FFC congratulates last night’s Florida primary election winners

Tampa, Fla. (August 27, 2014) – The Florida Federation for Children congratulates the pro-educational choice candidates for their success during Tuesday’s primary election. The Florida Federation for Children invested in electioneering communications in races for the State Senate, the State House of Representatives and various school board positions.
“Florida voters have shown their commitment to giving every child the opportunity to receive a quality education,” said John Kirtley, board member of the American Federation for Children and Chairman of Florida Federation for Children. “Although we have faced attacks against the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program and innovative Personal Learning Scholarship Account program, tonight’s results reveal the public’s desire to empower parents with the ability to make decisions for their child’s education that best suit their needs.”
The impact of this primary election was greater than ever before, with a recent announcement from the Florida School Boards Association (FSBA) that they intend to file a lawsuit against the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program and stop the more than 70,000 low-income, primarily minority children, who currently benefit from the program. Because of this threat to such a vital program, the Florida Federation for Children was forced to become involved in this year’s school board elections.
The top two races involved current President of the FSBA executive committee, Karen Disney-Brombach (Indian River) and the incoming President, Diane Smith (Volusia). Their challengers, Shawn Frost and Melody Johnson, respectively, are opposed to the FSBA lawsuit and support giving children as many quality educational options as possible. Frost and Johnson defeated the incumbent board members, with Frost winning all 37 precincts. FFC invested in electioneering communications in both races.
“It is utterly unacceptable, unconscionable and immoral to sue and block low-income children from having access to quality educational options,” Kirtley added. “Before this year the Florida Federation for Children was not involved in local school board races. Because the Florida Federation for Children only learned of the FSBA’s threat in late July, we were only involved in a few school board races. If the FSBA moves forward with this reckless suit, the Florida Federation for Children will actively serve the interests of parents and become involved in more school board races for years to come.
 

-30-