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Erika Donalds


Erika Donalds is an American education entrepreneur and advocate for school choice, known for founding OptimaEd, a company dedicated to expanding high-quality educational options, and the Optima Foundation, which promotes virtue-based classical education. Previously a finance executive with experience in investment management and compliance, she transitioned into education policy after serving as a member of the Collier County School Board in Florida from 2014 to 2020, where she focused on improving academic outcomes and reducing bureaucratic constraints. As chair of education opportunity initiatives at the America First Policy Institute, she critiques the public education system's failures, citing data showing only about 30% of U.S. students reading proficiently, and advocates for parental empowerment through alternatives like charters and vouchers to address these empirical shortcomings. Her efforts have included opposing federal overreach such as Common Core standards and supporting the expansion of charter networks, though her involvement in charter school management has drawn scrutiny over financial disclosures and contracts awarded to her affiliated firms, which have generated millions in revenue. Married to U.S. Representative Byron Donalds, she has emerged as a prominent voice in conservative education reform, with speculation about potential roles in federal policy aimed at dismantling the U.S. Department of Education.

Early Life and Education

Family Origins and Upbringing

Erika Donalds was born Erika Brynne Lees in August 1980. She grew up in , raised by a . Donalds has described her upbringing as middle-class, which informed her later emphasis on parental involvement and educational choice. Details on her origins remain limited in , with no specific information available on her parents' backgrounds or ancestral ties beyond her roots. In 2002, following her marriage to , the couple relocated to , where they raised their three sons: Damon (born circa 2003), Darin (born circa 2007), and Mason (born circa 2011). This move marked the beginning of their family life in Collier County, though it postdated her own childhood.

Academic Achievements

Donalds earned a in from in 2002, graduating magna cum laude. She subsequently obtained a Master of Accountancy from in 2006. In addition to her academic degrees, Donalds holds professional certifications as a (CPA) and Certified Global Management Accountant (CGMA), reflecting her expertise in accounting and financial management. These qualifications underpinned her early career in before transitioning to education advocacy.

Professional Career in Finance and Business

Investment Management Role

Donalds began her career in finance after earning a Master of Accountancy from , where she qualified as a () and later a (). She joined Dalton, Greiner, Hartman, Maher & Co., LLC (DGHM), a New York-based firm, in 2002. At DGHM, which managed approximately $2 billion in , Donalds advanced to the role of Controller and . In her executive capacities at DGHM, Donalds served as (CFO), (CCO), and Managing Partner from around 2010 until her departure in 2018. Her responsibilities encompassed overseeing the firm's finance, compliance, and operational functions for a multi-billion-dollar portfolio, including budgeting, financial reporting, analysis, and regulatory adherence. This role involved managing institutional investment strategies focused on value-oriented equity portfolios for clients such as endowments and foundations. Donalds' tenure at DGHM highlighted her expertise in within the investment sector, contributing to the firm's stability and growth amid varying market conditions. She left the firm after 16 years to pursue -related initiatives, leveraging her financial acumen in nonprofit and entrepreneurial ventures.

Founding of OptimaEd

Erika Donalds founded OptimaEd in 2017, marking her transition from a two-decade career in to entrepreneurship. Prior to this, she had served as , , and Managing Partner at DGHM, an firm, where she honed skills in operations, , and strategic growth that she later applied to scaling educational organizations. The founding was motivated by her experiences as a of three children navigating the , leading her to prioritize parental in selecting tailored academic environments over reliance on traditional public schooling models. OptimaEd was established as an edtech company specializing in management services for classical charter schools, aiming to make rigorous, content-rich curricula accessible to broader student populations through efficient operational support and innovation. Drawing on Donalds' finance background, the firm focused on sustainable business models for charter operations, including , , and to address gaps in public delivery. From inception, OptimaEd emphasized school choice expansion, partnering with networks to launch and manage multiple classical academies in , which collectively served thousands of students by providing alternatives to district-run schools. The company's early initiatives included founding the affiliated Optima Foundation, a nonprofit arm dedicated to advancing through and for high-performing models. Under Donalds' leadership as Founder and Chairman, OptimaEd pioneered immersive technologies, such as the world's first school, to enhance while maintaining a commitment to classical principles like logic, , and historical mastery. This foundational approach positioned OptimaEd as a key player in Florida's sector, securing contracts for operational oversight that enabled rapid scaling of student enrollment from initial pilots to multi-campus operations.

