{"id":260135,"date":"2026-05-06T03:20:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T03:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/260135\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T03:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T03:20:12","slug":"teachers-union-sues-florida-department-of-education-alleging-constitutional-violations-in-voucher-charter-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/260135\/","title":{"rendered":"Teachers union sues Florida Department of Education, alleging constitutional violations in voucher, charter programs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Florida\u2019s largest teachers union is suing the Florida Department of Education (FDOE), accusing officials within Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 administration of failing to uphold their constitutional duty to give students a consistent, high-quality public education.<\/p>\n

In a new complaint<\/a> filed in the 2nd Judicial Circuit, the Florida Education Association (FEA<\/a>) argues the state has created a system of \u201ceducational opportunities\u201d all held to different standards, from traditional public schools to charter schools and voucher programs.<\/p>\n

The result, lawyer Martin Powell wrote, is a \u201csystem that is inconsistent and unequal, and one that inevitably leads to a lower and uneven quality of education across the State.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cassie Edwards, Director of Communications for the Florida Department of Education, said the FEA \u201cis once again wasting taxpayer dollars and members\u2019 dues on a frivolous lawsuit.\u201d<\/p>\n

She pointed to a statement Education Commissioner\u00a0Anastasios Kamoutsas\u00a0made on X<\/a> shortly after the lawsuit was filed in which he said, \u201cThanks to (Gov. DeSantis), every Florida family has access to universal school choice, empowering them to select the learning environment that best fits their child\u2019s individual needs. We stand unapologetically convicted on the principle of always putting students first!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The suit, filed Tuesday, names as defendants Kamoutsas, the State Board of Education, and its seven members<\/a>, all appointed by DeSantis.<\/p>\n

The FEA, its President, Andrew Spar, and seven parents of minor children are listed as plaintiffs.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re asking the court to strike down Florida\u2019s current education funding system as unconstitutional and halt the flow of public money to private schools and voucher programs.<\/p>\n

Article IX, Section 1<\/a> of the Florida Constitution provides, in part, that the state must make \u201cadequate provisions\u201d for a \u201cuniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools.\u201d<\/p>\n

The FEA says the Department has failed that duty by diverting what the group describes as roughly $5 billion a year from public education to support charter schools<\/a> and dedicating nearly a quarter of the state education budget to voucher programs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Charter schools \u2014 which are considered public schools<\/a> under Florida law \u2014 are \u201coften managed by out-of-state, for-profit management companies who make a profit off every child and often lack consistent basic educational standards and transparency,\u201d an FEA press note said.<\/p>\n

The vouchers primarily \u201cserve students who were already attending private school,\u201d the group said. In its suit, the FEA claims 24% of state education funding goes to vouchers, representing about 524,000 students of whom 69% were already in private school before receiving public funds.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the group continued, Florida ranks 41st nationwide in per-student funding and 50th in average teacher salaries, with more than 60% of education staff making less than $35,000 per year \u2014 well below the $63,853 living wage<\/a> for a one-adult, one-child household, according to the Economic Policy Institute.<\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s 2026-27 spending plan is still unfinished<\/a>.\u00a0In December, DeSantis proposed spending $1.56 billion on teacher raises.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have spent years working with lawmakers to address the concerns of parents, educators and now, even the state auditor general regarding the inconsistencies in Florida\u2019s non-uniform education system. But once again, lawmakers have let down Florida\u2019s students and families, and we are left with no choice but to turn to the courts,\u201d Spar said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this lawsuit we are simply asking for accountability, transparency and a basic set of educational standards, which is what every parent wants \u2014 regardless of where they choose to send their children. Floridians have made it clear we should be strengthening not abandoning our public schools.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit lays out specific regulatory gaps between public schools, charter schools and voucher-fed private schools, including no requirements for the latter regarding school safety (guards, threat teams, panic alert systems), teacher certification, class size limits, special education services and transportation.<\/p>\n

\u201cPublic schools must comply with a large and growing body of laws,\u201d the complaint said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeanwhile, charter schools are subject to far fewer requirements, and scholarship-supported private schools operate under a much smaller set of rules \u2014 roughly 20 pages of law. \u2026 This creates a system where some schools must meet extensive obligations while others receiving public funds are not held to the same standards. That is not a uniform system. It is a system that is inconsistent and unequal, and one that inevitably leads to a lower and uneven quality of education across the State.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit comes days after DeSantis signed legislation weakening public employee unions<\/a> by requiring at least 50% of employees in a bargaining unit to vote in certification, recertification and decertification elections.<\/p>\n

The FEA bashed the timing of the bill signing, which took place May 1, International Workers\u2019 Day. DeSantis said the measure was \u201csomething people have been wanting to see for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kamoutsas went further, declaring that public unions \u201chate\u201d democracy \u201cbecause they want to force employees to join, coerce dues payments from them, and then provide them with no real option for reconsideration.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to seeking an injunction to stop Florida\u2019s diversion of public education funds to institutions it says lack uniformity and safety requirements, the FEA is requesting that the state pay its legal costs if it wins.<\/p>\n

The organization is otherwise not seeking damages.<\/p>\n

Read the lawsuit below.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Gabrielle Russon of Florida Politics contributed to this report, which has been updated to include statements from the Florida Department of Education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida\u2019s largest teachers union is suing the Florida Department of Education (FDOE), accusing officials within Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[18900,39230,3776,7093,113,57947,28,9932,15578,30,29,112529,412,112530,39234],"class_list":["post-260135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-anastasios-kamoutsas","tag-andrew-spar","tag-charter-school","tag-charter-schools","tag-education","tag-fea","tag-florida","tag-florida-department-of-education","tag-florida-education-association","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-martin-powell","tag-ron-desantis","tag-voucher-program","tag-vouchers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}