Change is definitely in the air for our local school boards.
In Miami-Dade, two candidates endorsed by Gov. Ron DeSantis won, and one of them ousted a veteran incumbent from her seat.
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WATCH HEREIn Broward, one incumbent is now in a runoff, as everyone wonders whether the governor will do what the statewide grand jury recommended and remove four sitting board members from their seats.
The grand jury report hangs like a black cloud over the board. Did it have an impact on incumbent Donna Korn's contest going to a runoff election? She doesn’t think so.
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“As all of this has really been part of the dialogue in the community, it’s lost the emphasis on what the school board race is really about which is about education and being responsible to the taxpayers,” Korn said.
“I think the grand jury report says things about my opponent that disqualify her to serve as an elected official,” said Korn’s opponent, Dr. Allen Zeman.
Zeman agrees that the report has not yet impacted the race, saying it still could, though, if voters get past what he calls the hyperbole in it.
“But what I’d really like the governor and the legislature to focus on is the things we just talked about, what matters, what are the strategic levers that will allow kids, that will the young adults in our school system to learn as much as they’d like to learn, to be all they can be,” Zeman said.
“Every time I’ve had an opportunity to spend that much more time being able to speak to the electorate, it’s given me an opportunity to know that I’m all about education,” Korn said.
Meanwhile, in Miami-Dade, veteran incumbent Marta Perez lost her seat to newcomer Monica Colucci, who was endorsed by the governor and lieutenant governor.
“I was very proud to have their backing and their support, our ideas and philosophies on education align,” Colucci said. “We’re gonna fight for parental rights, curricular transparency, prioritize school safety and return eduction to what it should be, the fundamentals that children need to be successful in life and to be independent thinkers.”
“I think it’s very, very dangerous and bad precedent, but here we are,” Perez said.
Perez, a lifelong Republican, objects to Tallahassee putting fingers on the scale, getting involved in non-partisan elections.
“We’ve never had people from Tallahassee and lieutenant governors get involved in races that are non-partisan and should not be partisan because this is about education,” Perez said.
Whether or not it’s appropriate, it’s happening. DeSantis endorsed a couple of dozen school board candidates across the state, most of them won, and it’s part of a national right-wing effort to influence education policy.
