TALLAHASSEE — Governor Ron DeSantis put Left-leaning school board members on notice Tuesday as he looks to expand his “DeSantis Education Agenda" across the state.
Alongside House Speaker Paul Renner and Education Commissioner Manny Diaz, the governor met with Moms for Liberty co-founders Tina Descovich and Tiffany Justice to strategize for the 2024 school board election.
The group identified incumbent school board members the administration wants replaced with candidates who support the governor’s education agenda. The list includes the following members:
Jennifer Jenkins – Brevard County, District 3
A mask mandate supporter who has showcased her disdain for parental rights on MSNBC.
Kelly Coker and Cindy Pearson – Duval County, Districts 1 and 3
Two mask pushers who tried their best to sabotage Parental Rights in Education measures.
Nadia Combs and Jessica Vaughn – Hillsborough County, Districts 1 and 3
Combs and Vaughn are the Left’s operators in suburban Hillsborough County. Masks? You got it.
Peggy Jones and Brian Barefoot – Indian River County, Districts 3 and 5
More child maskers, and Jones did her best to stall the removal of pornographic books from Indian River County schools.
Luisa Santos – Miami-Dade County, District 9
Georgetown, Department of Education, Obama… What could possibly go wrong? Worked to invalidate a religious exemption for mask wearing in her district.
Laura Hine and Eileen Long – Pinellas County, Districts 1 and 4
Two independents who seemingly have no problems with the Left’s encroachment on our rights.
Jack Kelly – St. Lucie County, District 2
Worked so hard for the city of Port St. Lucie that it accumulated over a billion dollars in debt. Independent, but former Democrat (surprise).
Anita Burnette and Carl Persis – Volusia County, Districts 2 and 4
Lifelong Democrats, the whole package – masking, transgenderism, wokeism. Son works closely with Leftist radical Anna Eskamani.
Tom Edwards – Sarasota County, District 3
Edwards likes to brag about how he’s “working from the inside” to indoctrinate children with harmful, Leftist ideology.
Last year, the governor launched his 10-point “DeSantis Education Agenda” and invited school board candidates who supported the agenda to apply for an endorsement. DeSantis went on to endorse 34 candidates, 29 of whom won in the August primary or November run-off.
In addition to public support from the governor and First Lady, candidates received free training on policy, communications and field operations. All told, the governor invested $2 million in the races, making it the largest scale effort by a sitting governor to invest and endorse in school board races.
Just weeks after the November election, DeSantis hosted a school board retreat with school board members and concerned parents in Orlando. The “Freedom Blueprint” event functioned as a kickoff for the DeSantis Education Agenda 2024.
“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,” Florida Speaker Paul Renner (R-Palm Coast) said in a statement. “Make no mistake, we intend to win… Florida’s future is too important.”
