Writer: Joshua Andino
2 min read September 2022 — Over the course of Florida’s primary season, school boards became the state’s newest political battleground. In Broward, it meant four new unelected appointments.
While Florida’s school board elections are officially nonpartisan in nature, Gov. Ron DeSantis broke with precedent to offer his endorsements to a number of candidates across the state. The governor has made education reform a centerpiece of both his gubernatorial reelection campaign and what some hypothesize to be his runway for a 2024 presidential bid. Most of the endorsed candidates won; however, in Broward County’s case, four new school board members were appointed, not elected, to their new positions.
Officially citing the safety and security suggestions offered by a 2019 Grand Jury report in the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, which was only released earlier this month, the governor fired and replaced four members of the Broward County School Board. The new appointees are Torey Alston, a former member of the Broward County Commission; Manuel Serrano, a member of the Florida Sports Foundation Board of Directors; CEO and Founder of Clubhouse Private Wealth Ryan Reiter, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and director of government relations for Kaufman Lynn Construction; and Kevin Tynan, an attorney at Richardson and Tynan, who was previously appointed to the Broward County School Board by then-Gov. Charlie Crist.
Of the nine members of Broward County’s School Board, five have now been appointed by DeSantis. Daniel Foganholi, the fifth appointee, was appointed in April. None of the appointees are educators. The duration of their term — with Foganholi, Reiter, Serrano and Tynan to be termed-out in November — raises questions over the increased politicization of Florida’s education system. Alstom’s term will end in 2024.
Despite their short tenures, the DeSantis bloc now holds a majority on the board and prevented long-standing member Lori Alhadeff from becoming chair. The four elected members voted in favor, with the DeSantis appointees opposing her bid. Alhadeff was instead elected as vice chair, with Alstom taking the top seat. The members will be participating in the final vote for the school district’s budget, which is expected to be held Sept. 13, as well as potentially influencing Broward Schools Superintendent Vickie Cartwright’s evaluation for the period between Feb. 24 and Aug. 1.
Republicans have increasingly argued that concepts like Critical Race Theory have become central to public education in the United States, with DeSantis championing his Stop the Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (W.O.K.E.) Act as a response to what some consider to be left-wing indoctrination. Broward County is Florida’s most Democrat-leaning, with Dems outnumbering Republicans by almost 2 to 1.
Charlie Crist, the Democrat candidate for Florida’s gubernatorial race, is promising to give DeSantis the education fight he’s angling for by making education a key aspect of the race. Earlier this month, Crist’s nominated teacher, United Teachers of Dade President and first-generation American Karla Hernandez-Mats as his running mate, highlighting education’s newfound importance in Florida politics.
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