Education Reform and Political Activism

Collier County School Board Tenure

Erika Donalds was elected to represent District 3 on the Collier County School Board in the November 4, 2014, general election, defeating challengers Luis Bernal, JB Holmes, and Kathy Ryan with approximately 52% of the vote. Her term began on November 18, 2014, and lasted four years, ending in November 2018; she chose not to seek re-election, citing a desire to prioritize family time. During her tenure, Donalds focused on reducing administrative burdens, promoting accountability through term limits, and advocating for policies that enhanced parental choice and instructional efficiency in public schools. In March 2015, Donalds co-authored and released a 31-page critiquing the impact of standardized testing on time, recommending that districts quantify and minimize lost instructional hours due to testing preparation and administration—estimated at up to 20-30 days annually in some cases—and shift toward more targeted assessments. This initiative aligned with her broader push for evidence-based reforms, emphasizing data-driven reductions in bureaucratic mandates to prioritize core academics over compliance-driven activities. She also served on the Florida Constitution Revision Commission starting in 2017, where she proposed amendments to impose term limits on school board members (e.g., two consecutive four-year terms) and eliminate board member salaries to curb entrenched leadership and fiscal incentives for prolonged service. Donalds actively supported Amendment 8 on the 2018 Florida ballot, which sought to enact school board term limits but failed with 56% approval—short of the required 60% threshold—amid opposition from groups like of Women Voters, who argued it undermined local democratic processes. In January 2018, she outlined six additional constitutional proposals, including measures to devolve more to local districts and streamline mechanisms, reflecting her consistent emphasis on decentralizing control from state-level overreach. These efforts positioned her as a reform-oriented board member, though critics contended that such changes risked politicizing without sufficient empirical validation of long-term benefits.

State-Level Appointments and Commissions

In March 2017, Erika Donalds was appointed by House Speaker to serve as one of 37 commissioners on the state's Revision Commission (), a body that meets every 20 years to propose amendments to the . As a commissioner, Donalds chaired the CRC's , focusing on proposals related to municipal governance, taxation, and local autonomy, though specific amendment outcomes from her committee did not advance to voter ballot. On March 25, 2022, Governor appointed Donalds to the Board of Trustees of (FGCU), a public state university in Fort Myers. Her appointment was confirmed by the , with a term extending until January 6, 2025. In this role, Donalds contributed to university oversight on matters including budget approval, academic policy, and , drawing on her background in education management. Donalds also served in an advisory capacity for Governor-elect Ron DeSantis's transition team following his 2018 election, providing input on and workforce development policies, though this was not a formal commission position. These state-level roles underscored her influence on Florida's educational and governmental frameworks, aligning with her advocacy for localized control and initiatives.

National Advocacy Roles

Donalds assumed the role of Chair of the Center for Education Opportunity at the on January 6, 2025, leading efforts to advance parental choice policies, enhance educational outcomes, and reduce federal overreach in schooling. In this capacity, she also chairs the institute's state chapter, applying national strategies to state-level reforms. On November 14, 2023, Donalds joined as a Visiting Fellow in its Center for Education Policy, where she advocates for broadening education freedom through mechanisms like vouchers and expansions while critiquing governance shortcomings. As founder and CEO of the Educational Freedom Foundation, established post her Collier County School Board service, Donalds provides national resources including best practices, templates, and policy tools to support initiatives and accountability measures across states. She co-chairs the America 250 Civics Education Coalition, launched September 17, 2025, by over 40 organizations including the and , aimed at reintegrating civic knowledge into curricula to foster informed citizenship amid declining national test scores in history and . Donalds is frequently cited as a national authority on education policy and school choice, delivering speeches and media commentary that emphasize empirical evidence from voucher programs showing improved student performance in reading and math.

Policy Positions and Achievements

Advocacy for School Choice and Vouchers

Donalds serves as a prominent national advocate for school choice policies, emphasizing vouchers and education savings accounts (ESAs) to empower parents in selecting educational options tailored to their children's needs. Through her founding of OptimaEd in 2016, she has supported the development of innovative charter and alternative schools that operate within choice frameworks, aiming to introduce market competition to improve educational quality and accountability. In , Donalds played a key role in advancing expansions during her tenure on the 2017-2018 Constitution Revision Commission and as a member of Governor DeSantis's Advisory Committee on and Workforce Development, contributing to legislative momentum that led to the 2023 passage of House Bill 1. This law established universal ESA eligibility, enabling over 500,000 students—regardless of income or —to access public funds averaging $7,000–$8,000 annually for tuition, , or , a program she has hailed as a model for breaking bureaucratic monopolies. She has consistently defended targeted voucher programs for low-income students, arguing in 2020 that they provide essential opportunities without exacerbating , as evidenced by data showing diverse participation across demographics. Donalds advocates for universal s to accelerate growth, stating in 2022 that such mechanisms would foster and , allowing families to escape underperforming district schools. Nationally, as Chair of the America First Policy Institute's Center for Education Opportunity and a visiting fellow at , Donalds promotes replicating Florida's model, celebrating expansions like Ohio's 2023 universal ESA program and critiquing federal overreach that stifles state-level choice reforms. In a 2024 Heritage commentary, she noted Florida's progress—from 100,000 choice participants in 2019 to over 400,000 by 2023—but urged further deregulation to enhance private sector involvement and outcomes measurement via independent assessments rather than government mandates. Donalds applies free-market principles to , arguing that vouchers disrupt entrenched systems by tying funding to and parental satisfaction, as demonstrated by Florida's rising NAEP scores and rates post-expansion, which she attributes to competitive pressures rather than increased spending alone.

