The League of Women Voters of Orange County, Florida presents “A Thousand Disrespectful Cuts: The State of Public Schools in Florida” for its March 9th Hot Topics public affairs program and lunch, where culture wars in schools, curriculum controversies and more will be covered with four panelists.
“Educators, parents and students are grappling with a dizzying array of new obstacles — book bans, vouchers, curriculum control, gender privacy and low teacher pay,” the League of Women Voters of Orange County said. “Join us to learn more about their struggle and what you can do to help public education in Florida.”
The five-member panel includes Spectrum News 13 anchor Tammie Fields, moderator; Norín Dollard, Ph.D. Senior Policy Analyst at Florida Policy Institute and Director of KIDS COUNT; Dr. Michael Armbruster, deputy superintendent with Orange County Public Schools; Clinton McCracken, president of the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association; and Dr. Jennifer Sandoval, associate professor of communication at the University of Central Florida.
The event will take place at the Winter Park Events Center, 1050 W. Morse Blvd., Winter Park, 32789. Doors open at 11:00am; the program begins at 11:30am. The cost is $30 for members; $37 for non-members and you can register online.
“A free and high-quality public education accessible to all children is the foundation of our democracy,” the League of Women Voters of Orange County continued. “However, over the past two decades, the State of Florida has consistently underfunded public education and diverted taxpayer funds from public schools to private schools and organizations in the form of vouchers. The recent introduction of House Bill 1 seeks to defund Florida’s public schools even further by expanding the voucher program to all students.”
The LWVOC said that recent laws, legislative bills and executive actions have “succeeded in chilling speech and controlling curriculum in K-12 classrooms and in state colleges and universities.” The resulting politicized climate in education has negatively impacted students, families and educators, the League of Women Voters declared ahead of the Hot Topics.
While they did not mention Governor Ron DeSantis by name, it would be hard to imagine the Republican’s name not coming up during the political discussion with that description. Hot Topics is sponsored by Climate First Bank and streamed on the League’s Facebook page live, recorded, and available on the League’s YouTube channel.
The League of Women Voters of Orange County, Florida, is a nonpartisan political organization that encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.
