TALLAHASSEE, FL – Today, the Daryl Parks campaign released a statement condemning legislation passed by Corey Simon to defund public education by $900 million, as schools in Madison County are slated to close. Madison County announced its intention to consolidate its last three stand alone elementary schools into one school, due to fiscal restraints. Meanwhile, Simon has received massive campaign contributions from out of state corporations, who are siphoning resources from our public school systems. 

“Make no mistake, we are facing school closures and educators potentially losing their jobs because we are not prioritizing the needed funding to ensure our public schools are competitive,” said Parks. “Instead, we have prioritized defunding public education and Corey Simon has been a leader in this effort through passage of his legislation that defunded public schools by $900 million. Corey Simon’s legislation has taken away millions of dollars from our children and all the teachers and administrators that help to ensure a strong public school system. This is another example of Corey Simon standing in the way of the basic needs of North Florida families, while helping corporate interests benefit from our hard earned tax dollars. Corey Simon is complicit in the backward thinking that somehow it makes more sense to spend millions fighting book bans in court instead of funding our public schools.”

Parks has been a community leader, advocate, and outspoken voice for change for nearly 30 years. As a State Senator, Parks will prioritize fighting to lower costs for hardworking families, expanding access to quality affordable healthcare, ensuring women can make their own healthcare decisions and reversing the impacts of extreme policies supported by Simon that have prioritized culture wars ahead of the everyday needs and rising costs that are squeezing working families.

Learn more about Daryl Parks and his campaign at DarylForFlorida.com.