DeSantis remakes Miami-Dade School Board. Now, keep politics out of it | Editorial
Tuesday’s election results have ushered in a new day for the supposedly nonpartisan Miami-Dade School Board. Ideology and leadership are about to be flipped on their heads.
That is no accident. It is the result of a calculated move by Gov. Ron DeSantis and Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez. Well-played, but, perhaps, to this community’s detriment.
No other Florida governor has used his bully pulpit to help win school board races here or across the state. Of the 30 conservative school board candidates backed by DeSantis, 19 won their elections outright Tuesday, five lost and six are gearing up for runoffs in November.
What’s at stake: As more-conservative members join forces, the Board is poised to grab power from the superintendent and staff, possibly neutering professional leadership. Assertive, but neutral, superintendents like former schools chief Alberto Carvalho will become out of favor. The School Board, made up of people with some education experience or none at all, could sacrifice its independence at the altar of DeSantis’ nasty culture wars, which is why he interfered in these non-partisan races to begin with.
Some parents may have an outsize say in their kids education, meaning an outsize say in your kids’ education, too, whether you agree or not.
We should also anticipate a shift toward for-profit charter expansion and away from the now-demonized Florida public school system. Who demonized it? The governor and the Republican-controlled Legislature with a ban on critical race theory, even though it’s not taught in K-12; “Don’t say gay” initiatives; and textbook bans. Don’t forget the implied threat to teachers to watch what they say in the classroom outside of the approved curriculum.
Should any of this come to pass, School Board members who believe in non-partisanship, especially Miami-Dade’s, should now take a stand. After all, this governor plays hardball.
Earlier this year, the DeSantis administration sent veteran Miami-Dade School Board members Marta Perez and Perla Tabares Hantman the message that they would be challenged if they ran for reelection. Their crime? Last year, as school was about to start, they voted to extend mask mandates, in direct opposition to DeSantis’ order to open schools mask-free.
Like them, former Miami-Dade Superintendent Alberto Carvalho also, and rightly, followed medical experts’ advice that masks were needed.
Carvalho now heads the Los Angeles school district. A new superintendent, Jose Dotres, will have to find his footing, again, with the new Board.
Tabares Hantman, who has been elected chairwoman 14 times during her career, decided not to seek reelection. Roberto J. Alonso, a Realtor appointed by DeSantis to Miami Dade College’s board of directors, ran for her seat and easily won Tuesday, with DeSantis giving him lift.
Perez, however, fought to keep her seat, which she has held for 24 years. In a bruising campaign, she lost on Tuesday to political newcomer and teacher Monica Colucci, a candidate with close ties to the lieutenant governor, who personally campaigned for her.
Perez bitterly complained about being ignored by the governor, bullied by the lieutenant governor and having her supporters ordered to abandon her. The irony is that Perez and Tabares Hantman both are Republicans, but apparently not the right kind of Republicans.
Tabares Hantman and Perez, have been leaders on the School Board. Tabares Hantman exits as a respected leader. Perez, long has been a fair and just voice on the Board, a moral compass. Both of them will be missed.
What we now hope for is for Colucci and Alonso to think and speak for themselves, lest every utterance be seen as a mandate from the governor. This remains a nonpartisan School Board, and they — and their future colleagues — are beholden only to the constituents in their districts, and residents countywide.
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This story was originally published August 24, 2022 at 5:31 PM.