JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Governor Ron DeSantis is continuing his push to flip school board seats and he has Duval County in his sights.
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The Governor released a list of 14 seats he’s targeting in the 2024 Election.
Two of the 14 seats are here in Duval County.
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DeSantis is looking to unseat Duval School Board members Kelly Coker and Cindy Pearson.
Tiffany Justice with Mom’s For Liberty, which helped craft the list, said the list identifies members who have bucked the state on parents’ rights and COVID policy.
“What we saw were board members who thumbed their nose at law,” Justice said.
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The list is a continuation of DeSantis’ efforts to exert influence over local school boards that began in 2022.
That year, he backed 34 candidates across the state.
The Governor also got involved in two Duval school board races in 2022.
DeSantis-backed candidates Charlotte Joyce and April Carney were among the 29 that claimed victories
“I think we all knew that this was going to be a trend that would continue on,” former Duval School Board member Elizabeth Andersen said. She lost her race to Carney in 2022.
Andersen said the Governor’s influence in Duval has resulted in local policies aligned with his own agenda.
“Whether that is about books or youth risk behavior surveys or sex ed. All of these things I think are tied to really moving forward a specific political agenda,” Anderson said.
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Andrew Spar, President of the Florida Education Association, notes the politicization of school boards is a trend that goes beyond the Governor’s endorsements.
Lawmakers are pushing legislation to make school board races overtly partisan in the upcoming legislative session.
“Quite honestly, we think that’s bad for kids. Politics has no place in our schools,” Spar said.
But Justice argued politics and school boards have never been separate.
“We are absolutely just pulling the curtain back on a process that has been politicized. Our schools have been politicized and as partisanship is concerned, parental rights are not partisan issues,” Justice said.
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Among the two members identified on the list in Duval County, Person is a registered Republican, while Coker is registered as a Democrat, though currently school board races are nonpartisan.
