Last month, the Florida State Board of Education voted unanimously to adopt the Phoenix Declaration, which calls for a renewal of an American education system that “cultivates virtue, strives for excellence, imparts the wisdom of history, fosters a love of country and one’s fellow citizens, and teaches children to seek the good, true and beautiful.”
Shortly thereafter, 10 Florida lawmakers issued a letter denouncing the declaration as “indoctrination” and alleging—without citing a single line from the document, which we helped draft—that it is a “roadmap for injecting right-wing political doctrine into Florida’s public schools.”
Nothing could be further from the truth.
In fact, as we read their letter, we were struck not by how much the lawmakers disagreed with the Phoenix Declaration but by how much common ground we share.
The lawmakers wrote: “Our children deserve facts, truth and a world-class education.” We wholeheartedly agree. The Phoenix Declaration states explicitly: “Education must be grounded in truth.”
The declaration also affirms that “Schools should foster academic excellence” by prioritizing “a rigorous and content-rich curriculum rooted in foundational subjects such as math, literature, science, history, civics and the arts.” Those aspirations are not partisan—they are the bedrock of any serious education system.
Likewise, the Phoenix Declaration is not a vehicle for “indoctrination.” We agree with the critics that “there is no place in the state curriculum for propaganda.” Public education should never be twisted into partisan training. The unfortunate reality, however, is that too many schools across the country have engaged in ideological indoctrination—particularly critical race theory, radical gender ideology and other activist frameworks.
Indoctrination means presenting only one point of view and demanding that students accept it unquestioningly. But the Phoenix Declaration does not propose replacing left-wing indoctrination with right-wing indoctrination. Nor is it, as the critics claimed, “silencing perspectives that don’t align with their agenda.” Quite the opposite.
The Phoenix Declaration calls on schools to expose students to “the best that has been thought and said, engaging in the great conversation among the competing viewpoints that comprise our intellectual heritage.” The declaration’s preamble intentionally quotes both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams—two giants of the American founding who clashed over politics yet shared a deep commitment to liberty, justice and the equal dignity of all human beings.
Our nation has always contained a spectrum of thought—Federalists and Anti-Federalists, conservatives and progressives, Republicans and Democrats. A healthy education system cultivates this tradition.
The lawmakers also assert that the Phoenix Declaration seeks to “erase black history.” This is simply untrue. The declaration states plainly that students “should learn the whole truth about America—its merits and failings—without obscuring that America is a great source of good in the world.”
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That means students must confront the horror of slavery, segregation and Jim Crow with moral clarity. But they must also understand that America’s founding principles—liberty, equality, natural rights—however imperfectly realized, supplied the very moral framework that animated the abolitionists and the civil rights movement.
We believe students should read primary sources that capture this dual reality. They should study Frederick Douglass’ “What to a Slave Is the Fourth of July?”—a searing indictment of America’s failure to live up to its promises. They should read Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream,” which explicitly rooted the civil rights movement in the Founders’ ideals. Rather than seeking to tear down America’s constitutional order, Douglass and King appealed to it, demanding that America live up to its proclaimed values.
This approach is the opposite of indoctrination. It is education.
In the end, our critics and supporters share more than they may realize. We all want our children to have access to a high-quality education that prepares them to be virtuous, productive and civic-minded adults. We invite the lawmakers who signed the letter—and all Floridians—to read the Phoenix Declaration for themselves. They may find that it affirms many of the very principles they champion.
Florida has taken an important step toward renewing American education. Let us move forward together—committed not to partisan battles, but to the shared work of preparing the next generation to inherit the blessings and responsibilities of liberty.
This piece originally appeared in the Sun Sentinel
