Miami-Dade Education Coalition

06/07/2026

It’s amazing to me the elephant in the room that everyone just refuses to talk about: That teacher unions don’t just advocate for educators and schools. Through their funding of parent unions and affiliated organizations, they often advance partisan positions on a wide range of non-classroom issues. This reality is driving Republican support for charter and private schools, as well as legislative attacks on teachers unions as a whole. This herald article demonstrates that blind spot.
UTD president Antonio White says he sleeps well at night knowing that enough people will vote. The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Only around 1/3 of the bargaining unit has ever voted in one of these elections, whether they had competition from us or no one. This points to the greatest enemy that he seriously underestimates: apathy.
Being that his organization is in the “fight for its life”, the response to this law has been largely anemic compared to their response to our challenge.
This raises the suspicion that many have had: that UTD leadership is compromised and is allowing the district to rid itself of a union entirely. Why did the district go through such great lengths to block us from campaigning on school grounds? In what world does the management help its union defeat a challenger? These should be serious red flags for any UTD member and be a rallying cry to entirely overthrow the current executive board on the suspicion that they are captured by management. But the spirit of apathy among UTD members may loom as well, it’s why all the dysfunction within the union has persisted. They may very well lose their union because of it.
If this is not true, then UTD leadership needs to do what’s necessary to survive and increase its membership well above 60% to avoid these election scenarios entirely. They will not be able to do this using the same old playbook. Teachers are not going to be willing to spend close to thousand dollars in dues payments for what they see as a compromised organization. Especially in today’s economic conditions. But UTD leadership could promptly cut dues in half by ending their relationship with their partisan parent unions. This will immediately gain more support from teachers and the public as a whole. We at the Miami Dade Education Coalition have offered our full assistance to this endeavor.
Being that this election is a trial run, if it is a close call, we hope to hear from UTD and its leadership. We want the same thing UTD members want: a union that we can trust is working on our behalf focusing solely on improving wages, benefits, and working conditions. Not enriching themselves on the backs of poorly paid teachers and support staff, allwhile sending money to organizations that spend on divisive issues outside the classroom. This act is what has created all these problems in the first place. As Einstein once said “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

https://www.facebook.com/share/1CfMiGcbAk/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Under a new state law, most teachers unions must get half of all eligible members to mail ballots to Tallahassee in order to survive.

05/20/2026

If FEA would stick to advocating for things like this then they would probably have support from more teachers via local unions. This is overdue, and looks like an attempt to signal that they’re actually working for public school teachers in a productive way for once.

The state's largest teachers union, along with parents, school board members and civil rights orgs, say a disparity between traditional public schools and private schools getting taxpayer vouchers violates the state constitution.

Read more: https://www.wusf.org/the-florida-roundup/2026-05-18/why-was-florida-sued-over-universal-school-vouchers

05/03/2026

Lee county’s situation sounds a lot like Miami-Dade. Loss of students, huge budget deficit while construction projects continue to get funded…but there union leader has a second job to make ends meet. Ours is quite comfortable. If he wants to keep his job he should earn it. Cut dues in half by breaking away from the partisan parent unions and focus on nothing but wages, benefits, and working conditions. A lot more teachers would sign up and Republicans might be a little more friendly to Miami-Dade teachers.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1461650312643014&id=100063941764734

As the School District of Lee County faces a projected operating deficit of more than $92 million and with staff cuts expected, Governor Ron DeSantis stopped by Fort Myers High School today and gave an extended speech denouncing teacher unions. DeSantis signed legislation to regulate teacher unions and to allow school districts to provide incentive pay to teachers who tranfer to lower performing schools, while stripping away the ability of teacher unions to negotiate the incentives.

https://www.fortmyersbeachtalk.com/news/community-news/2026/05/desantis-takes-aim-at-teacher-unions-as-school-district-faces-cuts/

