The Florida Senate will soon determine the fate of Adam Kissel’s nomination to serve on the Board of Trustees at the University of West Florida (UWF). If Kissel’s next Committee stop goes no better than his first one, it will be curtains for the former Pinellas County high school valedictorian.

Which would be quite a shame. For a reason few people seem to be considering.

Six years ago, the presidents of Florida’s 12 state universities joined Florida’s chancellor of higher education in signing a joint statement on campus free expression — the first system-wide statement of its kind in the nation.

Not surprisingly, the Florida statement elicited much-deserved praise from free speech advocates all over the country.

It also received well-deserved praise here in the Sunshine State where many observers recognize that if Florida’s higher education system can distinguish itself as a haven for free speech and viewpoint diversity, our schools will have an easier time competing against the older and more storied institutions that tend to dominate national “best colleges” rankings.

Sadly, six years after the release of the Florida Statement, only four of the state’s 12 state universities have modified their campus speech policies sufficiently to bring them into alignment with the historic statement their presidents signed. Accordingly, only four Florida schools — the University of Florida (UF), the University of North Florida (UNF), the University of South Florida (USF), and Florida State University (FSU) — currently hold a “green light” rating for free speech from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).

Since the University of West Florida is not on that list, Kissel said bringing UWF up to “green light” status would be one of his first priorities as a trustee.

Interestingly, Kissel was the only nominee for any state university to reference the importance of campus free speech in his Senate testimony. And he was the only trustee candidate to fail to receive the Committee’s endorsement.

Coincidence? Almost surely. Indeed, most of the Senators who voted against Kissel’s nomination expressed concern about: (1) the fact that he has championed unconventional ideas, like calling for the privatization of a problem-riddled state university in West Virginia; and/or (2) the fact that Kissel no longer lives in Florida.

Call me crazy, but the notion of privatizing troubled state universities doesn’t sound any more outlandish than converting troubled K-12 public schools into charter schools. And Florida has (wisely) embraced turnaround strategies of this sort in K-12 education.

Moreover, if it takes enlisting someone who is no longer a state resident to remind the University of West Florida of its pledge to promote campus free speech, then I say bring him on.

After all, when Florida State University went hunting for a good college football coach back in the mid-1970s, they didn’t confine themselves to the Sunshine State. They hired a fresh-thinking guy from Alabama who was coaching a team in West Virginia (Bobby Bowden). Similarly, when the University of Florida sought a “head ball coach” in the early 1990s, they turned to a creative play-caller from Tennessee who was experiencing coaching success in North Carolina, Steve Spurrier.

Now, obviously, university trustees play a very different role from college football coaches. But they share this in common: oftentimes, the guy with fresh ideas, the guy who is zigging when everyone else is zagging, is the guy you need to help get your school to the next level. And nowhere is it more important to have ziggers — and not just zaggers — than in university life.

Indeed, part of the reason campus free expression is so important is because the pursuit of truth and the pursuit of excellence are both hindered when conventional wisdom cannot be challenged — when outside-the-box ideas can’t be entertained.

So, when the Florida Senate takes a second look at the candidacy of Kissel, I hope our state’s highest deliberative body will see things more clearly than before.

Rather than kissing Kissel goodbye, I hope the Senate will embrace his well-deserved nomination.

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William Mattox is the senior director of the Stan Marshall Center for Education Freedom at The James Madison Institute.

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Last year, a Judge’s Baker Act order slipped through the cracks during the Thanksgiving holiday in Daytona Beach. The man who should have been Baker Acted ended up barricading himself in a condo, firing more than 740 rounds — including shots at a Sheriff’s Office vehicle.

The man ended up being killed by law enforcement. Now, Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed legislation (HB 513) that officials hope will prevent a future tragedy from happening again.

It sets a deadline for Clerks of Courts to electronically transmit specified petitions, including orders for an involuntary examination under the Baker Act and risk protection orders.

“This bill says that once an order is signed, it must be transmitted to the Sheriff’s Office within six hours,” said Rep. Richard Gentry, the bill’s sponsor, during the first committee stop in front of the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee last month. “The Sheriff is always on duty. He’s always got a shift there. And it’s always possible to get these orders to them. They’re ready for them.”

