Teacher unions spent decades and millions keeping parents in the dark about something that could dismantle everything they built.
Now Byron Donalds' wife just launched a statewide tour to blow it wide open.
Erika Donalds kicked off the Florida Promise Tour this week – and what she's handing parents in those living rooms and fellowship halls is something Democrats have fought to suppress for thirty years.
The Unions Built a Wall. Florida Tore It Down.
The system teacher unions spent millions defending was simple: your zip code determined your child's future, and there was nothing you could do about it.
Florida blew it up.
In 2023, DeSantis signed universal school choice into law for every family in the state.
Over 530,000 students are now on scholarships to attend a school of their choosing.
https://twitter.com/FLVoiceNews/status/2102080446498562303?s=20
About 1.4 million Florida students are in school choice settings – private, charter, virtual, or homeschool – a number that dwarfs the entire K-12 enrollment of most other states.
The Heritage Foundation has ranked Florida number one in Education Freedom four consecutive years.
The problem, as Donalds sees it, is that too many families still don't know any of this exists.
Teacher unions are just fine with that.
"Parents here have more education options than almost any state in the country, and too many of them do not know what is available to them," Donalds said. "This tour closes that gap, one conversation at a time."
She Isn't Handing Out Brochures
Erika Donalds isn't showing up as a congressman's wife with a clipboard.
She's a former elected member of the Collier County School Board who sat on Florida's Constitutional Revision Commission and spent years inside the machinery of school choice policy.
She founded OptimaEd – now running in more than a dozen states – the world's first virtual reality school and curriculum platform.
https://twitter.com/ReOpenChris/status/2101314341144244286?s=20
She serves as Chair of Education Opportunity at the America First Policy Institute, building the national policy framework that pushes school choice beyond Florida's borders.
"Every parent asks the same question: Will my child have more opportunity than I did?" Donalds said. "In Florida, the answer should be yes, and it starts with the school our children walk into every morning."
She didn't get there through connections or family money.
She grew up in a broken family in Tampa, clawed her way into financial services, rose to chief financial officer and managing partner of a multi-billion-dollar investment firm, and walked away from all of it to fix American education.
What This Tour Is Really About
The Florida Promise Tour hits restaurants, private homes, and local businesses across the state – small gatherings designed to walk parents and grandparents through every option available to their children right now, and how to access it.
Because here's what the unions never tell you.
These programs come with eligibility requirements, application windows, and processes that can feel impossible to navigate without help.
That's not an accident.
Complexity is the last wall between your grandchildren and the school they deserve.
https://twitter.com/ErikaDonalds/status/2102081099606249778?s=20
The tour tears it down.
Florida also locked in the next expansion.
Congress established the Federal Education Freedom Tax Credit under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and Florida has already opted in – a program that will let state taxpayers claim up to $1,700 per year for contributions supporting K-12 education expenses, beginning January 2027.
The state keeps building.
Democrats keep hoping families stay confused.
Erika Donalds is making sure that doesn't happen – one kitchen table at a time.
Sources:
- Anastasios Kamoutsas, "Florida Takes the Lead on School Choice," Daily Signal, January 25, 2026.
- Governor's Press Office, "Governor Ron DeSantis Announces Florida Opts in to Federal Education Freedom Tax Credit," Florida Governor's Office, January 28, 2026.
- Staff, "Florida joins federal K-12 education tax credit program beginning in 2027," The Capitolist, January 28, 2026.
- America First Policy Institute, "AFPI Welcomes Erika Donalds as Chair of the Center for Education Opportunity," January 6, 2025.
- Kennedy Owens, "Erika Donalds takes education message statewide with 'Florida Promise Tour,'" Florida Voice News, September 21, 2026.
