Don't look now, but this is shaping up to be a critical year for public education in the state of Florida.

And while there might be a flock of Chicken Littles who say this every year, consider what we've already got on the table — with a full month to go before the Legislature even officially convenes:

Gov. Ron DeSantis has announced that he'll do away with the last vestiges of "Common Core," scrapping the Florida Standards and coming up with a new set of standards for Florida public schools. What will they be, who will devise them, how will they be implemented? And what's the upshot for your kids and mine? It's too early to even ask these questions, let alone have them answered.

More: Plans for new textbooks on hold after DeSantis scraps standards

More: Charter enrollment shows demand for school choice | Gil Smart

DeSantis also has proposed a big boost in per-student spending, after the miserly approach of past Legislatures and chief executives. Which is good, but...

Then there's a proposal by state Sen. Manny Diaz, Republican of Miami-Dade and powerful chair of the Senate Education Committee, who filed a bill that would allow seniors who have lived in their homesteaded houses for 25 years to be "exempt from school district levies." That is — they wouldn't have to pay school taxes. At all.

Diaz has since said he would amend the bill so seniors would only be exempt from new taxes rather than existing ones. But when someone pointed out that when today's seniors' kids were in school, a previous generation of 65-and-over taxpayers helped pay for their education, Diaz answered thus:

"That's irrelevant."

And one last thing parents and others might consider relevant indeed: Diaz is a huge fan of charter schools, as is Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran.

So buckle your seat belt, folks.

Because for the next few months we're going to hear elected officials tell us what parents want. The changes, the policies proposed — we'll be told — are all in response to the urgent demands of parents and the public at large.

But wait. Maybe instead of (supposedly) speaking through our elected proxies, maybe parents should have a more of a direct say.

Maybe parents need their own lobby.

And maybe what one former Martin County School Board member is attempting to do on Facebook will become one.

And if it does — look out.

Launched earlier this week after several weeks of discussion, Tina McSoley's "Reconstruct-ED: A Message to Governor DeSantis" had just under 500 members on Facebook and already was drawing interest from across the state.

The goal, she said, is to change the conversation; "to share with elected officials what we want from education reform regardless of our beliefs, political parties or motives."

The goal is not to be partisan, she told me; any posts that disparage Democrats or Republicans or even policy-related issues like charter schools or teachers' unions aren't welcome.

What she wants — and what the group is already starting to provide — is an answer to this question: "If you were starting with nothing, what would you request for our children?"

Common themes already are emerging. Many posted that they'd like to see far less standardized testing. Others want teachers given more latitude to teach outside the box.

This one might have been my favorite so far: "I would like the Florida constitution to require any new state mandate must also be fully state funded."

You listening, Tallahassee?

So far parents, grandparents and educators have weighed in; public school parents are posting alongside home-school and charter-school parents.

"I believe there is common ground and all parents believe many of the same things and want the same things," McSoley said. And if some consensus ultimately does emerge, Tallahassee "can't ignore all these voices when they're coming from all different angles."

"If we can grow the membership we can let people know what's coming (in terms of proposed policy changes) and then we can say: Do we need to (physically) go to Tallahassee?

"It can be a message straight to Gov. DeSantis" and the Legislature, she said.

It will be interesting to see whether a unified message does emerge. On bread-and-butter issues, sure. But your mileage may vary once we get granular and ask things like: How much more money should be allotted for charter schools and where does it come from?

Still, I like the idea of parents making their voices heard. Many of us have been a silent constituency; content so long as our kids seem to be doing OK, really not making waves — because come on, as if there's time in the day for that.

But now, with so many potentially monumental changes looming — those with skin in this game need to find that time, and make their voices heard.

Gil Smart is a TCPalm columnist and a member of the Editorial Board. His columns reflect his opinion. Readers may reach him at gil.smart@tcpalm.com, by phone at 772-223-4741 or via Twitter at @TCPalmGilSmart.