The governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, met with proponents of school board reform and unveiled a preliminary “target list” for 14 school board seats in the 2024 election.
Tina Descovich and Tiffany Justice, co-founders of Moms for Liberty, and Florida House Speaker Paul Renner met with DeSantis to discuss strategies for school board endorsements, choose the first round of targets for 2024, and choose a candidate recruitment, interview, and endorsement process moving forward.
The “target list” includes the following school board members:
- Jennifer Jenkins – Brevard County, District 3
- Kelly Coker and Cindy Pearson – Duval County, Districts 1 and 3
- Nadia Combs and Jessica Vaughn – Hillsborough County, Districts 1 and 3
- Peggy Jones and Brian Barefoot – Indian River County, Districts 3 and 5
- Luisa Santos – Miami-Dade County, District 9
- Laura Hine and Eileen Long – Pinellas County, Districts 1 and 4
- Jack Kelly – St. Lucie County, District 2
- Anita Burnette and Carl Persis – Volusia County, Districts 2 and 4
- Tom Edwards – Sarasota County, District 3
The political resources and training required to support the movement were also discussed during the strategy conference.
Florida House Speaker Paul Renner Stated:
“Our children’s education is a no-fail mission. We will continue to support Florida school board candidates who promote the components of a world class education, and defeat those that are focused on the latest ideological trends. Make no mistake, we intend to win as Florida’s future is too important,”
DeSantis introduced the DeSantis Education Agenda in 2022, a 10-point policy platform open-sourced to candidates running for school boards around the state with the slogan “parents’ rights, children first.”
Candidates for the school board were asked by the governor to run directly for office and request an endorsement.
He interviewed candidates before endorsing 30 in the primary and 4 more in the general election (34 total). Among those, 29 declared themselves winners. Elections for school boards are nonpartisan in Florida.
At the time, the DeSantis stated:
“This is really, I think just the beginning. I think what we’ve been able to do is show that these races matter,” “You’re already seeing some of these school boards making big changes in their school districts, which I think is very, very encouraging to see people wanting to reform,”
For instance, school board members in Sarasota and Broward County who received DeSantis’ support fired their respective administrators. Once newly elected school board members indicated during their first open meeting that they were interested in a change in leadership, the superintendent of Brevard Public Schools announced that he would resign.
DeSantis said that in conservative areas, teachers unions support leftist politicians.
The governor reportedly spent over $2 million on the campaigns and made his whole political organization accessible to the candidates, providing them with training in policy, communications, and field operations.
Independent Writer. Marketing and communications strategist for politicians, artists, public figures & corporate brands for more than 10 years. Contact: @alejandrosbasso (Twitter)
Escritor independiente. Consultor en marketing y comunicaciones de políticos, artistas, figuras públicas y marcas por más de 10 años. Contacto: @alejandrosbasso (Twitter)