podcastED: The impact of the 2022 Florida legislative session on public education

On this episode, Step Up For Students President Doug Tuthill and Legislative Affairs Manager Alexis Laroe discuss the changes coming to education choice programs in Florida following the 2022 legislative session in Tallahassee. The education budget passed by the legislature this year is the largest in the history of the Sunshine State.

While education choice programs did not greatly expand as in prior years, many smaller changes did occur. The two discuss those changes and the impact they will have on Florida’s choice families.

They also discuss the heated debate that took place this year surrounding parental rights in education, and the role public education has historically played in the social engineering of society.

"I believe public education was really tremendously funded this session for everybody … If you look around, there are really a lot of great things to celebrate."

EPISODE DETAILS:

• The largest education budget in Florida history, and increases in scholarship amounts for Florida’s private choice students
• Fixing technical issues that prevented families from receiving funding and how those issues will work moving forward
• Addressing the waiting list for the FES Unique Abilities scholarship to serve thousands more of those families this year
• Changes to reading and transportation scholarship programs
• The historical context of public education’s role in social engineering, and what role the education choice movement plays in that