He is at it again! The Governor Dictator will not stop until he controls every facet of our lives, especially our reproductive freedoms. That is why we need you to contact your own legislators and the committee members below regarding HB 225 Interscholastic and Intrascholastic Activities.

Background Information:

We discussed HB 225 this past Tuesday, Feb. 14 at our Legislative Team meeting, which was the night before the bill was to be heard in the first of two assigned House committees. We wondered why the Republican majority was fast-tracking this bill with an innocuous title during the early Interim Committee weeks of the Legislative Session.

The bill centers on allowing nonprofit athletic organizations other than the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) to be approved by the State Board of Education and Commissioner of Education, and to allow for expanded high school memberships within these organizations to private and home school entities. It also wants to give schools participating in championship games or series “the opportunity to make brief opening remarks at the event.”

While we recognized that allowing for “opening remarks” could lead to prayers at public school events, and it made us uneasy, we were more concerned that something was going on behind the scenes related to control of the FHSAA, especially since they had recently voted to keep private medical history questions, including menstrual history, from being submitted to school administrators. We decided to stay neutral on the bill until we could follow it a bit more and hear the legislators’ debates.

We got our answer  this wee when the House Education Quality Subcommittee voted to adopt an amendment (364047) that will:

• Reduce the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) board of directors from 16 to 9 members;
• Require that all members of the board be appointed by Gov. DeSantis;
• Require that any changes to the FHSAA bylaws, hiring of the FHSAA Executive Director, and FHSAA budget will be approved by the State Board of Education under the direction of the Commissioner of Education (all DeSantis appointees.)

What does this mean?

All we know is that the original bill was filed in January and this amendment was not adopted until AFTER the FHSAA board voted to keep student athlete medical information private. And we know that DeSantis and his legislative puppets will do anything to control our reproductive rights and to uncover any trans teen playing on girls’ sports teams who has not had a menstrual period. He will do anything to blur the lines of church and state separation. And he will do anything to erase groups or individuals who publicly rebuke him and his policies.

This bill now has only one more committee stop – Education & Employment – before it will be voted on the House floor. Please contact the Education & Employment committee members below AND your own legislators. Tell them that enough is enough! You are against giving total control of the FHSAA board of directors to any Governor, and that you want the language from Amendment 364047 stripped out of this bill.

And please alert friends, family, neighbors, and others. Use social media posts and letters-to-the-editor to encourage everyone to join you in this pro-democracy fight.  

Please also contact your local elected legislators:
Flagler County Representative and Speaker of the House: Paul Renner
paul.renner@myfloridahouse.gov
(tele) 850-717-5019

Flagler County Senator:  Travis Hutson
hutson.Travis.web@flsenate.gov
(tele) 850-487-5007