Jennifer Vigne | President & CEO
This July Fourth marked 269 years since Benjamin Franklin began working on his greatest experiment, that of uniting then-British colonies into one nation, and 244 years since the Declaration of Independence was adopted.
That’s a long time for any institution to exist, but an even older institution is credited with the longevity of our nation’s form of government, and that is public education. The first public schools opened in the American colony of Massachusetts more than a century before July 4, 1776.
Public education was viewed as important by our country’s founders, and the responsibility was bestowed at the state level as described in Article IX of the Florida Constitution: “The education of children is a fundamental value … and a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders.” Continue reading.