Like most Floridians, Charlie Crist and Karla Hernandez believe every child in Florida should have the freedom to learn and to thrive. Together, they have a plan to improve the lives of Florida's students and educators alike. In this month’s episode of Educating from the Heart, we talk with them about how they will increase educators’ pay and retirement benefits and lower healthcare costs while also making sure educators have the time, resources and freedom they need to do their jobs.
Episode 20 Show Notes:
Guests
Show Resources
Transcript
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Guests Congressman Charlie Crist, candidate for governor United Teachers of Dade President Karla Hernandez, candidate for lieutenant governor
Resources Crist/Hernandez Freedom to Learn plan'Parental Rights' movement leaves out these Florida parents (USA Today)Ron DeSantis targets teachers with demagoguing and fear-mongering (Florida Politics) Gov. Ron DeSantis leads a nationwide shift to politicize school board races (Georgia Public Broadcasting)Protecting Public Education in the 2022 Election (NEA)
Transcript Andrew Spar, FEA President: Hi, this is FEA president Andrew Spar. To stay on top of all the latest news and issues impacting our public schools, be sure to follow FEA on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For more information on this podcast, visit FEAweb.org/podcast. Sharon Nesvig: You're listening to Educating from the Heart. Thank you for joining our lively conversations with support professionals, parents and students as they share issues that matter most in our public schools. Here are your hosts, Tina Dunbar and Luke Flynt. Tina Dunbar, Host: Welcome back to Educating from the Heart. I'm Tina here with Luke, and we've been spending a lot of time thinking about voting, and we're watching for our vote by mail ballots. Luke, have you received your mail ballot?Luke Flynt, Host: I am so excited, Tina, because not only have I received my vote by mail ballot, on my ballot are two people at the top of the ticket who we know will support students, educators, and public education. We sat down with them recently for episode 20 of our podcast with Charlie Crist and Karla Hernandez. Tina: FEA President Andrew Spar kicks off our podcast conversation.Andrew Spar, FEA President: So, it is so exciting today to have the next governor of the state of Florida join us, Charlie Crist. And as an educator what we know about Charlie Crist is when he was governor, he chose to stand on the side of teachers, staff, and students in the state of Florida at a really crucial point in public education in the state of Florida. He understands the importance of pay, being able to pay your rent, pay for your bills. He understands the importance of making sure you have the right to do your job in the classroom.He's someone who wants to stop the teacher and staff bashing and lift up those of us who work in our public schools. And so much so that he put a teacher on the ticket. So, Congressman Crist, why'd you put a teacher on the ticket?Congressman, Charlie Crist: Because I'm smart. No, seriously, Andrew, thank you so much. It's great to be with you and your membership and teachers all across the state and, you know, people that help out in so many other ways in the cafeteria and helping get our kids to school safely.You know, we have a shortage right now, 9,000 when you couple teachers and support staff together. And that's just a crying shame to me. And by picking Karla to be the lieutenant governor, the next lieutenant governor of Florida, I wanted to make a statement about how important teachers are, the difference they make in our lives and the lives of our children is significant, to say the least.And so, I thought that by picking somebody of her caliber with the great experience and breadth and depth of her experience that she has. Being a teacher, yes, but being a special ed teacher, as well really hit my heart, and you and I have talked about that, and it shows me the goodness of Karla Hernandez.And that representation on this ticket, I'm enormously proud of. Of course, Val Demings, our nominee for the United States Senate. I think we have a great opportunity this year to do what's right for Florida, to do what's right for teachers, to do what's right for public education.I'm a public school kid. I graduated from St. Pete High. I graduated from one of our great state universities, Florida State. And I just think we need to reinvest in the foundation of equal opportunity in America, and that to me is public education.Tina: Okay. Thank you very much. There have been a lot of changes in education policy over the past four years. Please assess Governor DeSantis’s leadership in education, and what makes your plan the right plan right now for students and educator?Charlie: