(Photo by Caysea Stone)
ORLANDO | The Orange County Democratic Party hosted a press conference and luncheon March 4 in association with the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association in an effort to raise awareness regarding potential education budget cuts from the Trump administration.
The press conference took place at the offices of the Orange County CTA, and welcomed a packed room filled with concerned educators, parents and community members. The CTA President, Clinton McCracken, kicked off the panel of speakers referencing the newspaper clippings all along the walls of the building, indicating the labor union’s extensive history in Orange County.
“As you look around our union hall, you’ll see pieces of this union’s history on our walls,” said McCracken. “A collage of our fights, victories and stories of our united strength over the years.”
The CTA President made it clear that the morals and values of the labor union have persisted since its founding, championing teachers rights and respect, as well as student’s access to education. He noted that teachers’ salaries in Florida rank 50th in the country, saying “Our students deserve a teaching workforce that can afford to stay in this profession.”
As a student who grew up in poverty, McCracken credits his access to public education as the reason for his success. However, discussions surrounding defunding the Department of Education puts low-income and other marginalized students at risk, he stated.
“Our society is stronger when we value diversity, when we treat others with equity and when all are included at the table of opportunity,” said McCracken. “We must have a fully funded public education for all students, regardless of zip code, income or learning needs.”
McCracken successfully proposed for the District to add “gender identity and expression” to the OCPS nondiscrimination policy in 2011 and later advocated for the District to designate October as LGBTQ+ History and Awareness Month.
The Trump administration has made it abundantly clear that the president intends to axe significant Department of Education programs if not the agency as a whole, calling the department a “con job.” On March 3, Linda McMahon, the notable former wrestling executive as well as the head of the Small Business Administration, was confirmed as Trump’s Education Secretary after echoing Trump’s calls to dismantle the Education Department.
Two weeks prior to the confirmation, the U.S Department of Education announced that it would cut over $600 million in teacher training grants that were educating teachers in “divisive Ideologies.” The department also canceled 18 grants, totaling $226 million, that provided support and materials to state education systems after accusing the organizations of “race-based discrimination and gender-identity ideology.”
Former Brevard County District 3 School Board member and current chair of Educated We Stand, Jennifer Jenkins, noted disparities between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ funding of the school choice voucher system and the nearly 90% of students that attend public school in the state of Florida.
“90% of parents already made a choice,” said Jenkins. “The Trump Administration doesn’t want stronger schools, they want people to be uninformed and too broken to fight back.”
Private education vouchers cost the state of Florida a total of $3.2 billion ($2.1 billion to Florida Empowerment Scholarship vouchers and $1.1 billion to Florida Tax Credit Scholarship vouchers) during the 2023-2024 school year. The budget approved for Florida public schools Base Student Allocation (BSA) for the 2025-2026 school year increased by 1.78%, however the Florida Education Association says that the budget still “fails to make any meaningful impact.”
The event also featured executive vice-president of the American Federation of Teachers labor union, Evelyn DeJesus. The vice-president was elected in 2014 and is the first Latina officer in the union’s 109-year history.
DeJesus co-chairs the AFT Latino Issues Task Force and serves as the presiding officer of the AFT Asian American and Pacific Islander Task Force, the AFT LGBTQIA+ Task Force and the AFT Native American and Indigenous Task Force. She discussed her own experience as an educator, and a mother, when giving her speech at the CTA press conference.
“This is about the future of this country, it’s about the future of our children,” said DeJesus. “I think of my grandchildren 21, 20, 19- 3 in college, full scholarship, I fight for them.”
March 4 marked the beginning of the legislative session in Florida, the House maintains a super-majority in favor of Republicans. Orange County Democrats President, Samuel Vilchez Santiago, reminded guests of the special elections in Congressional Districts 1 and 6, where two Democrats are on the ballot. Santiago closed the conference with a call-to-action to all those attending.
“Finally, join us in peaceful protest and join us in making sure that they [government officials] hear and understand that we are watching them and that we will come for their seats.”
The Orange County Democrats and AFT were both in coalition with 50501 and nonprofit Voices of Florida for their March 4 protests. The protests occurred nationwide with more than 20 taking place across Florida including one at Orlando City Hall.
