In this illustration, teachers and students confront Florida lawmakers seeking to destroy public education outside the state capital. (AI for S4F/ChatGPT)
It’s time to end the war on Florida’s teachers, schools and universities—and even on learning itself.
I’m committed to ending that war and making sure it never begins again.
My name is David Silverberg and I’m running for the state Senate in District 28: that’s Collier, Hendry and eastern Lee County.
The school year is coming to an end just as Florida’s legislature goes into a special session to determine the state’s budget.
The prospects for Florida’s students at all levels are bleak. As they have for the past eight years, the governor and anti-learning legislators are likely to continue their assault on public education.
It’s time that stopped. All of it.
It’s time that we stopped treating teachers as criminals and instead respected them and paid them a living wage. It’s time that we stopped trying to destroy and dismantle public education and instead started supporting and fully funding it. It’s time that we stopped treating teachers’ unions as enemy organizations. It’s time that we stopped treating state colleges and universities as feeding troughs for greedy politicians and their cronies and their out-of-state consultants. It’s time that we stopped trying to legislate learning, restricting free expression and censoring thought.
Instead, it’s time for us to promote learning and the education that conveys it to new generations. It’s time to raise Florida to new heights in knowledge and explore new frontiers in thought. It’s time to give parents and children the robust and effective public education to which they’re entitled, supported by the tax dollars that they pay.
I want to reverse the trends of the past eight years toward ignorance and censorship and dismantling Florida’s public education system.
Effective education starts by supporting our teachers and paying them a living wage. Currently, Florida teacher pay ranks 50th in the nation. We won’t have effective teaching if we don’t pay teachers living wages. If elected I’m committed to doing everything I can to improve the wages of Florida teachers.
Our current legislature has been hammering the public education system by promoting private alternatives. In many cases lawmakers have direct financial stakes in for-profit charter and private schools. Many also serve an anti-public education ideological agenda and look for ways to manufacture crises that they can then blame on the public education system.
If elected, I intend to introduce legislation that prohibits conflicts of interest among state lawmakers who seek to profit from private schools at the expense of public schools.
The legislature created vouchers for parents to use in private schools, which in turn created a $400 million liability for the state when the vouchers went unused. An attempt to fix this problem died in the legislature at the end of this session. I intend to introduce a measure to revive these repairs and, preferably, to so reform the voucher system that it doesn’t cost the state money or damage our public school system.
So many of these problems were created by the pursuit of petty political gain by the governor and members of the legislature. They created a movement against public education that lined their pockets and catered to the most extreme anti-education elements of the extremist MAGA movement.
The solution to this situation was neatly summed up by the Democratic Public Education Caucus of Florida when it stated:
“Florida needs reinvestment, not more ideological warfare. Florida’s children deserve better than a system designed for privatization rather than learning. They deserve schools funded at levels competitive with the rest of the nation—not ranked near the bottom. They deserve a stable, respected teaching workforce—not a revolving door. They deserve a curriculum shaped by educators—not politicians chasing headlines.”
As the Caucus also states: “Public schools are not the enemy. They are the backbone of our communities.”
If elected to the Florida Senate from District 28, I intend to fight for our public schools, their teachers, parents, children and staff; to see that they’re properly funded and supported and to strengthen them in every way possible.
We want a smart Florida, not an ignorant, indoctrinated Florida because a smart Florida will be one that’s prosperous, free and fulfilled—and that’s what I intend to fight for if you’ll support me with your vote in November.
See Silverberg4Florida.com for more positions and opportunities to volunteer.
To donate to the campaign, please click here.
To read other position papers:
Why I want to make Florida affordable again
Why I want to defend our Constitutions – both Florida’s and America’s
Why I want to protect Southwest Florida’s water
Why I want to keep Florida’s local governments strong
Why I want to end Alligator Alcatraz
Why I am running for the Florida State Senate in District 28
© 2026 by David Silverberg