The Board of Florida Association of Student Educational Tours has had the opportunity to visit Florida’s Capitol, Tallahassee in the early part of February. They were accompanied by the Executive Director of SYTA, Carylann Assante and Board Member Justin Shuler. It provided a great opportunity to speak with legislators in both the Senate and the House about the industry of student travel and how it enhances the educational experience.
FASET has found that the leadership in both houses are very favorable towards student travel, many of which have had personal experience with either their children traveling or if, themselves, were educators who hosted educational tours.
During our visit at Florida’s Capitol, we were able to visit with six State Senators and six State Representatives, along with the Lieutenant Governor and two School Board members of the top five largest school districts in the nation. Included in our meetings were with the President of the Senate Andy Gardiner, President-elect Senator Joe Negron, Majority Leader Senator Bill Galvano, Chairman Rene Garcia, Chairwomen Janet Adkins, Chairman Manny Diaz, Senator Lizbeth Benaquisto, Representative Heather Fitzenhagen and Representative Mike Miller. It was fantastic to see the support that was being drawn behind the scenes.