Jewish families and education advocates held a press conference at Miami’s Lubavitch Educational Center on Thursday to champion Florida’s Family Empowerment Scholarship Program, after Florida’s largest teachers’ union filed a lawsuit challenging the program.
The suit, filed against the state’s Department of Education by the Florida Education Association, alleged that nearly $5 billion in taxpayer dollars—approximately a quarter of the state’s education funding—goes to private and charter schools, and that those schools are not held to the same standards as public schools.
Teach Florida, a division of Teach Coalition, said the lawsuit “threatens vital scholarship programs relied upon by an estimated 900,000 students across the state.”
Melissa Glaser, executive director of Teach Florida, which organized the press conference, stated that “this is about protecting families, protecting opportunity and protecting a parent’s fundamental right to choose the best educational path for their child.”
Yonah Schwartz, 11, said at the press conference that if the lawsuit succeeds, then he won’t be able to afford to transfer to a school that better suits his learning needs.
“Not every kid learns the same way,” said the preteen. “For me, changing schools means getting the chance to learn in a place that’s a better fit for me.”
Jim Rigg, superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of Miami, said the program “is not about institutions. It is about children and families. We should be asking how to expand opportunities for these students, not how to take them away.”
Anastasios Kamoutsas, Florida’s commissioner of education, has defended the state’s program in response to the lawsuit, saying “every Florida family has access to universal school choice, empowering them to select the learning environment that best fits their child’s individual needs.”
He added that “we stand unapologetically convicted on the principle of always putting students first.”
