Jason Shoaf tallies wins for rural Florida, helped shift higher education policy

Image via Jason Shoaf.

In many rural counties along Florida’s Big Bend, state Rep. Jason Shoaf serves as a House delegation of one. But that didn’t stop him from successfully bringing appropriations back to his communities this Legislative Session.

The Port St. Joe Republican is credited with much success in communities throughout the 11 counties in House District 7. He has little doubt, as the sole Representative for nine of those counties, that he’s hearing what constituents want. But he also communicates with his colleagues and knows what they need to hear.

“I try and make sure my fellow representatives understand and are educated on what life is like and what we face in rural communities,” Shoaf said. “If I do my job, I get broad support for those programs. That’s something I work at and will continue to work at moving forward.”

The Florida Legislature delivered for rural Florida in many ways this year. That included budgeting $100 million for rural broadband expansion. Much of that will help better connect many of Shoaf’s constituents. The region also expects to benefit from millions of rural economic development grants approved by lawmakers and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Shoaf also feels especially proud of the funding secured for water quality projects in Apalachicola Bay. That Franklin County project will benefit not only constituents in the small Florida county but those relishing seafood across the country.

“That will have a huge impact on the region, and even the nation,” he said. “Apalachicola Bay is an area of critical concern. We’ve seen the oyster population decimated. It’s been impacted by water flow from Georgia and all sorts of issues.”

That single water body once supplied 10% of all oysters consumed nationwide, but populations started to sharply dwindle a decade ago. In 2020, the state outlawed harvesting oysters from the water body and has spent years since seeking ways to replenish the population.

The Legislature this year passed a bill (HB 407) that authorizes the Department of Environmental Protection to enter a financial partnership with the City of Apalachicola to clean up the groundwater and surface water. Rather than just approving a one-time budget appropriation, the bill authorizes $5 million in state spending each year through 2028.

Of course, not all the work by Shoaf this year dealt specifically with local challenges. The lawmaker chaired the House Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee this Session, overseeing the budget for Florida’s colleges and universities. Ultimately, DeSantis signed a budget with $8.4 billion for higher education.

Much of that will benefit Shoaf’s constituents directly. The budget included a number of workforce-focused expenditures to address talent shortages in the economy. For example, Florida suffers from a shortage in trained nurses, a deficit that’s especially acute in rural areas.

Shoaf said he’s personally most excited to fully fund technical centers for colleges and school districts around the state. He worked closely with House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Leek, an Ormond Beach Republican, on developing a funding formula that would help every center receive 100% of requested resources.

All of this should help his communities build up stronger economies. Support is important in fiscally constrained counties that can’t “tax their way” to prosperity simply because they lack the tax base to do so.

“And in North Florida, you’ve got to remember we are competing with regional competition not just in Florida, but with Georgia and Alabama, constantly,” he said.

Beyond pure dollars, Shoaf also feels the Florida Legislature advanced a “bold education agenda” that guarantees students receive the right knowledge to succeed once they graduate from Florida’s institutions.

“It’s important to my constituents that we don’t teach kids what to think, we teach them how to think,” Shoaf said. “My twin 14-year-olds may decide to go to college in Florida, and I don’t want them to go to a publicly funded school that teaches them this is the ideology you should believe in. I want a school to teach them how to critically think.”

Critics have suggested that under DeSantis, things in fact moved in the opposite direction, as he has outlawed instruction on topics such as critical race theory and taken gender studies out of university curriculums. He’s also pushed college and university leaders to install ideological allies in leadership positions at public universities and colleges.

Shoaf said the controversy is part of shaping public policy.

“In every circumstance of major policy changes, people feel certain things or worry certain things will happen,” Shoaf said. “Let’s watch and let them (Florida’s higher education institutions) do their thing. We made sure they had all the support they needed to be successful. Once they get some road underneath their tires, we’ll see if those critics still have a problem.”