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Charlie Crist’s running mate in the Democratic race for Florida governor, Karla Hernandez-Mats, had to be interrupted by a reporter during an interview for lying about Governor Ron DeSantis’ education administration in an attempt to get political mileage.
While interviewed for local ABC 10 News’ This Week in South Florida, reporter Glenna Milberg asked Hernandez-Mats about her plans to address the teacher shortage in the public education system.
.@CharlieCrist’s radical running mate @KarlaforFlorida gets corrected by news anchor for accusing @GovRonDeSantis of defunding public education when in fact he and @JeanetteNunezFL have made it a priority and have provided pay raises and bonuses for teachers. #flapol pic.twitter.com/hrfWAU7Uwz
— Republican State Leadership Committee (@RSLC) September 6, 2022
“What would be an idea to alleviate the teacher’s shortages?” asked Milberg, to which Hernandez-Mats responded: “This is one of the issues that is a big topic here in the state of Florida. We have over 9,000 vacancies across the state, and they are because of Ron DeSantis. It is because of his failed policies, of how he has defunded public education year after year. And because of it, because of how he has deprofessionalized our profession, it has created this absence of workforce.”
The reporter then interrupted Hernandez-Mats to add “a little fact-check” and warned her that “defunding” was inappropriate given that Governor DeSantis increased teacher salaries and offered bonuses to the union this year.
In mid-March of this year, Governor DeSantis announced a $250 million increase in the state budget over last year (bringing it to $800 million) to increase minimum teacher salaries and veteran teacher salaries in Florida.
With that increase, Florida’s investment in teacher pay has exceeded $2 billion since the 2020 Legislative Session.
In addition, DeSantis recently announced a program to address the teacher crisis by temporarily certifying military veterans so that, while they complete their bachelor’s degree in education, they can join the state’s public schools as teachers.
Tomás Lugo, journalist and writer. Born in Venezuela and graduated in Social Communication. Has written for international media outlets. Currently living in Colombia // Tomás Lugo, periodista y articulista. Nacido en Venezuela y graduado en Comunicación Social. Ha escrito para medios internacionales. Actualmente reside en Colombia.