After mask mandates, Florida House’s petty scheme seeks revenge against Miami schools | Editorial

It’s payback season in Tallahassee. Petty politics were on full display Wednesday when the Florida House approved financial penalties against school districts that defied state orders and followed public-health advice on masks last year.

In their quest for revenge against school officials who dared to protect their students, the Republican-led House signed off on a proposal to strip $200 million in the state budget from Miami-Dade County Public Schools and 11 other districts that had mask mandates despite a ban from Gov. Ron DeSantis.

It’s juvenile and vindictive. Welcome to Florida.

The plan, comically titled “Putting Parents First Adjustment,” vows to not impact students directly by focusing on off-school-site operations only. But it would affect the “framework of services for students” just as Miami-Dade Schools tries to make up for learning losses during the COVID-19 pandemic, Superintendent Jose Dotres told the Herald Editorial Board.

“It’s a huge penalty that ultimately hurts students,” Dotres said.

Behind this scheme is Rep. Randy Fine, chair of the House PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee. Fine, R-Brevard County, has been known to use his position to lash out at critics and political enemies. Last year, he shared on social media the phone number of a school board member who successfully pushed for a mask mandate in Brevard and repeatedly accused her of child abuse for her stance, prompting her to accuse him of inciting his followers to harass her.

Reversing course

Up until last week, we could’ve brushed this proposal off as a political stunt. Gov. Ron DeSantis originally pushed back on it, urging lawmakers instead to give parents power to sue districts over COVID-19 protocols, the Herald reported. But on Tuesday DeSantis reversed course, tweeting his support for the reductions, saying they are aimed at “union-controlled politicians and bureaucrats.”

The $200 million — $72 million from Miami-Dade — was calculated based on the number of district-level officials earning over $100,000 per year at the targeted districts. Broward and Palm Beach would lose $32 million and $28 million, respectively. Fine argues the funding reduction targets only administrators and “central offices,” and the proposal states districts could not make cuts in “any direct educational service or resource that impacts” students.

Miami-Dade Schools has 243 non-school site administrators who earn over $100,000 annually, according to the district. Although some lawmakers might consider those employees mere bureaucrats, pencil-pushers who are far removed from education, Dotres pointed out a lot gets done for students in district offices. These administrators oversee crucial programs: transportation, mental health, services for students with disabilities, school safety, food services, academic support and even curriculum development.

It’s a fantasy to think students wouldn’t be affected, even if indirectly, if districts are forced to make budget cuts — and Dotres didn’t rule out the possibility of layoffs. Worse off would be the most vulnerable students who rely on assistance from the district, he said.

The dollars leaving Miami-Dade and 11 other districts under this proposal would go to the 55 districts that didn’t have mask mandates. That would create a disparity because those 12 districts educate more than half of Florida’s students. Dotres suspects it also might also be a violation of the state Constitution’s requirement for “a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools.”

House but not Senate

The House approved the cuts on a 102-14 vote as part of its proposed state budget, but the Senate didn’t include the penalties in its budget bill. Senate President Wilton Simpson’s office told the Editorial Board Thursday that “ultimately, it would be an issue that is decided in the budget conference,” referring to the budget negotiations between both legislative chambers.

With Miami-Dade taking the biggest hit, local legislators should stand up to this taxpayer-funded bullying, but at this point it’s unclear if they will. The Editorial Board reached out to Hialeah Sen. Manny Diaz, Jr., the Republican vice-chair of the Senate education budget committee, but didn’t hear back as of Thursday afternoon.

DeSantis’ thumb on the scale will certainly sway Republicans who control the Legislature. If they know anything about how Tallahassee treats those who don’t toe the line for the governor, they will do as he says. But this time, they should stand up for our local school district.