By Sierra Bush Rester

In his recent op-ed, school board member Marcus Nicolas correctly points out that public school choice and private school vouchers differ. Public school choice keeps taxpayer dollars within the public system, while vouchers funnel public money into private institutions. However, while public school choice does less harm than vouchers, the distinction is almost moot because school choice, in all its forms, has always been rooted in segregationist policy.
From the freedom of choice plans used to resist desegregation after Brown v. Board of Education to the expansion of Florida’s public school choice program under Jeb Bush, school choice has long been a tool for racial and economic division. Today, these programs still reinforce segregation by allowing privileged families to opt out of struggling public schools while leaving their underprivileged neighbors in underfunded schools. So, while public school choice does keep public funds in public schools, it is also guilty of normalizing the idea that parents should abandon “certain” public schools, thus paving the way for the real Trojan horse of privatization: vouchers.
Now, in 2025, because if the bills being introduced in this legislative session are more evident than ever, school choice (in all its forms) was never about giving parents options; it was and still is about dismantling the public schools system so it can be privatized and resegregated. Don’t believe me? Then, keep reading.
⦁ SB 140 strips elected school boards of control over charter school expansion, allowing the state to convert under-enrolled and low-performing public schools, primarily Title I schools serving Black and Brown children, into “workforce charters.” Translation? Children’s futures will no longer be shaped by ambition but predetermined by zip code.
⦁ SB 102 creates a workforce credentialing system for autistic students, allowing them to earn job skills badges. Sounds helpful? Think again. It provides no guaranteed funding, IDEA compliance, or protections for student self-determination. This mirrors historical efforts to push disabled students into labor rather than higher education.
⦁ SB 52 redefines school buses to include charter and private schools, giving them access to public transportation funds without ensuring ADA compliance. Meanwhile, public schools shoulder additional costs, while private and charter schools remain selective with the students they allow to attend.
⦁ SB 136 guts teacher salary protections by making cost-of-living adjustments optional, eliminating performance-based pay, and reducing financial incentives for teachers to stay in public schools.
If public funds keep flowing into private schools, if teachers continue fleeing due to poor pay and conditions, and if the state can convert struggling schools into workforce charters, what choice do public schools have? They will either struggle to remain open or be taken over by private interests. This is not a choice. It is a caste system disguised as reform.
The worst part? There will be no accountability. Once wealthy children attend private schools, middle-class and disabled students are funneled into workforce programs, and public education is fully privatized, there will be no going back. There will be no accountability, regulation, or public oversight. When corporations control education, there is no free market, only a monopoly.
Thus, investing in and protecting your local public school may be the only way to ensure that your child’s future is determined by you, not by Florida’s corporate caste system.

Sierra Bush Rester is a special education public-school teacher, special needs parent, and lifelong Floridian.