Broward County Schools & Project SAFE
If you are a Broward County resident and are a parent of a school-aged child, you are most likely aware of the school board’s decision to mandate masks for all students and teachers for the 2021-2022 school year. This decision has come with a variety of sanctions imposed on the school district and has been discussed multiple times in the state court system. Currently, the school board is being fined for its decision to directly defy Governor Ron Desantis’ order that the masking of children must be a parental choice.
What you may not be aware of is on September 28, 2021, Broward County Schools was awarded the Federal Project SAFE grant. This grant is currently being held by only one other school board in the state of Florida, Alachua. Project SAFE is yet another federal grant that sounds great, but is anything but! Project SAFE is a federal government overreach that is providing money directly to school boards defying state leaders. What does this mean for you and your child?
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Summary:
Why Do States Have Authority Over Education?
If you have ever moved from one state to another with children, you have undoubtedly felt the difference in the schooling in your new local area. From the curriculum to the state standards, schooling differs from state to state. Why is this?
Free Public Education was not written into the constitution. Because the majority of school funding comes from state and local taxes, states have the power and control over schooling. This ensures that the local population of an area is getting the schooling needed for the specific needs and demographics of that area.
Each state has a Department of Education, responsible for funding and overarching standards and rules. The department of education rules and expectations vary greatly from state to state. States have always controlled education with little interference from the federal government, until now.
What is Project SAFE?
Project SAFE is a federal grant. The acronym stands for Supporting America’s Families and Educators, but this wording in and of itself assumes the federal government knows what to do and how to best support the opinions, beliefs, and medical interventions needed for all families and teachers across the nation. The most abhorrent part of this grant is that it is not provided to all states and schools. This grant has been specifically created to support school boards who have chosen to defy state educational orders leading to that board being financially penalized.
Project SAFE is a push for school boards to conform to CDC recommendations and vaccination suggestions. By taking this grant money, it seems to be a real possibility that eventually all students and teachers in that system will be required to get the COVID vaccine. This is the wording directly from the US Department of Education,
“This includes calling on all states to adopt vaccine mandates for all school employees, encouraging schools to use American Rescue Plan and other federal funds to regularly test students and school staff for COVID-19, and using the Department of Education’s full legal authority to protect students’ access to in-person instruction.”
What Does This Grant Mean for BCPS Parents?
Schools are already hurting from a teacher shortage. Students need good teachers and good teachers are experienced. Parents in Broward county should be worried about BCPS receiving this grant. As mentioned above, this grant offsets the financial burden placed on the school board members for directly defying state orders. The school board has applied for this grant and, upon receiving the grant, is ultimately agreeing to all aspects written into it. This means required masking of students and teachers will be permanent until the CDC says otherwise, regardless of state ruling. Additionally, this means teachers and students could potentially be required to receive the COVID 19 vaccine. If you don;t know why this is dangerous, see our last article titled Vaccine Passports & Promoted Segregation.
BCPS leaders will now be receiving an offset of their financial penalty, requiring more from teachers and school staff members when the burden was theirs to carry. According to Mint, the average teacher salary in Broward County is $48,500. According to BCPS, “In August 2021, the Florida Department of Education began withholding $35,080 each month from the District’s funding allocation. This amount represents 1/12 of all nine Broward County School Board members’ annual salaries.” Let’s do some math. When figured, this total would come out to $3897/month for each of the nine school board members. Multiplying that by 12 (monthly) this is a loss of about $47000 to each of the school board members for the year- almost the average salary of teachers in their district. School board members are simply being paid too much and only thinking of themselves.
With the pay teachers receive partnered with the constant barrage on their job performance, working incredibly long hours, changing strategies and teaching methods on a dime, and now the potential of forced vaccinations, a tipping point may finally be reached. For many exhausted educators, enough will be enough. Teachers will quit.
Students need highly experienced, loving teachers. Students need consistency. Students need to see leadership acting as leaders. Teaching concerns aside, eligible students will potentially be required to become vaccinated as well. Whether you are for or against vaccines in general, it should strike the general population as odd that an experimental vaccine would be mandated in a state where vaccine mandates are not allowed, regardless of the age of the individual. Especially due to the fact that COVID19 has been shown to affect children less severely overall. Something is wrong here.
Government Overreach
For a government that is losing patience with its citizens for not taking an experimental vaccine and pushing for requirements and penalties for anyone not conforming to their rules, it’s interesting that they are so willing to American spend tax dollars on supporting entities who are going against state authority. Isn’t this a government pushing for its people to be rule-abiding and supporting governmental regulations?
Apparently not. It seems they are more concerned with their rules being followed, even if that means spending federal tax dollars on overreaching their authority and going against states regarding state schooling decisions.
Broward County School Board members should be ashamed of themselves. Project SAFE was not a grant that was applied for to help students or teachers, it is simply a method to offset the financial burden of not doing what they are mandated by the state to do.