The Baker Act is used when a person who is deemed a risk to hurting himself or others is placed in an involuntary hold for up to 72 hours to get examined and receive emergency mental health services.

Gentry, an Astor Republican, told the story of a man’s wife going before a Judge Nov. 26 to get an ex parte Baker Act. The Judge granted the order, which was immediately transferred to the Clerk’s Office.

But “that order sat there inadvertently over the Thanksgiving holiday,” according to Gentry. The man ended up barricading himself with a gun Nov. 28.

HB 513 was presented on the Governor’s desk April 11 and DeSantis signed it Friday, the final day before it would have expired.

The bill had passed the House with a 108-0 vote April 3, followed by the Senate approving it with a 37-0 vote April 9.

Rep. Taylor Yarkosky said he was shocked there was not a current deadline in place. “I can’t believe we have to pass a law to do this, or I can’t believe there’s not already a law that does this,” the Montverde Republican said during the committee debate last month. “This is the kind of stuff that absolutely matters to the everyday quality life for those that we get the honor to serve.”

As of Monday, DeSantis has signed 10 new bills so far during the Regular Session that is scheduled to end May 2.

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As a former public-school teacher in Miami-Dade and now a state legislator, I’ve seen firsthand what works — and what doesn’t — in our public education system.

Let’s be clear: Florida’s public schools are not failing due to local mismanagement; they are struggling because of chronic underfunding and years of state-level policy decisions that have diverted resources away from our classrooms.

In a recent op-ed, Rep. Fabián Basabe suggests that our public schools should be grateful for meager and insufficient increases in state education funding — somehow implying that a lack of local accountability is to blame for underfunded and underperforming schools. We must all reject this damaging narrative, which creates division instead of delivering solutions. Our children cannot afford such distractions from the real work of fully funding our schools, raising teacher pay to competitive levels, reducing class sizes, and ensuring that all children — regardless of ZIP code — receive a high-quality education.

Florida has long ranked at or near the bottom nationally in per-pupil spending, and no amount of spin changes that clear fact. Our students and teachers are doing the best they can under enormous constraints. The blame lies not with them, but with a system designed to underdeliver.

We don’t need political theatrics from those unwilling to fight for Florida’s students and educators. We need real investments in our state’s future. That starts with restoring equitable funding to our public schools, strengthening the teacher pipeline, protecting programs that challenge and inspire students, and working with — not against — local school districts.

The recent changes in how accelerated courses, such as AP, IB, AICE, and Dual Enrollment, are funded will harm our students, particularly in low-income and underserved communities. These aren’t “add-ons;” these programs are lifelines — providing access to college-level coursework, scholarship opportunities, and academic enrichment that levels the playing field for students who might otherwise be left behind.

These changes, pushed by the GOP-controlled Florida Legislature, are not about transparency or accountability. They are about weakening public education while propping up alternatives like private school vouchers — now able to be used with no income eligibility cap — and charter schools, many of which operate with little to no oversight and no requirement to meet the same standards as traditional public schools.

I support transparency. I support oversight. And I believe we cannot scapegoat our public schools while ignoring the role of the state in underfunding, undermining, and undercutting them. Teachers are leaving the profession in droves. Class sizes are growing. Arts and enrichment programs are being slashed. Still, somehow, public school districts are asked to do more with less.

I taught in Miami-Dade classrooms for nearly a decade. I saw the brilliance of our students, the dedication of our educators, and the magic that happens when communities are given the resources they need to thrive. I also saw schools struggling to provide basic materials. I saw students with special needs waiting too long for services. I saw overburdened teachers stretched thin trying to meet unrealistic and unfunded mandates from Tallahassee.

It’s easy to write an op-ed pointing fingers. It’s harder to roll up your sleeves and fix what’s broken.

I ran for office to do the hard work. I’m here to advocate for the students and families who depend on public schools — not tear those schools down with rhetoric and misinformation. Let me be clear, public schools are ALSO parental choice, one of which over 70% of parents in Florida exercise. We cannot prioritize one over the other by depleting the resources of one to fund the other.

Let’s stop using education as a political pawn and start treating it as the public good it is. Our children deserve nothing less.

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Ashley Gantt serves District 109 in the Florida House of Representatives.  Gantt is an attorney and a former public-school teacher who taught in Miami-Dade County Public Schools for seven years before dedicating her career to public service.

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