Florida Democrats attempt to counter Gov. DeSantis with school board endorsements 

This week, Florida Democrats endorsed 18 candidates for school board positions. The move has been seen as a direct response to DeSantis, who has been working to get more conservatives elected in location positions in the upcoming midterm elections in November.

The school board elections are scheduled to take place on the 23rd August and at this stage there are 7 school board races where there are candidates who have been endorsed be DeSantis competing against those backed by Florida Democrats. “Education is supposed to be a ladder to the future for our kids,” Florida Democratic Party Chair Manny Diaz said in a statement Monday. “However, it seems that the only future Ron DeSantis cares about is his own.”

Education was a crucial part of Glenn Youngkin being voted in as Mayor of Virginia. DeSantis has been vocal about Florida’s education system in 2022, including passing the Parental Control Bill, which has been dubbed as “Don’t Say Gay.”

DeSantis re-iterated his views in a recent Tweet, saying: “Florida stands with parents to protect children. Exposing children to inappropriate sexualized content is wrong and the state will hold accountable those establishments that transgress this clear boundary.”

DeSantis also spoke at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood to drive home the importance of school board races.
“We have a chance to even have super-majorities in the state Legislature, and we have an opportunity to win many, many school board seats, which are very, very important,” DeSantis told the audience.

Democrats hit back at DeSantis by pointing out that Florida is currently dealing with a teacher shortage. Florida Education Association (FEA) has stated that they require 9,000 teachers before the start of term. “Our public schools are really at a crisis level seeing this massive number of vacancies,” FEA President Andrew Spar said.