04/15/2026

Florida teachers, and especially teachers in Miami Dade Public Schools, how do you think this will play out? SB1296 passed. The Miami Dade Education Coalition does not support this bill or endorse it, but we understand why it happened—and how it can be overcome. This bill requires any public‑sector union that falls below 60% membership to trigger a retention election in which at least half of the bargaining unit must vote, and a majority of votes cast must choose to keep the union over no union.
Since the passage of the earlier SB 256, more than half the unions that were able to recertify did so with less than 30% of bargaining unit members actually voting. We cannot speak to what happened in other places, but in the MDEC vs UTD election our message was clearly suppressed. While UTD was celebrating the district’s assistance in blocking our message, they didn’t realize they may have been playing into their own demise by sending a signal that voters are largely uninterested, except those that support UTD.
At MDEC, we know it would be dishonest to lay the blame entirely on message suppression. Apathy and learned helplessness among bargaining unit members clearly played a role as well. As a result of these forces, roughly 2/3 people did not participate in the election, AT ALL. MDEC had plenty of spies, mercenaries and cheerleaders, but not enough soldiers to have the tough conversations with their colleagues to inspire a vote. The message lawmakers took from all this was simple: requiring greater voter participation might be a way to eliminate public‑sector unions. SB1296 is a direct product of that message.
We understand why these bills were written: the increasingly partisan, left leaning positions taken by public‑sector unions and the use of members’ dues to the funding of those positions. Because of these partisan stances, UTD and FEA now face laws that jeopardize their stability and their members’ livelihoods. They must ask themselves what takes precedence: the pursuit of broader political agendas outside the classroom? Or the wages, benefits, and working conditions of the educators they represent?
There is a solution, and it is within reach.
The Miami Dade Education Coalition is ready to help UTD and FEA adopt it: separating from national parent unions and committing to a truly non‑partisan platform focused solely on members’ economic and workplace needs in the state of Florida. This shift would significantly reduce dues and rebuild trust among conservative and independent educators, as well as with Florida’s majority‑Republican legislature. That trust is what can raise membership above 60%, avoid recertification elections, and signal to lawmakers that these unions are not working against them. Realistically, how can a Republican‑dominated state government be expected to improve teachers’ working lives via pay increases when their unions publicly advocate against them using the dues that came from that money?
In the current landscape, Republican lawmakers hold the advantage—and these unions have little chance of surviving without change. Terminating this affiliation is not surrender. It is a return to the core principles of unionism. It is a path to survival, stability, and renewed strength. If they care about their members, employees, and legacy, withdrawing from partisan parent unions preserves all of that.
Our message to UTD and other local unions is this: While ending affiliation may seem overwhelming, MDEC has access to resources that can support you and provide several effective methods to accomplish it. Our message to FEA is this: You have a chance to lead on this issue. There is also a path forward as a non-partisan independent state level organization. We can assist you in finding this path and restoring your legitimacy as an effective force advocating for teachers at the state level.
Einstein wrote, “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” UTD and FEA cannot solve its crisis by clinging to the same ideological commitments that contributed to it. If it collapses under this weight, it will have been entirely avoidable—and a devastating signal that once again leadership failed to protect its members. Veterans of this system have seen negotiations tilt toward state and district interests again and again. This would be the final concession.
If past behavior predicts future behavior, bargaining‑unit members have reason for concern. But there is still time to change course. Members who want to preserve their unions must call on leadership to act: drop the partisan positions, cut ties with partisan political affiliates, reduce dues, and focus on wages, benefits and working conditions. Doing so will restore trust, raise membership above 60%, and rebuild a productive working relationship with legislators who no longer feel threatened by partisan public service sector unions.

12/05/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1AY1fLB8H8/?mibextid=wwXIfr

10/30/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1L1G9EXtTL/?mibextid=wwXIfr

10/27/2025

09/14/2025

UTD election/MDEC update

A new union vote is underway—soon you’ll receive a ballot in the mail from the public employees relations commission (PERC). This time, it’s UTD or no union.
If UTD is decertified, starting a new union from scratch becomes nearly impossible under current law. That’s why MDEC recommends voting YES to keep UTD—not as an endorsement, but as a strategic step.
Some UTD representatives are saying that if the union is decertified you will lose your RRAS. This is not true, but regardless of UTD using their typical inappropriate scare tactics to increase cooperation, we still recommend you vote for them.

You may remember that during the last union election, MDEC filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the district for blocking our ability to recruit fairly—denying us access to campuses, mailboxes, and email —while UTD campaigned freely. That case will be heard this November.

In the meantime, MDEC continues to pursue justice in the step raise lawsuit. We’re now petitioning the Florida Supreme Court for review.

If we win our PERC case, it will reopen the path for a new union—ours or someone else’s—by restoring equal access to campuses, mailboxes, and email by a challenger.

To be clear:

Even if you didn’t support MDEC, a win in the PERC case helps any future reform effort.

If UTD survives, they can still be challenged later.

If UTD loses now, you will have no union at all and the district will have total freedom to write its own rules.

In the last election, two-thirds didn’t vote at all. We believe this was primarily due to lack of awareness. UTD was able to promote the vote in friendly schools; we were blocked from ALL of them. Our partnership with the Freedom Foundation was to help gather the necessary signatures to qualify our union for election. By going to teachers homes—a monumental task to say the least—we were allowed the opportunity to initially compete. But we will no longer be working with Freedom Foundation after the conclusion of the PERC case.

In anticipation of a potential second chance, we would like to remind everyone that our constitution was amended to hand full control of our union to a newly elected board if MDEC is ever elected and a new contract is negotiated. This remains in effect and eliminates any potential conflicts of interest that critics insist exist.

So what’s at stake now?
Voting YES now preserves your right to vote differently in the future. It keeps the door open to:

Cutting union dues in half

Removing partisan politics from union work

Refocusing on wages, benefits, and working conditions

Please vote YES to keep UTD—for now.
Not because they’ve earned it. But because keeping the seat at the table gives the bargaining unit the chance to take it back. Or perhaps for UTD to adopt our platform. This would restore confidence in their organization, increase membership and avoiding recertification votes altogether.
UTD leadership-if and when you ever come to agree with us on this. We are here to assist you in the process

08/12/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/16qswXm8kA/