TAMPA, Fla. — Book bans, public school funding and teacher wages are just a few concerns Pinellas County parents and educators say they have right now. They took their concerns to Florida Rep. Michele Rayner-Goolsby (D-St. Petersburg) in a roundtable discussion on Saturday.


What You Need To Know

  • State Rep. Michele Rayner-Goolsby (D) held a rountable discussion in St. Pete on Satuday

  • Residents shared concerns about recent book bans, public school funding, teacher wages and more

  • Educators and parents said they want to see changes to the education system that benefit all children 

Paula Stephens has been a teacher in Pinellas County for 25 years. She said it's who she is and what she knows.

But Stephens said she's seen so many changes in public education over the past few years, things that leave her concerned for the future of her profession. She became an advocate for teachers in 2015, after her daughter started teaching.

"She taught for two and a half years and said ‘I can’t do it anymore,'" Paul said. "And more and more of our young people are coming into these environments and saying ‘I can’t do this for the next 20 years’ with the constant attacks, and the funding that’s not there."

It's why Stephens decided to bring her concerns to Florida Rep. Michele Rayner-Goolsby on Saturday. She said she wants to take her constituents' voices and ideas back to Tallahassee to craft legislations that's reflective of what they want. 

“This is not about ‘oh I just have a title and I’m just glad I have a title’ but wanting people to know that they have the ability to make that change," Rayner-Goolsby said. "I’m just the conduit, the person who happens to be elected right now to help them do that.”

On the list of residents' concerns include recent bans on books, crackdowns on diversity education and House Bill 1, which proposes universal vouchers for parents to send their kids to private schools. Some educators argue that could hurt funding to public schools. 

Ultimately, residents said they want to see improvements to the education system that work towards serving all children.

"Somethig has to change," Stephens said. "Whether it’s behavior, policies, funding, all of those things. It’s just time for a change.”

Rep. Rayner-Goolsby said she plans on hosting similar roundtable discussions in the future about topics like food security, housing and health. She said it's important to bring people from all parties together to find common ground on important issues.

"How do we come together, how do we find those issues that we can agree on," Rayner-Goolsby said. "Because community doesn’t mean everyone is the same. But community means folks who have different thoughts, lived experiences are able to come together and I think that’s also what this is really about as well."