Support Our Schools forum discusses privatization, shrinking public school funds, and strategies moving forward.
By Tamara Solum
Original Air Date: April 30, 2025
Host: Public-school advocates met last weekend in Sarasota to talk about challenges ahead for public schools. Tamara Solum reports.
Tamara Solum: Some 80 people early Saturday were at the Unitarian Universalists of Sarasota sanctuary to participate in a forum on privatization and other issues affecting public schools. The event, titled “Stop the Attack on Our Public Schools,” was co-sponsored by local advocacy group Support Our Schools and the Unitarian Universalist Justice Committee.
Issues ranged from school vouchers to protecting special education, supporting school teachers and privatization policy. The event also offered opportunities on how to become active in protecting public education locally and statewide.
Carol Lerner and Lisa Schurr, co-directors of Support Our Schools, were delighted to see many new faces.
Lisa Schurr.
Lisa Schurr: And that was the beauty of this event. We did see a lot of new people. In terms of who we see as our allies, our allies are, quite frankly, everyone: parents, students, citizens, residents of Sarasota County.
TS: In the audience were parents, concerned citizens, teachers and young adults and youth from Sarasota Equity through Education Alliance, known as the SEE Alliance. Additionally, Manatee school board member Heather Felton, the president of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association, Lee Bryant and former Sarasota County School Board member Shirley Brown were there.
Lerner said that parents have expressed their anxieties and concerns regarding cuts to state and local education budgets and the possibility of closure of the U.S. Department of Education entirely. Parents are anxious about children being without Individual Education Plans (IEPs), 504 plans, and services covered by Title 1.
Schurr believes that Sarasota is facing a perfect storm right now and that lives will be impacted.
LS: We are just now, I think, going to start seeing the impact of the $4 billion that has gone out to vouchers—that hitting out public schools. To my mind, making sure that people understand what’s going on because—for people who aren’t following or who don’t know what’s going on, they’re going to be getting a really big surprise when their kids’ IEP programs or their 504 plans are no longer available. My great concern is that it’s going to be the marginalized students, particularly the ESE—which is what we call it here in Sarasota—otherwise known as special education. Those students are going to get hit.
TS: The event opened with a new video about Support Our Schools. Keynote speaker Jennifer Berkshire, a podcast producer for “Have You Heard” and author of “A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door,” which discusses how privatization is destroying public education, was next.
Jennifer Berkshire.
Berkshire’s talk and slides used a mixture of humor, data, and historical perspective. She also reflected on her family’s life in Florida and the similarities of today’s Sarasota with the 1960s and ’70s, when school board meetings were as raucous then over integration as they are now about issues such as Don’t Say Gay,and the recent book bans.
One of the participants, Julie London, author of the “Dear Bubbie” Substack, enjoyed what Berkshire had to say.
Julie London: I wasn’t expecting a whole lot because she’s from Massachusetts, and I think Massachusetts education is a whole different animal than what is happening in Florida. Instead, she so respectfully knew the problems that do face people—like Floridians, the Texans, people in Oklahoma—where public schools are under attack.
TS: The second speaker, Dr. Sue Woltanski, is the author of the Accountabalony blog and a Monroe County School Board member. She was one of only five school board candidates statewide to defeat a DeSantis-endorsed candidate. Woltanski spoke about vouchers driving the Florida budget into deficit territory, making Florida’s budget similar to that of the state of Arizona, which she said is heading into bankruptcy. According to Woltanski, by 2027, the budget deficit should be $6 billion or more—the same as what it costs Florida to fund vouchers.
Audience members at the forum.
Later in the morning, the forum had a panel discussion, which included Berkshire, Woltanski, Norin Dollard from the Florida Policy Institute, and Zaire Kekahuna-Samedi from the SEE Alliance. Schurr moderated questions from the audience. There was heated discussion about charter schools, vouchers and concern about money and services being diverted from public schools. A panelist noted that Sarasota currently has 51 private and charter schools and 45 public schools. With vouchers now diverting $8,000+ per student from public schools, the school district is having to stretch services under budget constraints. Private and charter schools do not have to provide exceptional student education services. That can include students with special needs such as autism, children with visual or auditory disabilities, or gifted children. They often will dismiss a student mid-school year, leaving the money at the private or charter school without the intended student. Meanwhile, the child is being sent to a public school and is in need of more services than the school can afford.
Kekahuna-Samedi added a local touch, describing SEE Alliance’s strategy of organizing a multigenerational movement to win elections, starting with school board elections. A Booker High School Student, Kennedy Cole, asked the panel what motivated them to persist in their advocacy.
LS: Kennedy Cole asked a very good question of Jennifer Berkshire. I think it was “How do you stay motivated?” and she gave a good answer, but my comment was, it is, in fact, young people like Kennedy who are getting more and more involved in the movement that motivate me personally to stay involved.
TS: The afternoon offered interactive sessions in small groups. Each group defined a problem, identifying stakeholders and allies, and describing creative interventions and effective messaging.
One topic of particular importance to Schurr was to get the word out about supporting public school teachers.
LS: The community is well aware of their plight, well aware of their skill and talent. And when you have the community behind you, things will change. We appreciate our teachers. Our teachers in Florida are our heroes.
TS: For more information, go to supportourschools.com.
Reporting for WSLR News, Tamara Solum.
WSLR News aims to keep the local community informed with our 1/2 hour local news show, quarterly newspaper and social media feeds. The local news broadcast airs on Wednesdays and Fridays at 6pm.