Florida doesn’t need more roadmaps. It needs more investment.

The question facing Florida is not whether students need more roadmaps. It is whether the state will continue investing in the schools expected to deliver them.

Congressman and gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds recently proposed creating personalized educational roadmaps for every Florida student.

Before proposing new solutions, Donalds should recognize that many of the opportunities being promoted as innovation already exist in Florida’s traditional district public schools.

Long before personalized learning became a political talking point, public School Districts were offering career academies, magnet programs, dual enrollment, Advanced Placement courses, International Baccalaureate programs, career and technical education, apprenticeships and industry certifications.

Florida’s public school districts did not wait for a roadmap. They have been creating opportunities for students for decades.

The investment in the district public schools that created those opportunities, however, has not kept pace. Meanwhile, Florida has expanded public funding for alternative education providers far faster than it has expanded transparency and accountability.

Florida’s public school districts are being asked to provide more services, more opportunities, more technology, more mental health support and more career preparation than ever before. At the same time, education funding has consistently lagged behind inflation and the rising cost of educating students.

When funding fails to keep pace with inflation, districts lose purchasing power even when nominal funding increases. Teacher salaries, employee benefits, transportation, instructional materials, technology, insurance and facility maintenance all cost more each year. The result is a growing disconnect between expectations and investment.

Florida does not have an education pathway problem. Florida has an education investment problem.

The challenge facing Florida is not creating new programs. It is sustaining the existing opportunities.

That is why Donalds’ proposal cannot be viewed in isolation. A roadmap does not create opportunities if the institutions responsible for delivering it lack the resources to do so. A personalized roadmap is only as effective as the system responsible for delivering it.

Qualified teachers, school counselors, career specialists, mental health professionals and specialized programs do not exist without sustained investment. A roadmap on paper means little if the people responsible for helping students navigate it are stretched thinner every year.

For more than a decade, Florida has expanded charter schools, vouchers, education savings accounts, microschools and other taxpayer-funded alternatives. Families have every right to seek the educational environment they believe is best for their children.

This is not an argument against choice. It is an argument for informed choice.

Public dollars require accountability. That is how informed choices are made.

Florida has directed billions of taxpayer dollars to charter schools, voucher programs and other alternative education providers. Transparency and accountability, however, have not expanded alongside that investment. If public dollars come with public obligations for district public schools, they should come with public obligations for every institution receiving taxpayer funding.

District public schools operate with public oversight, publicly reported performance data, elected governing boards and an obligation to serve every child who enrolls.

Florida has repeatedly experienced charter school closures that have disrupted students and families while raising questions about financial oversight and academic performance. Meanwhile, taxpayer dollars increasingly support private schools and other education providers operating under different transparency and reporting requirements than district public schools. When public dollars are involved, accountability should not depend on the type of school a student attends.

Donalds’ proposal is not just about educational roadmaps. It reflects a broader education agenda that continues expanding public funding for charter schools, voucher programs and other alternative education providers while leaving fundamental questions of transparency, accountability and investment in district public schools unresolved.

Each new proposal is presented as another roadmap, another option, another choice. Taken together, however, these policies are reshaping Florida’s education system from one centered on strengthening district public schools that serve communities to one increasingly dependent on a marketplace of publicly funded providers operating under different rules and different levels of accountability.

That is not educational innovation. It is a fundamental restructuring of public education.

Before Florida embraces new roadmaps for students, it should demand a roadmap for accountability. Every institution receiving taxpayer dollars should meet meaningful standards of transparency, public oversight and financial accountability.

A parent’s ability to choose a school should never eliminate the public’s right to know how public funds are being used.

Florida’s students already have opportunities. District public schools created them. The question is not whether Florida needs another roadmap. The question is whether Florida will continue investing in the institutions that make those opportunities possible.

Public money. Public accountability. Informed choice.

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Crystal Etienne is president of the EDUVOTER Action Network, where she works with educators, families and communities to support public education, accountability and student opportunity in Florida.