Educating Florida\u2019s Future<\/a> (EFF), a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, will host its first public town hall meeting to introduce the organization on April 30, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., at the President Barack Obama Main Library at 3745 9th Ave. N. in St. Petersburg. <\/p>\nKey topics on the meeting\u2019s agenda include metrics for early education and third-grade reading proficiency, understanding how tax dollars are spent on education, accountability and transparency in funding, charter schools, school enrollment trends, and the consolidation of schools, according to a news release. <\/p>\n
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Hine\u2019s interest in Florida\u2019s educational system and policy started 10 years ago, when her then 4-year-old was about to enter school for the first time in St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would drive by my local elementary school every day that no one I knew talked about, that no one I knew went to,\u201d she told Patch. \u201cI thought, \u2018What\u2019s going on? Why don\u2019t we go here?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
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She learned that it was a Title I school with a \u201cD\u201d letter grade, which only brought more questions to mind for her. <\/p>\n
\u201cWho says it\u2019s a \u2018D\u2019? How is that calculated? What\u2019s a Title I?\u201d are all questions Hine posed at the time, she said. \u201cI now know that Title I means more than 70 percent of the kids qualify for free or reduced lunch. But I just thought, \u2018Why? Why is this school right in my neighborhood, a \u2018D\u2019 school, and why doesn\u2019t everybody go there?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
This was the start of what she refers to as her \u201codyssey\u201d in public education. <\/p>\n
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Not only did she send her children to the school, but she also launched a nonprofit, Friends of North Shore Elementary and got involved with the PTA, serving as president for a period. From the start, she remained committed to sending her children to the neighborhood schools, which were all Title I schools. <\/p>\n
North Shore went on to become an \u2018A\u2019 school and Hine credits the school\u2019s teachers and leaders for its transformation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really comes down to a basic belief in the people who are engaged in education of children, and I guess, what I learned is I would ask them, \u2018What do you need?\u2019 Some of those things were things that couldn\u2019t necessarily happen at the school level,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
This led to Hine running for school board. She was first elected in November 2020 and reelected four years later, and hasn\u2019t stopped asking questions, she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to see what could be done at a district level, and I\u2019ve asked a lot of questions there, and I\u2019ve learned a lot there, but I\u2019ve also advocated at the state level and going to Tallahassee and meeting people and understanding how state-level policy and to include funding greatly impacts our K-12 public school system,\u201d Hine said. <\/p>\n
As an aerospace engineer who also earned an MBA and has a background in finance, \u201cnumbers matter,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
During her time advocating for schools as a school board member, she\u2019s taken much of the data she\u2019s been provided to create charts and graphs on everything from spending to testing. <\/p>\n
Now, through EFF, she hopes to elevate these conversations to a state level with a focus on education policy and how it’s influenced by funding. <\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like over the last number of years, Florida has taken their eye off the ball when it comes to the education of the vast majority of children in our state,\u201d Hine said. \u201cPeople seemed interested in some kind of shiny new penny idea, like a lab school. There\u2019s all these different ideas but how do we move the middle? How do we invest? I feel like there’s a baby in a bath water issue. We\u2019re so interested in these outside ideas, but what about the baby? I\u2019m someone who believes that excellence at scale is possible. I believe that excellence at scale is possible in our K-12 public school system. I do worry that people have come to wonder if it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
When contemplating the future of public schools, she looks to her own military experience, \u201cwhere [she\u2019s] seen excellence at scale be successful,\u201d she said. \u201cBut the reason it\u2019s successful is because the people who lead it, believe in it. They believe in it. They invest in it. They will not settle for less and they lead for excellence. That\u2019s what we need to do with public education in Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n
With EFF behind her, she hopes to push for the policies and funding that can strengthen public education and better serve more of Florida\u2019s students through advocacy, engagement and policy leadership.<\/p>\n
At the April 30 meeting, Hine will outline the organization\u2019s priorities and outline her vision for the nonprofit. She\u2019ll also invite questions from the community and conversations about the most pressing challenges and opportunities in public education.<\/p>\n
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