Lukin

David Jolly is calling on Byron Donalds to divest his family’s financial interests in companies receiving public education money if he becomes Florida’s governor. It’s what all politicians SHOULD be doing. And there’s a reason this deserves scrutiny. Reporting has documented more than $30 million in payments from five state-funded charter schools to companies owned by Erika Donalds. One virtual charter school’s budget projects $15.7 million in service fees to OptimaEd for the 2026–27 school year. Byron has said his wife is no longer in the charter school business. He lied. His campaign later had to clarify that OptimaEd is still providing services to publicly funded schools. And let’s just say Byron has his own history of telling a story with some rather important details left out. His account of his marijuana arrest changed considerably before he finally acknowledged selling drugs. There was even an ethics investigation over it. But there’s another side to this story. In Fort Myers, 279 children had enrolled in Optima Classical Academy. Teachers had been hired. Parents had made arrangements. Then, on May 31, 2024, Erika Donalds informed families that the school would not open as promised. Parents were left scrambling to find alternatives. Optima later promised a 2025 opening. That never happened either. One parent described feeling cheated, saying the children had been cheated too. Florida taxpayers deserve transparency about where their education dollars are going, who is profiting, and what happens when those business interests intersect with the governor’s office, not another Hope Florida scandal. Grifts like this are WHY education in America has failed our children.