by Jay Waagmeester, Florida Phoenix
November 13, 2025
CRAWFORDVILLE — Florida became the first state to adopt The Phoenix Declaration, a product of The Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank that formulated the Project 2025 plan for Donald Trump’s second term.
During a state Board of Education meeting Thursday in Wakulla County, members unanimously supported the declaration, which has been individually endorsed by board Chair Ryan Petty and University of West Florida interim president and former education commissioner Manny Diaz Jr.
The paragraphs-long statement says, “America’s schools must work alongside parents to prepare children for the responsibilities of adulthood, including their familial and civic responsibilities, by cultivating excellence in mind and heart.”
“Information without moral formation is insufficient. Parents, schools, and religions and civic institutions must cultivate in children the personal and civic virtues necessary for self-government,” the statement says.
The declaration has seven categories: Parental choice and responsibility; transparency and accountability; truth and goodness; cultural transmission; character formation; academic excellence; and citizenship.
“These principles are principles that everyone across the board, on both sides of the aisle, can agree with. So, I’m excited to push this forward through the state Board of Education as a framework to continue to talk about what this board’s mission is for education,” Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas said.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
The Heritage Foundation’s drafting committee for the statement included Erika Donalds, wife of U.S. Rep. and candidate for governor Byron Donalds, and Adam Kissel, a West Virginia resident and controversial appointee to the University of West Florida Board of Trustees.
While a number of foundations and institutes have signed on, no state boards of education had signed on to it until Thursday.
The board passed it as a resolution, designed to show the public where the board stands.
“We have got to transmit the knowledge of our history, warts and all, to future generations. America is not perfect, but you cannot point to another society in the history of mankind that is more perfect than the United States of America,” Petty said during the meeting.
Petty sees the declaration as a baseline, he said.
“It’s an imperfect society, occupied by imperfect human beings. We don’t agree on very much, it seems like we agree on less and less everyday, which is why we have to have some core principles we can rally around. We can argue over how to accomplish something, but if we can’t agree on what we’re trying to accomplish, we’re headed for disaster as a country,” Petty said.
“Schools should also foster a healthy sense of patriotism and cultivate gratitude for and attachment to our country and all who serve its central institutions. Our shared civic rituals, such as the Pledge of Allegiance and national anthem, should be respected and revived. Students should develop a deep understanding of and respect for our nation’s founding documents and the ideas they contain about ordered liberty, justice, the rule of law, limited government, natural rights, and the equal dignity of all human beings. 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 and that we have a tradition that is worth passing on.”
– Excerpt from The Phoenix Declaration
The Heritage Foundation introduced the statement during the Conservative Vision of Education Conference in Phoenix in February.
“Like the mythical phoenix rising from the ashes of its former self, we envision an education system that emerges stronger and more vibrant, building upon our nation’s foundational values while meeting the challenges of today,” Jason Bedrick, an education research fellow for Heritage who chaired the declaration’s drafting committee, said in announcing the document.
Tiffany Justice, a Floridian and co-founder of Moms for Liberty, and Scott Yenor, a professor at Boise State University and dissuaded appointee for the UWF Board of Trustees, have also signed on to the declaration.
The Florida Education Association and some public commenters at the meeting were not supportive of the board’s action.
“The Phoenix Declaration is the latest thinly veiled attempt by billionaire-backed special interests to dismantle and politicize Florida’s public education system,” the FEA claimed in a statement following the board vote.
“Instead of chasing ideological agendas, the State Board of Education members should focus on what truly helps students: making sure public schools are fully funded, addressing the critical teacher and staff shortage, and guaranteeing that every child has access to a strong, neighborhood public school,” the FEA wrote.
“Florida’s students and families deserve investment in their public schools, not a political pledge written by outside groups,” the FEA concluded.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.