Herald recommends: In Miami School Board District 4 race, elect the non-partisan straight-shooter | Editorial

Public education should be a nonpartisan issue, but this year’s School Board races have been dragged into Florida’s partisan culture wars, thanks to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ apparent push to elect members who will do his bidding. The race for Miami-Dade County School Board District 4 is a case in point.

District 4

Incumbent Perla Tabares Hantman, the well-regarded School Board chair first elected in 1996, filed to run for re-election, but dropped out of the race in April.

Tabares Hantman and the majority of the board defied a DeSantis order last year and instituted a mask mandate in schools, setting up a clash with the governor.

Tabares Hantman, a Republican, told the Herald Editorial Board Thursday that she changed her mind about running for reelection because she wants to “pursue other interests and enjoy my children and grandchildren.”

But she may also have seen the writing on the wall, with her own party backing the DeSantis-endorsed Roberto Alonso for the District 4 seat. The governor appointed Alonso to the Miami Dade College Board of Trustees in 2020. He’s developed educational software and works for his family’s real estate business, Costa Realtors, in Miami Lakes. He’s also the co-founder of Miami Lakes Cars for a Cure Foundation, which raises money for cancer research.

Since then, two other candidates have jumped in the race.

Maribel Balbin owns a public-affairs agency and is the former president of the Miami-Dade League of Women Voters. Balbin said she’s running to keep politics out of education and build on Tabares Hantman’s legacy.

Kevin Menendez Macki is the only candidate with classroom teaching experience. He was a public school teacher for 11 years and has been the principal at Horeb Christian School in Hialeah for six, where he said he’s increased enrollment by 134% since taking over.

The District 4 race plays out against the backdrop of DeSantis’ apparent plan to turn public education into a hyper-partisan arena. If he’s successful, expect more efforts to ban books and control how schools teach about race and the LGBTQ community.

Alonso showed a decent grasp of K-12 issues and presented good ideas in his interview with the Herald Editorial Board. He said the district must focus on vocational training and teachers’ struggles to afford exorbitant housing prices in Miami-Dade County. He proposed hiring reading and math coaches to help teachers address the different levels of student achievement caused by the pandemic.

Alonso said he’s not a “puppet for anybody,” but parts of his platform look like a copy of DeSantis’ agenda. On his website, you’ll find run-of-the-mill issues like school safety, but also a promise to oppose “attempts to impose Critical Race Theory and other extreme liberal agendas in K-12” and “protect female athletes and female sports — boys can’t compete in girls’ athletics!”

School districts have repeatedly said they don’t teach CRT, and DeSantis already banned the theory from K-12. Also already prohibited: transgender athletes in girls’ sports, a rare occurrence even when they were allowed in Florida public schools. These are non-issues, but red meat for the governor’s base.

Unfortunately, Alonso is deploying boogeymen and fighting culture wars to appeal to voters, a strategy DeSantis has mastered. That might work in GOP-leaning District 4, but voters should defend public education from divisive political stunts. We cannot recommend him.

Balbin said she has lived in District 4 for three decades and has been civically involved, serving on several local boards such as the Miami-Dade County Commission for Women and the Miami Lakes Municipal Advisory Committee. Although she doesn’t have education experience, Balbin is up to speed on what’s happening in public schools. She points to the need for more summer and after-school programs and pre-K options for working parents. She said third-graders have seen some of the most dire learning losses because of the pandemic, and that new programs are needed to address reading in particular.

Menendez Macki said he’s “walked in the shoes of those public school teachers.” He told the Editorial Board the district must dig into data about learning losses, in particular for students who learned virtually for extended periods of time. He said schools need more intervention in math and reading, whether that be through additional staff or programs. He believes the growing number of students leaving for charter and private schools must force traditional public schools to innovate. Menendez Macki points to the example of Barbara Goleman Senior High in Miami Lakes, which reversed dwindling enrollment by reinventing itself as a “mega magnet” school.

Balbin and Menendez Macki are fine choices. But they trail Alonso significantly in fundraising. Alonso’s campaign has raised $102,000 to Menendez Macki’s $25,000 and Balbin’s $21,000.

What tips the scale in Balbin’s favor is that she presents herself as a counterpoint to efforts to reshape education according to a specific ideology. In previous elections, that wouldn’t be a factor, but this year, it must be.

Balbin said she would rather spend time on the real needs of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, not on political issues like CRT.

“I’m definitely not beholden to anybody, and those who know me know that nobody can tell me what to do,” she told the Editorial Board. “And there will definitely be a voice just for your students, the parents and the residents of District 4.”

The Herald recommends MARIBEL BALBIN for Miami-Dade County School Board, District 4.

This story was originally published July 29, 2022 at 6:00 AM.