Bills sound too authoritative for us

The constitutionality, and just plain necessity, of two bills being proposed by Florida legislators are troubling.

One would force all 40 of the state’s public colleges and universities to rename streets to honor slain conservative founder of Turning Point USA Charlie Kirk.

Another would require Florida’s public school teachers to swear an oath to the Constitution and nonpartisanship.

On the surface, neither of these bills are horrible. But they are unneeded and an overreach by politicians wanting to brandish their conservative image.

Let’s look at the Kirk bill first. State Rep. Kevin Steele, R-Dade City, filed House Bill 113, which calls for “state university and Florida College System institution boards of trustees to redesignate specified roads or portions of roads to certain names relating to Charlie James Kirk within a specified time period.”

If that bill becomes a reality, there already are streets and street names being demanded by the lawmaker. They include:

■ Designating University of Florida’s Stadium Road as Charlie James Kirk Road.

■ Santa Fe College (Gainesville) — redesignating NW 83rd Street as Charlie James Kirk Street.

■ College of Central Florida (Chiefland, Ocala, Lecanto) — redesignating SW 26th Street as Charlie James Kirk Street.

These are just examples. All 40 colleges, including Florida Gulf Coast University, are on the list.

Kirk certainly deserves to be remembered. His passion and vision ignited a movement that was not just embraced by conservatives but college students nationwide — some who never thought about politics before.

But why not give our colleges, cities, counties the right to name a street after Kirk on their own initiative?

Forcing them to do so takes away from the meaning of it all. It should be a decision that is heartfelt — not forced.

Then we have Rep. Tom Fabricio, R-Miami Lakes, who wants to require teachers to take an oath to the constitution and nonpartisanship.

HB 147 would require teachers to, “before entering upon the duties of a classroom teacher,” take the oath.

He’s even crafted such an oath. It would say: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support, protect, and defend the Constitution and Government of the United States and the Constitution and Government of the State of Florida; that I am duly qualified for employment as a classroom teacher in this state; that I will well and faithfully perform the duties of a classroom teacher in a professional, independent, objective, and nonpartisan manner; that I will uphold the highest standards of academic integrity and professional ethics; that I will foster a respectful learning environment for all students, which promotes critical thinking, civic responsibility, and lifelong learning; and that I will serve as a positive role model in both conduct and character, so help me God.”

First of all, let us say that if he is serious and the bill passes, we should include all members of school boards. They also should take an oath to nonpartisanship. That would be a welcome change.

But, really, what impact would this have?

Does Fabricio believe teachers would actually refrain from having an allegiance to a particular political philosophy?

Or is this just a cover to allow boards and the state to fire any educator who makes a public statement contrary to the ideas of those who hold political power in the nation and state?

And, if that’s the goal, that is something that could easily backfire in the future.

We believe our lawmakers should stick to fixing health care, insurance costs and protecting water resources. Those would be a much better use of their time than concocting bills like these.