Weak public education hurts all
I question the recklessness of Florida’s ongoing hollowing out of public education through its school voucher program. Recent reporting shows the consequences: as of Aug. 27, area public school enrollment has dropped by 12,000 students.
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The Orlando Sentinel’s 2023 investigative series, “Schools Without Rules,” highlighted a troubling reality — private schools receiving public dollars operate with little to no oversight, especially when compared to the rigorous standards imposed on public schools. Yet Florida continues to reduce funding for public schools while still expecting them to provide essential services such as speech therapy, occupational therapy and special education, along with meeting measurable academic standards not required of voucher-funded private institutions.
We were also reminded of the dangers of state overreach when Attorney General James Uthmeier attempted to pressure Catholic schools into granting vaccine exemptions contrary to their own policies meant to protect community health (“Florida attorney general, a Catholic, fights state bishops over school vaccines,” Aug. 23). This kind of interference should concern anyone who values both educational integrity and religious autonomy.
When public education is weakened, the entire population suffers. Lower-quality schooling — an inevitable result of fewer resources — diminishes our shared civic and economic future. I hope voters will consider the consequences of Tallahassee’s decisions as they head into the coming election season.
— Amy Gordon, Maitland
Support animal welfare
A proposed addition to the Farm Bill threatens to undermine state animal welfare laws. The Save Our Bacon Act (SOBA), backed by large pork industry interests, including Smithfield Foods, would limit the ability of states and farmers to implement and uphold animal welfare standards (“Animal welfare rules might be rolled back by Congress,” June 10).
As the first state to ban gestation crates, which are enclosures that restrict pregnant pigs from turning around freely, Florida demonstrated its commitment to humane farming practices and the values shared by both farmers and citizens. Public support for these protections remains overwhelming. A 2025 national poll found that 84% of Americans believe confining mother pigs in gestation crates is unacceptable, showing broad consensus across political and geographic divides that this practice is cruel and unnecessary.
If SOBA is included in the Farm Bill, it could override voter-approved laws in states that have also taken a stand against gestation crates, including California’s Proposition 12 and Massachusetts’ Question 3. Such federal overreach would undermine the will of voters and weaken hard-fought animal welfare protections.
Floridians neither want nor need foreign-owned corporations and profit-driven special interests threatening standards that reflect our values. Sens. Rick Scott and Ashley Moody have previously supported measures to protect animal welfare. An Agriculture Committee meeting is set for later this month; I respectfully urge Scott and Moody to oppose and publicly denounce any version of the Save Our Bacon Act and to vote against its inclusion in the Farm Bill. I encourage readers to ask the same of our leaders.
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— Marissa Lamperis, Orlando
Normalizing the abnormal
North Carolina played host to a G20 finance ministers’ summit this week. For the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Russia attended. Who invited them? The American president, Donald Trump.
Why aren’t we talking about the fact that Trump has a seeming obsession with autocratic leaders like Vladimir Putin?
Why aren’t we talking about the fact that the president has fallen asleep, by some accounts, in nearly a dozen public meetings?
Why aren’t we talking about the fact that, usually late at night, the president posts “AI slop” to his social media account and hurls misogynistic insults at female journalists?
The sitting vice president has been on a book tour. The Secretary of Health and Human Services hosts a cooking show. The Secretary of Transportation posts family trips on YouTube. The Attorney General has said he “won’t be independent” from the White House.
We have normalized that which is abnormal.
Sixty-one days until the midterms.
— George Devitt, Maitland
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