Living in Florida has its advantages. We’ve got gorgeous beaches, patio weather we can enjoy year-round (except for a couple pesky summer months), and a citizenry that proudly and loudly embraces its wild side.
We also have a state government that is dead set on making the lives of children—and their caretakers—miserable. As an academic, an atheist activist, and the mom of two teenagers, who, despite my best efforts, are shockingly awesome and well-adjusted, I’ve seen this cruelty firsthand.
My son and daughter are fairly “normal,” or can pass as such, so sending them off to school should be a breeze. Yet, every message and form their school sends home makes me acutely aware of how the draconian policies and mandates put forth by the Ron DeSantis regime negatively impact our children.
For example, parents of high schoolers here in Leon County were recently informed that seniors would not have the requisite number of instructional hours to graduate, so school would begin five minutes earlier and end five minutes later. Like many parents of teenagers who struggle to wake before noon, I was dreading the thought of stirring my son any earlier. Even so, I reviewed the new schedule.
Lo and behold, they were still going to reserve five minutes of each school day for the Pledge of Allegiance and a state-mandated moment of silence, a policy I testified against for several years, arguing it was a mandatory waste of time and a sneaky way to coerce children into prayer.
One of the bill’s sponsors, former state representative and current U.S. Congressman Randy Fine, stated that if moments of silence had been required in public schools, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting in Parkland, Florida, might never have happened. (He said so in the presence of a colleague who happened to be the mayor of Parkland at that time—oof.)
Still, Fine was adamant the moment of silence had nothing to do with prayer: He just wanted to give the kids a break, for chrissakes! To no one’s surprise, when the bill was finally passed and signed into law, Fine announced that prayer was, indeed, allowed in public schools again. Liar.
The State of Florida continues to punish children in countless other ways. As is the case in too many states, Florida’s public schools are underfunded. We rank dead last in teacher pay. We ban more books than any other state. Every year, billions of taxpayers’ dollars are diverted from public schools to private schools, for-profit charter schools, and homeschooling.
To paraphrase the inimitable Alison Gill, American Atheists’ former Vice President of Legal & Policy: “Florida never saw a voucher program it didn’t like.” Many of these schools are religious, but only a particular flavor of religion. Can you guess which one?
I’ll give you a hint: The DeSantis administration raised holy hell when it learned vouchers were spent at an Islamic school. We have yet to see them clutch any pearls over the fact that the vast majority of the funded voucher schools are Christian. Nor has there been much uproar about how these publicly funded vouchers are (mis)spent in the absence of any public oversight. Last year, over 8,400 school voucher recipients were reimbursed for theme park tickets. Apparently, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ride is an underrated geological expedition, and It’s a Small World is a lesson in musical dissonance. Who knew?
The Florida legislature hasn’t stopped at prayer-ifying and privatizing public education. Policymakers here pioneered “Don’t Say Gay” legislation and have attempted to make it more horrendous every year since. It is illegal for a trans person to use a bathroom that aligns with their gender identity in public places, including schools. And, like clockwork, a bill to further expand “parental rights” is introduced almost every session, and it almost always passes.
As a parent, I have rights. Unfortunately, I’m just not the “right” kind of parent, which generally means a Christian who views their children as chattel to be controlled.
Under the guise of these so-called parental rights, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced in September a push to end all vaccine mandates. Do you know what a classroom full of kids is good at? Spreading germs. Now imagine what happens when some or most of those kids aren’t protected from infectious diseases. I sure hope folks are able to take time off work to stay home with their little ones, but in this economy? Not likely.
The State of Florida is very invested in our children’s extracurricular activities, too. Governor DeSantis announced a partnership with the late Charlie Kirk’s rightwing youth organization, Turning Point USA, and declared that any high school that attempts to block the establishment of a TPUSA chapter will be met with the “full force of the law.”
Surely, they will just as vociferously defend any Florida student who wants to establish a Secular Student Alliance chapter or an After School Satan Club, right? Right?!
Despite all the “parental rights” I supposedly have here in the “Freest State that Ever Freed,” I couldn’t feel more concerned about our children’s safety and well-being. We Floridians are not OK, but I beg you, do not send any more prayers.