• The Florida Education Association published its 2022 voter toolkit, which endorses a series of candidates, primarily Democrat, across various statewide races
• The labor union endorsed Charlie Crist for governor
• The union also advocates for the retention of just one Supreme Court Justice: Jorge Labarga
• The group takes no position on Constitutional Amendments 1 and 3, but suggests members vote yes on Amendment 2, which seeks to abolish the Constitutional Revision Commission

The Florida Education Association (FEA) published its 2022 voter toolkit, endorsing a series of mostly Democrat candidates, as well as opining on Supreme Court Justice retentions and constitutional amendments.

Having publicly endorsed Democrat gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist in May, the organization reiterates its pledge and highlights Crist’s educational platform which includes increasing average teacher salaries and strengthening the teacher recruitment pipeline.

“Throughout his political career, Crist has been a strong supporter of Florida’s students and public schools. As governor, he stood up to defend teachers from destructive legislation affecting their salaries, evaluations, and job security,” says the group. “After he is elected as governor this fall, Crist pledges to fully fund public schools to ensure that all students have the resources they need to succeed.”

The union also weighed in on House and Senate races, endorsing mostly Democrats across the state. Just five Republicans — Ed Hooper and Joe Gruters for the Senate and Fred Hawkins, Daniel Perez, and Juan Ferenandez-Barquin for the House — were given a seal of approval.

While failing to explain why candidates were endorsed, a commonality among a majority of those backed by the FEA is a history of working with the group to craft policy language and regulations.

In a published statement, FEA President Andrew Spar negates the suggestion that the group solely endorses Democrats.

“Public education has always been and must always be a non-partisan issue,’ said Spar. “What we must do is ask all candidates where they stand on good policy for Florida’s public schools and our professions. We should ask them, “What are you doing to address the low pay for teachers and staff?” “What are you going to do about the massive teacher and staff shortages?” “What are you doing to address the impacts of Covid on student learning?”

Of the five Supreme Court Justices appearing on the ballot, FEA endorses just one: Justice Jorge Labarga. Claiming that the four remaining justices — Charles Canady, John Couriel, Jamie Grosshans, and Ricky Polston — are “out of touch” with FEA’s core values, it recommends its member vote no on retaining the foursome.

As for Constitutional amendments, FEA votes yes to just Amendment 2, which sets out to abolish the Constitution Revision Commission. Amendments 1 and 3, which both alter property tax regulations were given a ‘no position’ status.

The FEA is a statewide federation of teacher and education workers’ labor unions in the US state of Florida. With 145,000 members, it is the largest labor union in the state.

According to its own statistics, 90 percent of the union’s voters cast ballots on election days, with a majority of that group adhering to FEA voter toolkits.

FEA School Board Endorsements 

FEA Senate Endorsements 

FEA House Endorsements