Like most Floridians, Charlie Crist and Karla Hernandez believe every child in Florida should have the freedom to learn and to thrive. Together, they have a plan to improve the lives of Florida's students and educators alike. In this month’s episode of Educating from the Heart, we talk with them about how they will increase educators’ pay and retirement benefits and lower healthcare costs while also making sure educators have the time, resources and freedom they need to do their jobs.

Episode 20 Show Notes:

Guests

Show Resources

Transcript

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Guests Congressman Charlie Crist, candidate for governor United Teachers of Dade President Karla Hernandez, candidate for lieutenant governor  

Resources Crist/Hernandez Freedom to Learn plan'Parental Rights' movement leaves out these Florida parents  (USA Today)Ron DeSantis targets teachers with demagoguing and fear-mongering (Florida Politics) Gov. Ron DeSantis leads a nationwide shift to politicize school board races (Georgia Public Broadcasting)Protecting Public Education in the 2022 Election (NEA)

Transcript Andrew Spar, FEA President: Hi, this is FEA president Andrew Spar. To stay on top of all the latest news and issues impacting our public schools, be sure to follow FEA on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For more information on this podcast, visit FEAweb.org/podcast. Sharon Nesvig: You're listening to Educating from the Heart. Thank you for joining our lively conversations with support professionals, parents and students as they share issues that matter most in our public schools. Here are your hosts, Tina Dunbar and Luke Flynt. Tina Dunbar, Host: Welcome back to Educating from the Heart. I'm Tina here with Luke, and we've been spending a lot of time thinking about voting, and we're watching for our vote by mail ballots. Luke, have you received your mail ballot?Luke Flynt, Host: I am so excited, Tina, because not only have I received my vote by mail ballot, on my ballot are two people at the top of the ticket who we know will support students, educators, and public education. We sat down with them recently for episode 20 of our podcast with Charlie Crist and Karla Hernandez.  Tina: FEA President Andrew Spar kicks off our podcast conversation.Andrew Spar, FEA President: So, it is so exciting today to have the next governor of the state of Florida join us, Charlie Crist. And as an educator what we know about Charlie Crist is when he was governor, he chose to stand on the side of teachers, staff, and students in the state of Florida at a really crucial point in public education in the state of Florida. He understands the importance of pay, being able to pay your rent, pay for your bills. He understands the importance of making sure you have the right to do your job in the classroom.He's someone who wants to stop the teacher and staff bashing and lift up those of us who work in our public schools. And so much so that he put a teacher on the ticket. So, Congressman Crist, why'd you put a teacher on the ticket?Congressman, Charlie Crist: Because I'm smart. No, seriously, Andrew, thank you so much. It's great to be with you and your membership and teachers all across the state and, you know, people that help out in so many other ways in the cafeteria and helping get our kids to school safely.You know, we have a shortage right now, 9,000 when you couple teachers and support staff together. And that's just a crying shame to me. And by picking Karla to be the lieutenant governor, the next lieutenant governor of Florida, I wanted to make a statement about how important teachers are, the difference they make in our lives and the lives of our children is significant,