In the midst of the constant flurry of distractions and attacks by the likes of Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis we have lost focus on what is happening to our schools and teachers.

You may have not been paying attention to the myriad of school closures and so called repurposing plans of schools across South Florida (Miami-Dade and Broward counties especially). People are quick to contextualize this as a recent problem rather than see the larger picture. Our public schools have been under attack for a long time and we haven’t given credit to the group responsible for the crisis: The Republican Legislators in Florida!

Now some of you will try to say that, that is an unfair assessment, that we have a two party system. Some will say that I’m biased having served as a Democratic member of the Legislature. I’m putting facts over feelings on this one! Republicans have had unilateral control over the Florida government since 1998. That means they have controlled the Governor’s office, the Florida Senate, the Florida House of Representatives and all of the appointments to the Florida Supreme Court for almost 30 years. By default that means they have determined where the money goes and flows in the state over the course of that time.

An important historical note: the first charter school in Florida didn’t appear until 1996. I bring that up because until then the state budget only needed to fund a traditional public school system. So that means that the same group saying that we need more choices and options have also been the ones failing to support our public schools. Republican legislators in Florida have been simultaneously yelling “Fire” while pouring the gasoline. They are single-handedly responsible for underfunding schools, making our teachers some of the lowest paid in the country, expanding vouchers, giving public money to private schools, expanding book bans, passing policies that discriminate against LGBTQ+ and disabled students and dismantling DEI and Civil Rights policies. Those are just some of the things we’ve seen over the last 30 years of Republican led control of government.

Most recently we saw the passage and expansion of a law called “Schools of Hope” that gives designated charter school operators the ability to take over portions of existing public schools in order to co-locate at those schools at little to no costs to the charter school. Which means the public school gets to carry the costs for maintenance and services while the charter schools get taxpayer funded “squatters rights.”

As I often say, “Elections have consequences!” and the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. The combination of the two has put our public schools and by relation our teachers in a position to fail.

In 2026 we have an opportunity to course correct, but people have to care enough to do it. Booker T. Washington called education “The great equalizer.” From where I sit, public education needs our help.

Dwight M. Bullard is a former Florida state senator and the senior political advisor of Florida Rising.