Critical race theory a fake issue. Here are f ive real issues that Florida needs to fix
Florida’s 2022 legislative session has been defined by emotionally charged cultural issues that Gov. DeSantis is pushing — ahead of his reelection bid and rumored presidential aspirations. These include banning critical race theory, removing “unauthorized aliens” from the state and eliminating election fraud.
But these made-up crises have little — if any — impact on Floridians’ lives. To DeSantis’ credit, he has proposed fixes to real issues, but they often are overshadowed by his inflammatory rhetoric on topics like teaching about racism in public schools.
The 60-day legislative session began Tuesday, and the Herald Editorial Board has identified five issues lawmakers must address. We doubt they have the political will to work on all of them, but we’re on the same page as DeSantis and Republican leaders on at least some.
CONDO SAFETY
After the collapse of the Champlain Towers South killed 98 people in June, we expected condo and building inspection reform to be the topic of the 2022 session. But so far we’ve seen no sense of urgency from the Legislature. Contrast that with three groups — a MiamiDade grand jury and task forces of the Florida Bar and the state’s engineering associations — that convened soon after the disaster to come up with recommendations for elected officials.
There are some incremental bills, such as three filed by Miami-Dade GOP Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez that deal with the creation of a statewide online condo database, condo fraud and educating condo board members.
Lawmakers have been reluctant to toughen regulations out of fear they could make condo living, often billed as affordable living, too expensive. At the same time, condo associations’ ability under Florida law to waive maintenance reserves allows them to defer repairs to the point they become too expensive (Champlain residents faced a $15 million maintenance assessment). Experts have advised lawmakers to look into making it harder for them to waive reserves and creating a mechanism to help residents finance repairs with low interest loans. That’s a good place to start.
Those three aforementioned groups have already done the leg work for the Florida Legislature. All we need is political will to put their recommendations into law.
SCHOOL TESTING REFORM
DeSantis is spot on with his vision to scale back high-stakes testing in schools. Teachers and parents have been saying for years standardized testing is ineffective in measuring student success, and it forces teachers to teach for an exam.
The question is whether students will be better off once lawmakers find a replacement