s achievements, together with an 89.7% graduation rate and over 500,000 students in choice programs, a record-breaking quantity.
Moreover, he touted excessive efficiency amongst constitution faculty college students, explaining that Florida ranks among the many high 10 states in pupil achievement.
DeSantis additionally famous the rise in homeschooling, with 155,000 college students at present enrolled, and the tripling of alternative program participation since he took workplace. “The proof is within the pudding,” he stated.
Florida Commissioner of Schooling Manny Diaz Jr. stated that the Household Empowerment Scholarship and different packages now serve over 524,000 college students, a quantity similar to the biggest faculty districts within the U.S. He added that the College students with Distinctive Talents program has grown by 75% since 2022.
DeSantis urged Congress to behave shortly to duplicate Florida’s mannequin nationwide.
“The controversy about faculty alternative is over. In case you take a look at locations like Chicago, might you do any worse than what they’re doing? Why not attempt one thing totally different?” he stated.
With Florida’s schooling insurance policies gaining nationwide consideration, the governor’s name to motion units the stage for potential legislative shifts in Washington.
Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.
