CRAWFORDVILLE, Florida — The Florida Board of Education on Thursday unanimously adopted The Phoenix Declaration, becoming the first state to officially embrace the Heritage Foundation’s framework outlining conservative education principles tied to its broader Project 2025 agenda.
Approved during a meeting in Wakulla County, the declaration emphasizes parental involvement, moral education, and civic virtue, stating that “information without moral formation is insufficient.” It promotes seven themes, including parental choice, academic excellence, and citizenship. Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas said the framework represents “principles that everyone across the board can agree with.”
The declaration’s contributors include Erika Donalds, wife of Republican Rep. Byron Donalds, and Heritage education fellow Jason Bedrick, who introduced it at the Conservative Vision of Education Conference earlier this year. Former Florida education commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. and board Chair Ryan Petty endorsed the statement prior to its adoption.
Critics, including the Florida Education Association (FEA), condemned the move, calling it “a thinly veiled attempt by billionaire-backed special interests to dismantle and politicize Florida’s public education system.” The FEA urged the board to focus on funding and teacher shortages instead of “ideological agendas.”
Supporters describe the resolution as a nonbinding commitment to civic literacy and patriotism, asserting that students should learn America’s “whole truth—its merits and failings—without obscuring that it is a great source of good in the world.”
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