Following three years of protecting Floridians’ freedoms, growing the state’s economy, empowering parents to be in charge of their children’s education, preserving the state’s environment, and keeping communities safe, Governor Ron DeSantis has formally filed as a candidate for reelection as governor of the free state of Florida.
“When I became governor, I pledged to foster economic opportunity, support K-12 education, usher in a new era for Florida’s Everglades and water resources, ensure the integrity of our elections and stand for public safety and the rule of law,” said Governor DeSantis.
“I have delivered on all fronts: Florida’s economy is strong, we’ve boosted teacher pay, made historic investments in Everglades restoration and water quality, signed strong election integrity legislation, provided unparalleled support for law enforcement and appointed strong constitutionalists to our state courts.
“I also protected individual Floridians and small businesses by keeping Florida open and stood up for students and parents by ensuring schools provided in-person instruction and by championing the rights of parents.
“We’ve also taken on Big Tech censorship, banned sanctuary cities, ensured that municipalities cannot defund law enforcement and stood up to the Biden regime.
“And I’ve only just begun to fight.”
Fostering a Strong Economy
- Kept Florida open and protected the jobs of all Floridians as well as the small businesses throughout the state
- Florida’s current growth rate exceeds the national average
- Florida has the lowest per capita tax burden in the nation
- Florida has experienced 17 consecutive months of job growth
- Florida enjoys robust budget reserves – among the highest in state history
- Secured record funding for K-12 schools, boosted teacher salaries by more than $550 million and enacted pandemic bonuses for principals and teachers
- Implemented a state-wide, progress monitoring tool from grades VPK-8 to understand a student’s deficiencies in real-time and rapidly identify personalized interventions for students struggling in reading, math, and other subjects
- Empowered Florida’s world-class educators with the tools to reach Florida’s ambitious literacy goal – 90% of all 3rd graders reading on grade-level by 2030
- Enacted the largest expansion of school choice in the country
- Proposed a revamp of Florida’s K-12 testing regime that would eliminate the FSA and replace it with a more nimble and informative progress monitoring system
- Supported the rights of parents by prohibiting COVID school mask mandates and by banning Critical Race Theory
- Expanded access to apprenticeships and skills-based education
- Ensured schools were open for in-person instruction while schools in other large states were not
- Florida ranks #3 in the nation for K-12 achievement in the latest Education Week rankings
- Florida’s state colleges and university system ranks #1 in the nation
- Secured more than $2 billion in funding for protection of water resources and Everglades restoration
- Created the Blue-Green Algae Task Force, restored the Red Tide Task Force and secured more than $75 million to combat harmful algal blooms, including blue-green algae and red tide
- Established the landmark Resilient Florida program than will provide billions of dollars to fortify Florida’s critical assets against risks from extreme weather events and flooding
- Signed the “Clean Waterways Act” that strengthened protections for water bodies and improved quality standards
- Secured $1,000 bonuses for all sworn law enforcement, firefighters and first responders – more than 105,000 individuals
- Signed strong anti-rioting legislation that imposed strong penalties for mob violence and safeguards against the defunding of the police by municipalities
- Banned sanctuary cities and sued the Biden administration over its open borders policies
- Appointed 5 constitutionalist judges to the Florida Supreme Court and dozens to inferior state courts
- Kept Florida open in the face of unprecedented media attacks and hysteria, and protected the right of Floridians to work, the right of businesses to operate and the right of parents to send their kids to school for in-person instruction
- Rejected initial CDC COVID vaccination prioritization guidance in favor of prioritizing senior citizens, which other states and CDC later followed
- Launched an early treatment initiative that raised awareness of, and expanded access to, monoclonal antibody treatments, providing Floridians with more than 150,000 treatments and reducing hospitalizations and deaths by many thousands
- Signed legislation banning ballot harvesting, unsolicited mailing of ballots and Zuckerbucks – the strongest reforms in the nation
- In 2020, Florida conducted one of the most transparent and efficient elections in the nation
Original source can be found here.
