Federal lawmakers passed national school choice legislation in President Trump’s One Big, Beautiful Bill, laying the groundwork — for the first time ever — for educational spending vouchers to be within reach in all fifty states by 2027. But with teachers unions having fought school choice measures every step of the way, the success of federal education spending vouchers will depend on parent voices to demand these dollars for their children.
Now is the time for parents to organize and advocate on behalf of their children the same way unions have demanded what is best for themselves for decades. A great example of grassroots parent mobilization in education comes from Florida in 2005 when thousands of parents marched outside of Florida’s Supreme Court, declaring support for school choice as the teachers union brought a legal suit against the state’s Opportunity Scholarship Program. The plaintiff’s case relied on Florida’s Uniformity Clause that requires a “uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools.” Although only about 700 students were participating in the Opportunity Scholarship Program at the time, the lawsuit was ultimately a threat to all 200,000 students benefitting from state scholarship programs.
Parents were passionate defenders of the programs that offered their children a much-needed exit from their F-rated public schools and into a private school of their choice. Grassroots groups from around the state rallied their members to show up in Tallahassee — and they did. Clad in red shirts and holding homemade signs as they marched, they made headlines in local papers all over the state. Renowned school choice activist Howard Fuller commented at the time, “We’re here to say that it is un-American for only those with money to choose their education.” National outlets like the New York Times and Newsweek weighed in, too, making the school choice debate nationally relevant.
Ultimately, the Florida Supreme Court ruled against the Opportunity Scholarship Program in January 2006. And yet, instead of giving up upon this ruling, Florida’s education reform leaders reimagined school choice in their state. The program was restructured into a tax credit scholarship program, funded by private dollars, that has grown to serve over 500,000 students today. The number of students on Florida’s tax credit scholarship program is larger than the number of students in any one of Florida’s 67 public school districts. It is even larger than the massive Los Angeles Unified School District.
Florida families were fighting to protect a freedom they experienced and valued. What makes the federal voucher fight more difficult in some ways, 20 years later, is that the majority of families in blue states still have not experienced the benefits of school choice personally. Florida families in 2005 were less vulnerable to anti-voucher media manipulation because they had personally experienced how school choice changed their children’s lives.
The Florida story provides America an example of what it means to give children access to the education they deserve. At this historic moment in American history, families must step up and carry the torch to the finish line. Governors — who can choose whether or not to opt into the program — must prioritize children’s futures despite any pressure they face from teachers unions. In fact, the opt-in provision bill ensures that sunlight will be the best disinfectant for any governor who stands in the way of parents and life-changing educational opportunities for their children, particularly when bipartisan support for education freedom is at a historic high.
The One Big, Beautiful Bill’s legislative changes have helped Americans see what is possible, but will ultimately require civic engagement from American citizens and courageous state leadership from governors to make what is possible accessible to all.