On Tuesday, the Florida State House of Representatives moved one step closer to making $45 million available to protect vulnerable schools across the Sunshine State from potential threats.
During Tuesday’s special session in Tallahassee, House lawmakers voted unanimously to spend the money on security for Jewish schools and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
According to the bill sponsored in the House by Brevard County Republican State Rep. Randy Fine, $20 million will fund security improvements at any school that can show it’s at risk for hate violence.
In August, a White shooter killed three Black people at a Dollar General in Jacksonville. Investigators said the shooter first tried to unsuccessfully enter HBCU Edward Waters University.
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The rest of the funding, $25 million, is specifically for Jewish schools serving Jewish communities that have reportedly seen more hate this past year than ever, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
“I watched videos when I was a kid of grainy black and white marches in Germany where people would say kill all the Jews,” Fine told his fellow Tallahassee lawmakers. “I never expected in 2023, my children are watching those on social media taking place in real time.”
Fine said he and his family continue to be targeted for their Jewish faith.
“I think it’s unfortunate that we have to have a bill like this,” Fine said. “It’s not going to help a single kid learn how to read or do math or learn history. It’s going to be to keep children safe.”
The Jewish Community Center in Maitland (home to the Jewish Academy of Orlando) and other Jewish schools around Central Florida would benefit directly from the funding to “harden” their campuses - things like fences and barriers, bulletproof glass and security guards, which many of the schools already have.
On Monday, David Schacter, the sole holocaust survivor in his family who escaped from a concentration camp, opened the Special Session in the House.
“I, myself, with my brother watched my mother. She was 38 years old,” Schachter said. “And before they reached the hole, machine guns shot all of them. Both my brother and I watched that.”
Fine was in tears as he thanked the Legislature and the House speaker right before the unanimous vote.
“And thank you for protecting my children and for every Jewish child who is out there,” Fine said.
The funding debate now goes to the State Senate, which will take up the bill and likely vote as soon as Wednesday.
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