Support Our Schools Embraces People of Faith and Supports the Separation of Church and State
Support Our Schools was founded with the mission of educating the public about the risks facing our system of public education and providing a platform for advocacy to protect and strengthen public education for all children. Integral to this mission is: 1) defending our teachers and administrators from ideological pressure and political attacks, 2) preserving a modern, scientific, and fact-based standard for educational curriculum, and 3) maintaining programs and policies that promote understanding and cooperation as well as the health and well-being of all students.
Support Our Schools members are Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and some of us practice no formal religion. Some of us are atheists. All are welcome under this tent. We decry attacks on any person because of the religion they practice or their choice not to practice a religion or belief system.
Support Our Schools strongly believes in the separation of Church and State, a principle enshrined in the Constitution and embedded in the policies and practices of public schools and governmental institutions for hundreds of years. Support Our Schools believes that while we can all acknowledge our country’s strong Judeo-Christian heritage, Americans’ beliefs are diverse. No one religion should be elevated and promoted within the classrooms of our public schools and no religion should be discriminated against. Religion should not be in our public schools.
The last few years have seen the rise of a concerted and aggressive national effort by right-wing think tanks and other organizations to alter the direction of public schools. The blueprint for achieving this goal, created by Hillsdale College, is a comprehensive K-12 curriculum that emphasizes a narrower, much more conservative worldview usually found in private Christian and “classical” schools. It downplays and censors significant chapters in our American history and marginalizes individuals and groups who do not fit a conservative Christian worldview. Support Our Schools strongly believes that our public schools are not the place for a regime of religious-nationalist indoctrination.
The efforts currently underway to undermine public schools, whose primary responsibility is to educate students from all socioeconomic and religious backgrounds, do not solely aim to reshape and eliminate certain coursework and topics from academia. Simultaneously, there is a coordinated strategy by the Governor and the GOP-controlled Florida Legislature to defund public school districts by offering universal voucher programs that siphon money into private schools, some of which teach a non-inclusive Christian Nationalist worldview. This view teaches that Christianity is and should be the dominant religion in our national life and that it should have a more prominent role in public schools.
For the record, Support Our Schools believes that all parents should have the right to send their children to private Christian schools or “Classical” academies if they wish. However, this should not be at the expense of the health and stability of our public education system. If this plan succeeds, it will hollow out our public schools to the detriment of the economy, our democracy, and the overall well-being of the Sarasota community.
Any attempt by right-wing groups to label Support Our Schools as anti-Christian is completely unfounded. It is a cynical attempt to create divisions and stir up anger. It also misses the point. Many Sarasota Christians standing with Support Our Schools do have a strong faith in God. They strongly believe in Jesus Christ’s principle teachings of love thy neighbor, humility, charity, forgiveness, service to others, and empathy. We note that these principles are not the exclusive province of Christians. These qualities are needed now more than ever to push back against the surge in hate and intolerance directed toward some Sarasota educators, students, and their families.
Support our Schools and the majority of Sarasota parents prefer that divisive culture war issues stay out of the classroom. Most parents just want a positive, safe, and supportive learning environment for their children. We ask that politicians keep their personal religious views separate from educational policy decisions. Support Our Schools will continue to be an advocate for a well-rounded, first-class public education for all Sarasota children. We will also continue to advocate for the separation of church and state and the acceptance and tolerance of all religions and cultures.