{"id":317618,"date":"2026-06-24T01:57:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T01:57:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/317618\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T01:57:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T01:57:20","slug":"byron-donalds-pitches-world-class-education-system-at-florida-chamber-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/317618\/","title":{"rendered":"Byron Donalds pitches \u2018world-class\u2019 education system at Florida Chamber summit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Byron Donalds, newly endorsed by the Florida Chamber of Commerce\u00a0in his bid for Governor<\/a>,\u00a0took the stage Tuesday to lay out an education agenda he says is critical for keeping Florida\u2019s economy on track.<\/p>\n

At the Florida Learners to Earners Workforce Solutions Summit, Donalds told the audience that Florida\u2019s economy is on the verge of moving beyond its familiar pillars\u2014tourism, agriculture, construction and healthcare. He pointed to finance and commercial space as sectors that are quickly gaining ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re rapidly expanding,\u201d Donalds said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to have two more legs\u201d supporting Florida\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

Donalds cited the steady arrival of financial firms relocating from states like New York, Illinois and California, as well as the ongoing boom in commercial space launches along the Space Coast. Both trends, he argued, will demand a deeper bench of skilled workers than Florida has today.<\/p>\n

To prepare for that future, Donalds outlined what he described as a \u2018world-class\u2019 K-12 education system, anchored by three main initiatives.<\/p>\n

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

The first, called \u2018Read to Succeed,\u2019 would focus on making sure every student reads at or above grade level by the end of third grade. The plan calls for more evidence-based reading instruction and extra tutoring for students who fall behind.<\/p>\n

The second proposal would introduce voluntary \u2018personalized success plans\u2019 starting in middle school. These plans would bring together students, parents and educators to map out individualized paths based on each student\u2019s strengths and career goals.<\/p>\n

Finally, Donalds proposed a \u201cLaunch Pad\u201d initiative that would expand internships, apprenticeships, credentialing opportunities and work-based learning for high school juniors and seniors in partnership with Florida employers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re not going to go to the University of Florida, then why are you in the classroom for five days a week in junior year?\u201d Donalds asked. \u201cMaybe one of those days you should be on the job, actually getting experience at something that you can put your hand to and really begin to build a life with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donalds argued the state\u2019s education system should place greater emphasis on workforce skills alongside traditional college preparation.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThe pathway towards economic viability in the information age \u2026 is going to be based far more on skills attainment, based far more on real-world, on-the-job training than it is going to be the piece of paper that you get when you walk across the stage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Byron Donalds, newly endorsed by the Florida Chamber of Commerce\u00a0in his bid for Governor,\u00a0took the stage Tuesday to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298825,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[445,28,4036,3327,30,131965,29],"class_list":["post-317618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-byron-donalds","tag-florida","tag-florida-chamber","tag-florida-chamber-of-commerce","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-learners-to-earners-workforce-solutions-summit","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317618","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=317618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}