Everyday Latino parents ask a familiar question: “¿Hiciste las asignaciones? (“Have you done your homework?”). This November, Florida parents and voters have homework of their own. When it comes to education, we owe it to our children — and to the communities they will inherit—to look beyond slogans, study the facts and understand how our choices affect not only one family, but entire neighborhoods.
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Public schools are more than buildings. They are public investments, built around neighborhoods where families live, work and build their futures. County leaders consider population, growth and community needs before approving that infrastructure. When public schools lose students and funding, the consequences can ripple outward: programs are cut, buildings are underused, and communities lose resources that help make them strong.
For Latino families, those cuts can be especially meaningful. Bilingual education, cultural courses, art, sports and other programs often depend on stable public funding. When those opportunities disappear from neighborhood schools, families may face longer drives, fewer realistic options or extra costs for programs that should be available close to home.
I understand why parents may want a school that reflects their values, beliefs, or priorities. That desire is real, and it deserves respect. But individual choices can also affect the quality of education available in the wider community. If we weaken public schools, the children growing up alongside our own may have fewer opportunities and that affects all of us.
That is why parents should not give up on the schools they have already helped build. Visit your neighborhood public school. Meet the teachers. Ask questions. Participate in your child’s education. Much of what circulates on social media or in political culture wars does not reflect the full reality of public education, and we should be careful before letting those messages guide decisions that affect a whole community.
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Public schools also prepare students for life in a diverse democracy. Students who learn alongside classmates with different backgrounds, experiences, and points of view gain something that cannot always be measured on a test: the ability to live, work and lead in a pluralistic society. Parents can still teach moral, cultural and religious values at home while supporting public schools that serve everyone.
Choice only matters when real options remain on the table. There are good private and charter schools, but not every family can access them, and not every school carrying a popular label is automatically high quality. Public schools have long been the great equalizer for families with wealth and those without. If we drain them of support, we do not expand choice; we narrow it.
As November approaches, Florida is at a crossroads, especially in education. Do your homework. Look past the headlines. Ask who benefits, who loses, and what kind of schools will remain for the next generation. Then vote for the future your family and your community deserve.
Jimmy Torres Velez of Orlando is a former professor at the University of Puerto Rico and has been a union and community activist for 42 years.
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