Contributions to Florida's Education Landscape

Donalds founded OptimaEd in 2017 as a management company aimed at expanding high-quality options in , including schools affiliated with Hillsdale College's model. Through this entity, she facilitated the development and operation of multiple schools, providing operational support such as and implementation to enhance alternatives to district-run schools. As a former Collier County School Board member from 2014 to 2022, Donalds advocated for greater and in public education governance, influencing local policies that prioritized parental involvement and fiscal responsibility. Her tenure contributed to the board's support for expansions and resistance to federal mandates, aligning with broader state efforts to devolve control from centralized bureaucracies to local levels. Donalds played a pivotal role in Florida's school choice expansion through her leadership of the Optima Foundation, renamed the Educational Freedom Foundation, which launched four classical schools across the state by providing templates, best practices, and tools for educational entrepreneurs. These initiatives emphasized content-rich curricula over pedagogies, serving thousands of students in taxpayer-funded options. Her sustained advocacy helped propel Florida's adoption of universal school choice in 2023, allowing all K-12 students access to savings accounts for private, charter, or homeschool options, a policy shift that positioned the state as a national leader in empowering parents over government-assigned schooling. This framework, supported by empirical data on improved outcomes in choice environments, reflected Donalds' focus on causal mechanisms like driving rather than top-down interventions.

Critiques of Federal Education Overreach

Donalds has consistently argued that the U.S. Department of Education represents an unconstitutional expansion of federal power that undermines state and local authority over schooling, leading to bureaucratic bloat without corresponding improvements in student outcomes. Established in 1979 ostensibly to support state efforts and ensure , the agency has instead imposed mandates that divert resources from classrooms, with administrative staff growing 702% since 1950 while student enrollment increased only 96%. She points to stagnant or declining national assessment scores as evidence of failure, noting that the 2025 Nation's Report Card showed reading proficiency below 33% for students, with scores dropping 2 points overall, and eighth-grade math proficiency falling from 34% in 2019 to 26%. In Donalds' view, federal policies exemplify overreach by prioritizing ideological enforcement over educational efficacy, such as Obama administration guidance that discouraged disciplinary actions in schools, which she links to tragedies like the 2018 Parkland shooting due to mishandled student records. Programs like Title I funding have persisted across administrations without boosting performance, while compliance burdens consume teacher time and reduce accountability to parents. She contends the department has shifted focus to a , enforcing uniformity that stifles and local adaptation, as seen in states like , , and where administrative spending has outpaced classroom investments. To address this, Donalds advocates fully dismantling the Department of Education, redistributing essential functions—such as student loans to the and civil rights oversight elsewhere—and converting remaining federal funds into block grants to states and parents for targeted uses like or special services. She supports initiatives like those under in 2025, which cut over 1,900 federal education jobs and aimed to empower states, arguing that returning control to local communities would foster competition, accountability, and a free-market approach where parents direct funding to high-performing options. This stance aligns with her broader push for , emphasizing that federal involvement burdens ground-level educators and hinders reforms proven effective at the state level, such as Florida's expansions.

Controversies and Criticisms

Allegations of Conflicts in Charter School Contracts

Critics have raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest arising from Erika Donalds's dual roles as founder of OptimaEd—a —and her service on the Collier County School Board from 2014 to 2020, during which the district sponsored managed by her firm. In 2014, while campaigning for the board, opponents alleged that her position on the of Mason Classical Academy, a district-sponsored , created a voting conflict under , which requires recusal from decisions involving personal financial interests. Donalds responded that state statutes explicitly allow school board members to serve on governing boards of district-authorized charters without automatic disqualification, provided specific financial thresholds for conflicts are not met. OptimaEd, founded by Donalds in 2013, provides operational management, , and administrative services to classical , typically earning management fees of 10-15% of school budgets—a standard industry practice for service providers. Investigative reporting in 2025 claimed that entities affiliated with Donalds, including OptimaEd and the Optima Foundation (formed in 2017), have secured contracts totaling millions of dollars from , some of which Donalds helped establish or influence through her advocacy and board tenure. For instance, disclosures revealed Donalds received compensation from Snyder's Educator Solutions, a linked to operations, until at least 2023, prompting questions about in contract awards. No formal investigations or legal findings of wrongdoing have been reported, though critics, including watchdogs, argued that her influence—such as promoting expansions—could indirectly benefit her businesses. Additional scrutiny emerged from contract terminations at three OptimaEd-managed schools between 2020 and 2023, where boards cited inadequate funding allocation to classrooms, implying excessive fees retained by the management company. These disputes, while not directly alleging conflicts, fueled broader claims of prioritization over educational outcomes in Donalds's . Donalds and OptimaEd have maintained that all contracts are competitively bid, transparently disclosed, and compliant with Florida's processes, which emphasize parental and fiscal . The allegations, primarily from progressive-leaning outlets and political opponents, have not resulted in regulatory actions as of October 2025.

