{"id":287259,"date":"2026-05-28T08:11:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T08:11:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/287259\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T08:11:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T08:11:33","slug":"tampa-bay-education-choice-supporters-to-teachers-union-dropping-lawsuit-will-save-children-families-and-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/287259\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay education choice supporters\u00a0to\u00a0teachers\u00a0union: Dropping lawsuit will save children, families,\u00a0and\u00a0communities\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

PINELLAS PARK,\u00a0Fla. \u2014\u00a0Surrounded by\u00a0students in crisp\u00a0school uniforms,\u00a0a group of\u00a0educators, faith leaders,\u00a0and families\u00a0urged\u00a0Florida\u2019s\u00a0teachers\u00a0union to drop a lawsuit <\/a>that\u00a0seeks to end the\u00a0nation\u2019s\u00a0largest K-12\u00a0education choice\u00a0programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not\u202fanti-public school. Public schools work for\u202fmany\u202fchildren. But they\u202fdon\u2019t\u202fwork for every child, including my sons,\u201d said Leslie Coker, a stay-at-home mom whose two\u00a0school-age\u00a0sons have\u00a0radically different unique abilities and who have benefited from the\u00a0learning\u00a0options\u00a0the programs provide.\u00a0The scholarships made it possible\u00a0for a single-income household like hers to afford to\u00a0send one child to a hybrid\u00a0school\u00a0and\u00a0homeschool\u00a0the other son full time.\u00a0Both boys are\u00a0thriving in learning environments that best fit their individual needs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Leslie Coker shares how education choice scholarships have made it possible for her to provide unique education opportunities for her two sons with unique abilities. (Photo by Lisa Buie) <\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, this lawsuit is not political. It is personal.\u202fIf it succeeds, the impact will hit my family hard, as well as\u202fmany\u202fothers,” the Bradenton area mom said.\u202fWe are living proof that education choice is working in Florida.\u202fI urge\u202fthe\u202fteachers\u202funion to respect our choices and drop the lawsuit.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mrs. Coker made her plea\u00a0on\u00a0Wednesday at a news conference at Sacred Heart Catholic School<\/a>,\u00a0which serves more than 200 students in preschool through eighth grade. Florida Catholic schools<\/a>\u00a0have increased their enrollments over the past decade\u00a0in contrast to their counterparts in other states, which have seen declines. They credit\u00a0Florida\u2019s\u00a0robust\u00a0state\u00a0scholarship programs<\/a>, which\u00a0have\u00a0made\u00a0the\u00a0Sunshine\u00a0State\u00a0the national leader in\u00a0empowering parents to choose the best learning options for their children.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately,\u00a0this debate comes down to one simple question: Who is best equipped to\u00a0make educational decisions for these children? A bureaucrat sitting in an office\u00a0hundreds\u00a0of miles away? Or the parents who know, love, raise and sacrifice for that child every single day?\u201d said Christopher Pastura, schools superintendent for the Diocese of\u00a0St. Petersburg.\u00a0He called the lawsuit \u201cmisguided and wrong\u201d and urged the union to\u00a0withdraw it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot go backward,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Sixth-grader Jeronte Norton, 12, says his family would be unable to afford to send him and his brother to Academy Prep Center in Tampa, which fits him ‘perfectly,’ if the court eliminates ed choice scholarship programs. (Photo by Lisa Buie)<\/p>\n

Supporters began\u00a0speaking out\u00a0within weeks\u00a0after the Florida Education\u00a0Association\u00a0and others sued the state\u00a0on May 5\u00a0over\u00a0its\u00a0three-decade-old\u00a0private school scholarship and charter school\u00a0programs. The latest figures from the Florida Department of Education show that\u00a01 million\u00a0Florida K-12 students are now educated outside of district schools.\u00a0A news conference, organized by former Gov. Jeb Bush\u2019s Foundation for Florida\u2019s\u00a0Future<\/a>, was\u00a0held\u00a0May 14\u00a0outside the Old State Capitol <\/a>in Tallahassee.\u00a0Step Up\u00a0For\u00a0Students,<\/a>\u00a0which\u00a0manages\u00a0virtually\u00a0all\u00a0the state\u2019s K-12 scholarship programs, organized\u00a0Wednesday\u2019s event.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0James Hartman, executive director for IDEA Public Schools<\/a> in\u00a0the Tampa Bay area,\u00a0noted that\u00a0Florida\u00a0charter schools, which\u00a0the law established\u00a0in 1996, now\u00a0serve nearly\u00a0400,000 students on\u00a0more than 700 campuses.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCharter schools are not opposed to public education,\u201d he said. \u201cCharter schools\u00a0are part of public education.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0Hartman\u00a0said he hopes\u00a0that\u00a0as the lawsuit makes\u00a0its\u00a0way through\u00a0the\u00a0courts, the focus can\u00a0stay\u00a0where it belongs\u00a0\u2014\u00a0on students.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the\u00a0low-income\u00a0families who live in\u00a0the\u00a0part of Tampa served by\u00a0Faith\u00a0Action Ministry Alliance\u00a0(FAMA), the scholarship programs are not a luxury but a lifeline.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Students who attend\u00a0the\u00a0FAMA-owned\u00a0Grant Park Christian Academy<\/a>\u00a0share\u00a0what they learn at home,\u00a0said the Rev. Alfred Johnson. That\u00a0elevates\u00a0the educational level\u00a0of an entire community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The Rev. Alfred Johnson says the high-quality education that scholarships make possible elevates students, households, and their communities. (Photo by Lisa Buie) <\/p>\n

\u201cI remember one mother telling us through\u00a0tears,\u202f\u00a0\u2018My children are learning things at school that we\u202fdidn\u2019t\u202feven know in our home.\u202fThey\u2019re\u202fbringing it back home \u2014 and\u202fit\u2019s\u202fchanging our family.\u2019\u201d\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

Johnson said\u00a0county commissioners tell him that\u00a0more programs like\u00a0his\u00a0are needed\u00a0to help those\u00a0living in low-income communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo how can we say we want to save neighborhoods while simultaneously attacking the very programs helping to save them?\u201d\u00a0he\u00a0said.\u00a0\u201cI urge\u00a0the\u202fteachers\u202funion to abandon this lawsuit \u2014 so that we do not abandon our children.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PINELLAS PARK,\u00a0Fla. \u2014\u00a0Surrounded by\u00a0students in crisp\u00a0school uniforms,\u00a0a group of\u00a0educators, faith leaders,\u00a0and families\u00a0urged\u00a0Florida\u2019s\u00a0teachers\u00a0union to drop a lawsuit that\u00a0seeks to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-287259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287259","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=287259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}