Well, first and foremost, he's been a disaster. You know, I don't think he, uh, cares about education. I don't think he care specifically about public education. And that's heartbreaking to me. As I said, you know, I'm a public school kid myself, but more than that, you know, I had three sisters growing up, and two of my three sisters were public school teachers in Pinellas County.My father, although a family physician, served on the Pinellas County School Board and was chairman of the board. I minored in education at FSU. I mean, it's in my DNA. I can't help it. And so I am drawn to making sure that we're doing what's right for our kids and our teachers support staff throughout the state of Florida.I mean, you have a great president, Andrew's an amazing man, and, you know, the membership, you all deserve to be treated with respect, with decency. So that's my plan is to do exactly that, to make sure that we raise your salary. You know, we're the third largest state in America, and we're paying our teachers 48th or 49th out of 50 states. That's embarrassing. And it's gotta stop. And with the Crist Administration, Crist-Hernandez administration, it will stop and working with FEA and your membership, I mean, everybody get out and vote. It is so critically important.And to women: he's trying to take away your right to choose. In fact, he's already done it. He signed a bill that was horrific. Horrific. And doesn't even have exceptions for rape or incest. I mean, that's barbaric. So, I know the women vote's gonna be huge this year. It already has been in Kansas and in Sarah Palin's race in Alaska. I mean, you know, two very red states. And yet the women vote turned them both blue. It's remarkable. It's gonna happen here in Florida in 2022.Luke: All right. So for those of us who have been around for a while, I started teaching in the early two thousands, and I remember your tenure as education commissioner, so appreciate that. And I was still teaching in the classroom when you vetoed Senate Bill six, which was just a, a wonderful way of showing that you understood what teachers and support staff needed. Looking forward, what will your first official action be as governor when it comes to education?Charlie: Well, when it comes to education is returning respect to educators, because that doesn't exist right now. I mean, we're at such a low point, and I can only imagine the frustration you experienced, Andrew. But you know, just by showing the proper respect. I mean, when I was a Republican governor, right after I got inaugurated, where'd I go? FEA, you know and had the opportunity to sit down with some great people at the time. And they're like, “Wow, you know, what's the Republican doing here?”Well, like I said, I'm a public-school kid. You know, it didn't matter what my party was, what mattered is where my heart was, and it's always been with educators and it always will be. I have committed in this campaign that on day one of the Crist administration, I'm gonna sign an executive order to protect a woman's right to choose in all 67 counties in Florida. It's that important; it's that critical. I think it's very important for that to be the first act that I take as your next governor.Luke: Our current governor seems to have outsourced a lot of his education policy. You know, whether it is the civics curriculum to Hillsdale College and Michigan, or, you know, to the Heritage Foundation or these other right wing think tanks. When you are governor, who will you listen to and why?Charlie: Educators, I'll listen to. I'll listen to Karla, I'll listen to you and Tina, and we'll get it right, you know, because we know what's right, what needs to be done. You apply common sense to a problem that we've been facing now for the past 12 years, frankly. And reverse it as quickly as we can rewrite the budget.You know, this was the highest budget in the history of Florida this past year, a hundred and ten billion dollars, and he still couldn't get education funding any higher than 48th or 49th in the country. So, we got a lot to do. It's gonna be a heck of a lot of fun doing it. It's always fun doing the right thing, and that's what this campaign's all about: Do the right thing.Tina: I'm sure you've heard from many teachers who have expressed concerns over learning loss. How would your plan help students and teachers rebound from the past several years of chaos?Charlie: It'll start with not banning books. How's, how's that for a beginning start then? I mean, you can't make this stuff up. It's incredible. What are they gonna do? Burn 'em next? You know, I mean, I sit back and I see my opponent, and I can't believe the crazy stuff he does. You know, not only in education, but, but let's say immigration.I mean, just recently we saw where he chartered two jets, took them to San Antonio, Texas.
