A deep dive by CBS News focuses mostly on one school Erika Donalds, the wife of Rep. Byron Donalds, worked to start up, in Fort Myers, Florida. “After enrolling hundreds of students and hiring teachers, the Fort Myers school failed to open, leaving parents scrambling to find a school for their children,” the report said.
That was to be the fifth classical charter school Donalds’ Optima Foundation was to start up in Florida. As CBS News explained, classical charter schools are trending in conservative circles where parents want to reject a supposed woke agenda in public education.
MAGA politicians are all in, of course. “Recent moves by both the federal government and local officials in Florida have freed up hundreds of millions of dollars in new funding,” according to CBS.
Erika Donalds seems to have made good use of the trend and her position. CBS reported that between 2020 and 2024, the four schools she helped launch “spent roughly 30% of the government funding they received — totaling about $35 million — on outside firms with ties to Erika Donalds.”
