In the News
Florida Voters Deserve an Answer from Putnam on HB7069
Florida Voters Deserve an Answer from Putnam on HB7069
MIAMI, FL – All across the state, concerned communities are mobilizing against HB7069. Parents, teachers, superintendents, school boards, and community leaders are all speaking out against HB7069. This includes every declared candidate for governor—every candidate besides Adam Putnam, that is.
While Mayor Andrew Gillum, Congresswoman Gwen Graham, and businessman Chris King have all pushed back against the state legislature’s 278-page disaster of an education bill, Florida voters have yet to hear a decisive response from Putnam.
Putnam, who has been running for office since the age of 22, is doing what he knows best—playing politics.
Putnam knows that HB7069 is massively unpopular with parents and educators, but he can’t risk losing the support of the massive (and well-funded) for-profit charter school movement.
Not unsurprisingly, Putnam has resorted to empty platitudes and vague generalities on the campaign trail.
“Florida voters deserve more than a feel-good bus tour from someone who claims he’s qualified to be the governor,” said FDP spokesperson Johanna Cervone. “Adam Putnam has been a politician since he was 22. He knows better, and he knows that he owes Florida voters an answer on HB7069. Putnam needs to break his silence and give voters a straight answer: do you support a veto of HB7069—yes or no?”
Given the murky timetable of when this legislation might arrive on the governor’s desk, the FDP is demanding that Adam Putnam issue a public statement on HB7069 immediately.
###
Background:
HB7069 is what the Miami Herald calls a, “mammoth education bill“. This 278-page legislation was passed in the span of three days—behind closed doors—with no public input. Critics argue that HB7069 removes school board oversight, removes more than one hundred million in funding for public schools, and would especially impact poor students.