November’s midterm elections made one thing clear: Florida is at the center of a plate-shifting political earthquake, and one of the biggest factors driving it is parents’ rejection of left-wing political ideologies in our children’s education.
As a mother who has raised and educated five children in this state for the past 25 years and counting, I understand Florida parents’ frustration with the education system. Thankfully, Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed several pieces of legislation, including the Parental Rights in Education Act, meant to keep politics out of the classroom.
But even with new laws establishing clear standards to eliminate age-inappropriate sex education and critical race theory, parents realized that changes had to be made at the local level too. That’s why flipping local school boards was such a critical issue this past cycle. It was either that or teachers unions would maintain control of what Florida’s children learn through union-backed board members who work to skirt guidelines popular with parents and the wider community.
The impact of parental and grassroots activism has been impressive. Backed by organizations such as Moms for Liberty and County Citizens Defending Freedom and endorsed by DeSantis, 43 conservative school board candidates won seats on local Florida school boards. Conservatives flipped six counties’ school boards, including Miami-Dade. Before the midterm elections, all 67 counties in the state had majority left-wing union-backed boards.
The aim of these newly energized Florida parents is simple: Let’s refocus learning back on reading, writing, and arithmetic.
Parents’ rejection of politics in the classroom started during the COVID lockdowns. Added to the frustration of watching one’s children (not) learning remotely was the unpleasant realization that so much of what they were being taught was political, racial, and sexual. Math textbooks for grades K-12 in the Florida state curricula were peppered with references to critical race theory (they have since been removed by the State Board of Education). Zoom learning provided parents with windows into the classrooms where “sex education” was not limited to birds-and-bees biology but whatever vision of sexuality the teacher preferred to teach.
In my own kitchen, I overheard teachers making racist, anti-white statements. A “white male academic’s work must be subjected to heightened scrutiny because he is white and male,” the teacher said. My Hispanic ears found this racism no easier to stomach just because it was reversed.
As a member of the Florida Board of Education, I have heard from many frustrated parents both in person during public meetings and through direct communications. They often express a sense of powerlessness before the vast educational apparatus of the state. Their children walk into the schools, ostensibly to be prepared to meet the educational challenges of a complex world — a world in which technical skills and specialized knowledge are keys to professional success — only to be confronted by a steady stream of ideology and politics that is left-wing, sexualized, and almost always deeply disturbing to parents who rightly believe they should be the primary formator in these delicate areas.
I have also noticed that, here in Florida, it is immigrant parents who are often the most shocked and dismayed by this situation. They don’t understand why an American education for their children should come with the hefty price tag of losing them to a far-left political ideology with which they disagree. I don’t blame them.
Parents are the primary educators of their children. We are not co-parents with the state. In Florida, parents are determined to keep fighting for our rights, and we’re lucky to have government officials willing to fight alongside us. But this battle is far from over, and it is imperative that parents remain vigilant.
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Grazie Pozo Christie is a senior fellow with the Catholic Association.
