State Board of Education Continues Governor’s “Blame Educators Tour”

Today’s State Board of Education meeting follows a similar pattern of the leadership in Florida: insert politics where they don’t belong, misrepresent, blame, and intimidate instead of focusing on real, sustained investment in our public schools.

Rather than taking an honest look at the chronic underfunding and harmful policies that have hampered public education in Florida for decades, the Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas has once again chosen politics over students and vilified the very educators who keep our neighborhood public schools strong.

At today’s State Board of Education meeting, the commissioner spread misinformation about an Alachua County School Board meeting, blamed educators for the state’s failure to invest in public education, and used political motivations to intimidate educators both in Brevard and around the state. All of this while blaming the very educators who are showing up for their students and communities every single day.

One of the most alarming moments came when the commissioner declared that the “culture” in Alachua County—referring to the community members in the room exercising their constitutional right to free speech—“needs to change,” and that the state would step in to make sure it does. Such comments reveal a clear and direct threat to educators and entire communities who dare to disagree with the Governor’s agenda. The Governor and his allies have made deliberate attempts to silence dissent and hand over local control of our schools to politicians. In Florida, the freedoms of educators, elected school boards, and communities must be protected, not eroded in service of political power.

At the end of the day however, we can’t fully blame Commissioner Kamoutsas for his department’s tactics to micromanage and intimidate superintendents, school boards, and educators. We know that he is only acting out the desires of Governor DeSantis. The truth cannot be ignored: districts are facing million-dollar budget shortfalls exacerbated by federal money that has not yet been delivered; classrooms are plagued with mold, lead, and broken ACs; Florida remains 50th in average teacher pay for the second year in a row; and thousands of students began this school year without a certified educator in their classroom. When our Governor turns a blind eye to the problems, our students pay the price in the form of overcrowded classrooms, declining SAT scores, and slipping performance on math and reading tests.

The Governor’s playbook was in full display today when the school board discussed protecting parents’ rights, but in practice, are only concerned about the rights of those who agree with them. There’s no better example of that than the Florida Department of Education’s effort to ban books, censor learning, and dictate whose voices and stories are allowed in our schools. Instead of upholding every child’s constitutional right to a high-quality public education, state leaders have put politics ahead of students.

The Legislative Budget Request (LBR) only further highlights the hypocrisy. Despite claims about supporting student learning and educators, the LBR actively undermines that goal. The proposed $145 million for teacher pay averages out to about $708 (pre-tax) per teacher—less than $30 per paycheck before taxes, far from what’s needed to keep pace with rising inflation. The Florida Education Association will continue to track budget funding requests to ensure students are put first.

As members of the State Board of Education themselves so eloquently put it, student achievement isn’t a partisan ideal. Every child—not just a select few—deserves a rich and diverse education that allows them to see themselves in their learning and challenges them to think for themselves. It’s time to stop weaponizing our classrooms and ensure every child has access to the tools, resources, and opportunities they need to thrive.