DeSantis' latest education plan targets teachers' unions by ending automatic dues in favor of monthly mailed-in checks

• DeSantis proposed changes that would make it harder for teachers to join and remain in unions.
• He also proposed coupling that with higher teacher pay.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida promised Monday to sign a bill into law that would increase teacher pay by a record amount — but he also wants to clamp down on teachers' unions.

The plan DeSantis outlined at a school board retreat in Orlando would have teachers send a check to their unions every month rather than automatically deduct the dues from their paychecks.

DeSantis' latest so-called "Freedom Blueprint" proposal appears similar to a measure the Florida legislature considered in 2021 and 2022 that the state's largest teachers' union, the Florida Education Association, called "anti-freedom" and "anti-educator."

"It puts big government between educators and their constitutionally guaranteed right to join in union to advocate for their students and profession," Florida Education Association President Andrew Spar said in 2021.

Teachers' unions have been one of the governor's top foes, particularly starting in the fall of 2020 after they resisted his push to reopen schools during the pandemic, and after DeSantis banned mask mandates in the classroom.

Even Charlie Crist, a former congressman and DeSantis' failed 2022 challenger, picked Miami-Dade's teachers' union boss, Karla Hernández-Mats, as his running mate.

DeSantis' plan would create a new hurdle for organized labor in Florida, whose "Right to Work" status is already enshrined in the state constitution. Under current law, Florida workers can opt out of joining a union, which in turn restricts unions from collecting dues from employees who benefit from negotiated worker protections.

The anti-union bills the legislature considered in previous years would have extended not just to teachers but other public employees. Aside from gutting automatic deductions, they would have obligated workers to reaffirm their union membership annually, and obligated unions with fewer than half of workers in their ranks to recertify with the state.

DeSantis is framing his plan on union dues as "paycheck protection" for teachers and said it would "be a more accurate reflection of who wants to be a part of this or not." In his remarks, he coupled the union changes with what he called "the biggest increase" in teacher pay the state has ever done.

"It's more of a guarantee that the money is actually going to go to teachers," he said at the retreat, "and not be frittered away by interest groups who get involved in the school system."

The Florida Education Association told Insider that coupling the two proposals together wouldn't be possible because the teacher pay would be in the state budget, whereas changes to unions would be a piece of legislation "though the governor may link them rhetorically."

The governor's budget will be due 30 days before the legislative session begins in April 2023.

The governor's press secretary, Bryan Griffin, said the office would share more details when they become available.

Florida comes in at No. 48 in the nation for average teacher salaries, according to the National Education Association. State lawmakers and the governor gave teachers bonuses this past year and increased pay — though largely among new teachers, according to the Florida Education Association.

DeSantis acknowledged during his speech that changes to union dues might emaciate the labor groups, but said if teachers aren't paying dues then they should be decertified.

"You shouldn't be able to continue as a zombie organization that doesn't have the support of the people you're supposedly negotiating for," he said.

The last two versions of the anti-union died in committee under opposition from Florida AFL-CIO and the Florida Education Association. GOP Sen. Kathleen Passidomo of Naples, who chaired the Rules Committee during the 2022 legislative session — and now holds even higher ranking as president of the Florida Senate — declined to take it up.

Passidomo's office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment over whether she'd be receptive to the governor's proposal.

Florida voters reelected DeSantis by a historic 20-point margin in November, and also gave him a GOP supermajority in the state House and Senate. The Florida legislature was largely deferential to DeSantis' priorities during his first term, and that trend is expected to continue after he is inaugurated a second time in Tallahassee on January 3, 2023.

DeSantis is considered to be the most formidable challenger for the Republican nomination for president in 2024, should he choose to run.

During the November elections DeSantis made reshaping school boards one of his top priorities, and said Monday that he would continue that fight into the election cycles ahead. Roughly 250 people were in the audience on Monday, including school board members DeSantis endorsed, as well as parent groups, the DeSantis campaign said.