Media and Opponent Attacks on Business Practices

In June 2025, Bulldog published an investigative report alleging that for-profit companies controlled by Erika Donalds, including OptimaEd and Optima Management Services, received over $5.8 million in management fees in 2023 from taxpayer-funded charter schools such as those affiliated with Jacksonville Classical Academies. The article criticized the transition of contracts from Donalds' nonprofit Optima Foundation to these for-profits, claiming it prioritized private gain over , and highlighted deficiencies cited in 2023 audits that led multiple schools to terminate agreements with the foundation for failures in tracking revenues, debts, and vendor payments. It further noted unreported , such as Donalds earning over $500,000 from contractor Educator Solutions between 2020 and 2022, amid ties to state legislator John Snyder, though Donalds did not respond to the outlet's inquiries. A 2023 Mother Jones profile amplified concerns over OptimaEd's practices, reporting a penalty of $470,000 against Optima Academy Online for overenrolling non-local students in violation of funding rules. The piece cited a 2023 audit of Classical Academy faulting OptimaEd for profit-driven decisions, including staff and uncompensated administrative burdens, with faculty alleging a culture of "" and fear of retaliation. It portrayed Donalds' 10-12% management fees—equating to $1.2 million from Naples Classical Academy's $10.5 million revenue in 2021-2022—as emblematic of broader privatization risks, drawing parallels to while quoting critics like retired professor Sue Legg who warned Donalds could exacerbate such issues if elevated to federal roles. Opponents, including former Mason Classical Academy board chair Kelly Lichter, have pursued lawsuits alleging and in Donalds' involvement with charter governance. A accused Donalds and affiliates of and libel in efforts to oust Lichter and seize control of the school, tied to affiliations with Hillsdale College's model. Donalds dismissed such actions as "frivolous" and wasteful of taxpayer resources in a statement to WINK News. These claims, often from progressive-leaning outlets and litigants opposing expansion, lack judicial validation to date and contrast with audits confirming operational compliance in many Optima-managed schools, though they have fueled narratives of undue profiteering from public education funds.

Personal Life and Public Influence

Marriage and Family

Erika Donalds has been married to , the U.S. Representative for , since March 15, 2003. The couple met while both were students at and relocated to , in 2002 prior to their wedding. Donalds and her husband have three sons: Damon, Darin, and Mason. She has publicly described herself as a dedicated to her boys, emphasizing as a core aspect of her life alongside her advocacy work. The maintains a residence in , where they have been active in community and conservative political circles.

Ideological Commitments and Public Engagements

Erika Donalds identifies as a constitutional conservative, emphasizing intervention in and the prioritization of parental authority over bureaucratic control. Her advocacy centers on market-driven reforms, including and vouchers, which she views as essential for empowering families to select educational options that align with their values and needs, rather than relying on monopolistic public systems. Donalds has publicly critiqued progressive influences in schools, such as the promotion of gender ideology by educators who withhold information from parents, arguing that such practices undermine and student well-being. In alignment with America First principles, Donalds supports decentralizing education authority to states, local school boards, and parents to foster academic excellence and individual freedom, contrasting this with federal overreach that she believes stifles innovation. As chair of the Center for Education Opportunity at the , she advances policies aimed at dismantling what she describes as an "education cartel" dominated by unions and administrators resistant to competition. Her positions reflect a commitment to empirical outcomes, citing Florida's expansion of —universal vouchers enacted in 2023—as evidence of improved student performance through parental involvement. Donalds engages publicly through frequent speaking appearances at conservative forums and campuses, positioning herself as a national voice for . In October 2025, she launched the "Free to Speak" tour with the , starting at on October 16, where she advocated for parental-directed education systems and drew a crowd of about 40 students despite reported opposition. Subsequent stops included on November 3, hosted by , where she pledged to extend the organization's legacy of challenging campus orthodoxies. She has spoken at events like the (ALEC) States and Nation Policy Summit in 2025, alongside figures such as Fort Worth Mayor , focusing on policy innovations in . Donalds also participates in media discussions and roundtables, including America First Policy Institute events on breaking education monopolies, and has appeared at CPAC panels addressing initiatives and in schooling. Through her leadership in OptimaEd and the Education Freedom Foundation, she collaborates with reformers to host workshops and policy briefings promoting charter innovations and voucher expansions.

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