Be Prepared!

A call to action for educators in progressive states

Although the 30-day federal occupation of Washington, DC expired on September 10, the DC National Guard, Metropolitan Police, ICE, and other federal agencies continue to terrorize the city. Today, Border Patrol, FBI, and Homeland Security officers showed up to arrest an 11-year-old Black girl and another Black youth who were fighting after school. The occupation has also opened the door for Congress to attack DC with the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform recently passing 14 bills targeting DC. These bills include allowing Trump to unilaterally choose DC’s attorney general without Senate confirmation, prosecutors to charge 14- and 15-year-old kids as adults for certain violent crimes, and longer prison sentences. One amendment prohibits the use of DC funds to carry out parts of its Human Rights Sanctuary Amendment Act. And when it comes to education, the SOAR bill would expand DC’s school voucher program. While currently, public, private, and charter schools receive equal support, the SOAR bill would give half of the funds to school voucher programs, allow charter schools to keep one-third of funding, and cut public school district funding to only one-sixth. This means less than five percent of students would be receiving half of school funding in DC. All these bills have been introduced and supported by Republican congress members who do not represent DC.

While being the target of draconian, conservative, right-wing policies is new to DC (an overwhelmingly Democratic city), Florida has been the epicenter for a few years now. Florida has the largest school voucher program in the nation and greatly underfunds public education. Florida ranks at the bottom of national school funding ratings due to its grossly inequitable distribution of funds. I look to Florida to see how we can prepare in DC and in other parts of the United States in which extreme privatization, repressive surveillance and censorship laws, and union-busting are on their way but have not yet materialized. Florida is not the only state that has been creating harmful educational environments, but it is one of the earliest adopters of such policies.

Fear in the Current Political Moment

In many states across the United States, but especially in Florida and in DC, school enrollment has been down due to families fearing ICE at pick up and drop off. This fear has been real with too many parents having been abducted by ICE since the beginning of the school year, often leaving homes without a breadwinner and children without a parent. In DC it is heartbreaking to see the number of GoFundMe’s that have been created to support families.

In Florida, another fear in schools has been the State Board of Education’s guidance against public comments made by educators in response to the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Florida educators and school board members have been investigated and some have been suspended or fired. Teachers are not only afraid of losing their jobs but also of the abusive campaigns that have emerged in the aftermath. Far-right activists have coordinated an online doxxing campaign targeting academics, teachers, and other public employees sharing names, photos, and workplaces of people showing “little sympathy” for Kirk’s death. Hanna, a Florida educator says, “There are layers and layers of lies and harassment. And now there are special websites being set up to help people hunt down teachers through their social media. Our union is trying to pursue legal action, but there’s only so much they can do. It’s a really incredibly toxic situation down here right now.”

Anti-LGBTQ and Anti-“Woke” Legislation

While DC educators are able to teach about African American History and LGBTQ+ rights, for now, Florida has the Don’t Say Gay Bill, Stop Woke Act, and Divisive Concepts Laws.

Passed in 2022, the Don’t Say Gay Bill prevents educators from teaching about LGBTQ+ issues or people, thus denying safe and inclusive classrooms for students. Educators also are not allowed to respect a student’s chosen name or the gender with which they identify. Also in 2022, the Florida state legislature passed the Stop Woke Act preventing educators from teaching anything about a person being inherently racist or sexist or oppressed and from teaching topics about equity, like reparations, or ones that might induce guilt or anguish about past wrongdoings, like slavery. Florida’s divisive concept laws further harm educational spaces by preventing any teaching that acknowledges privileges and inequities in the United States.

Anti-Union Legislation

Florida not only attacks educators through control of the curriculum, but also in limiting the rights of educators in schools. In 2023, Governor Ron DeSantis signed SB 256 forcing public workers to pay dues to keep their unions alive and at the same time prohibiting automatic dues payment and payroll deductions for union dues. The bill also imposes recertification requirements based on how many members pay dues and has restricted collective bargaining and arbitration. The law purposefully weakens teacher unions by making it very difficult to collect dues to reach membership goals set by the state. Hanna shared, “It costs so much money, and there’s so much attrition, and morale will sink lower every time.” This means that teacher unions in Florida are focused on preserving the union rather than being able to fight for the common good, initiatives and policies that not only benefit teachers but students and the community as a whole.

The recertification election in Miami was heavily followed by unions, teachers, and political consultants across the state as a way to further dismantle public education in Florida. The election was marred with controversy and gave teachers three choices: continue with the current teachers union (United Teachers of Dade (UTD)), reject a union altogether, or join a newer group funded by anti-union conservative groups. Otto Zequeira, a long-time English and journalism high school teacher reported:

Because of the union, Zequiera has been able to defend his students’ press rights at nearly every school he’s worked at, a battle that underscores the importance of union support. He credited the union’s clear contract terms with safeguarding his position as a journalism teacher and preventing arbitrary decisions by the administration… If UTD is decertified, it could not only affect teachers’ working conditions, but also jeopardize transparency and accountability within the education system—as public educators in the state already face retaliation and censorship for teaching LGBTQIA+, Black, and brown histories. ‘Academic freedom is crucial for our students’ education,’ Zequeira warned. ‘Censorship and arbitrary decisions only hurt the students.’”

Thankfully, UTD won the recertification vote in Miami. Their election process shows how important teacher unions are to protecting public education and the nefarious tactics conservative, right-wing groups will use to try to dismantle them.

Resistance

Educators in Florida are resisting in their own small ways despite the classroom censorship and union-busting. It is difficult and exhausting work, but there are everyday ways that educators resist in their classrooms. Some educators choose to teach the truth, others refuse to misgender children, and others do not comply in advance or overcomply. While directives from the federal or state governments lead educators to censor themselves right away, some Florida educators are waiting for district and school guidance before enforcing the directives. Hanna, who has been teaching in Florida for two years, spoke about the importance of building relationships with students to try to create safe environments in very restricted schools. She also mentioned relationships with colleagues, parents, and administration to build spaces of support and solidarity.

Educators have also used their teacher unions to resist. Union groups are working with community organizations to support immigrant families, LGBTQ+ youth, and youth of color. There is also joint organizing against the charter school takeover of the public school system. Hanna explained that even with the constant anti-labor attacks, her fellow union activists “still try to look to the future and think about what we need to be ready for. It’s an important way to stay grounded in a very difficult time. Things are scary now, but we’re not going anywhere.”

Florida should be a wakeup call to all educators in the United States. Similarly to Florida, Keith most recently wrote in his contribution about New Jersey educators being reprimanded, disciplined, and fired for posting about Charlie Kirk. In California, Bill AB 715 would create a state “antisemitism prevention coordinator” to monitor teachers and classrooms. During the vote, authors refused to answer questions about how this would affect the teaching of the Genocide in Gaza and the daily discrimination faced by Palestinian students. Teachers and their unions in more progressive states need to be preparing for a much more aggressive assault on public education. It’s coming and we need to be on the offensive.