DeSantis Talks ‘Paycheck Protection’ Legislation, Fight Against Unions in School Board Races

ORLANDO (FLV) – Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Monday he wants lawmakers to pass “paycheck protection” legislation during a speech at a school board retreat.

The governor spoke at an event called “The Freedom Blueprint: DeSantis Education Agenda School Board Retreat.”

He wants legislation to prevent the government from deducting union dues from teacher paychecks. Instead, the governor said teachers would need to write checks to the unions.

“First of all, you totally, you do not have to join teachers union. But if you do, the government, we don’t want to play a role in deducting anybody’s money so you write every month for the dues and you do it that way,” DeSantis explained.

That maximizes freedom to choose. And I think it’ll be a more accurate reflection of who wants to be apart of this or not.

Gov. Ron DeSantis

Earlier this year, Republicans proposed legislation that would allow Florida public employees to decide for whether they want to become a union member. Specifically, it mandated that dues be reauthorized annually to prevent unions from automatically charging people who may not want to stay in the union.

It also would require workers to confirm they want to participate in a union before money is taken out of their paycheck.

During the speech, DeSantis said teachers unions get behind liberal candidates in conservative counties. School board races in Florida are nonpartisan.

“But they’ll dress them up as if they’re reflecting the community’s values and it’s hard to know as a voter because you get this information, this literature, being sent to you that’s union funded,” he explained. “And it seems like the candidates are good and saying the right things and then obviously once they get on the school board, they basically vote left, which is not consistent with the values of those communities.”

Earlier this year, DeSantis made the unprecedented move to endorse a slew of 30 school board candidates with 24 of those candidates claiming victory.

“This is really, I think just the beginning. I think what we’ve been able to do is show that these races matter,” DeSantis said. “You’re already seeing some of these school boards making big changes in their school districts, which I think is very, very encouraging to see people wanting to reform.”

For example, DeSantis-endorsed school board members in Sarasota and Broward counties ousted their current superintendents. The Brevard Public Schools Superintendent said he would step down after newly-elected school board members expressed their interest for a change in leadership during their first public meeting.

Florida saw a red wave in November. While the governor applauded the high turnout for Republicans, he cautioned people not to count on the wins being the “norm” in every election going forward.

“So these are important fights going forward. I think a lot of the teachers unions were surprised at how much effort all of us put into these races,” DeSantis said. “Well guess what they’re going to do? They’re going to double down and they’re going to come at it even harder, guns blazing, because this is an entrenched interest that they get their money from being able to be involved in these systems.”

DeSantis asked the crowd “what other school boards can we flip in ’24?” as school board members began shouting county names during the speech.

The governor also talked about other education priorities include increasing teacher pay and teacher recruitment.

“And we’re going to do all those things to make sure we have really good people in the classroom,” DeSantis said.

Amber Jo Cooper contributed to this report.