(Headline USA) Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis may not have won the Republican presidential nomination, but he’s still fighting political battles on another front—in Florida’s schools, where his policies have the potential to leave a lasting legacy on public education long after he leaves office.
Though the seats are officially nonpartisan, DeSantis has endorsed 23 school board candidates across 14 counties this cycle—and targeted 14 incumbent members. It’s part of his agenda to counter left-wing indoctrination in public schools.
I'm happy to endorse this slate of school board candidates who have pledged to serve with a focus on student success, parental rights, and curriculum transparency. We want the best for our children and I'm confident all 23 candidates will build upon the success we've had here in… pic.twitter.com/bb3x8T92tG
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) July 19, 2024
Much of the political debate in the races has hinged on “parental rights” at a time when both parties are fighting to win over the contested voting bloc of suburban women. The modern parental rights movement grew out of opposition to pandemic lockdowns, forced masking and vaccine mandates and is now animated by frustration about increasing efforts to indoctrinate children on subjects such as sexual identity and critical race theory.
RINO’s quake in fear
Katie Blaxberg wants to make school board meetings “boring” again. But her campaign for an open seat on the Pinellas County School Board on Florida’s Gulf Coast has been anything but that.
Since launching her bid, the mom of three has been trolled online, labeled by opponents as a child abuser and has increased security at her home.
A registered Republican and a former legislative aide, Blaxberg supports school choice and parental involvement in the classroom. However, she’s been marked as complicit on most other left-wing policies, earning her a reputation as a “RINO.”
This has put her on the opposing side of the local chapter of Moms for Liberty, a nonpartisan parental rights group that has grown its ranks immensely despite attempts by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Southern Poverty Law Center and far-left activist groups to label its members as “terrorists.”
Republican officials rally behind school board candidates
Conservative activists and elected officials are working to win majorities on local school districts, which are often among the largest employers and landowners in their counties.
DeSantis has embraced Moms for Liberty in their effort to flip school boards across the country.
“I think moms are the key political force for this 2024 cycle,” DeSantis said at the group’s national conference in Philadelphia in 2023.
“He knows who the true conservative is in my race,” said Pinellas County school board candidate Danielle Marolf, after winning DeSantis’ endorsement.
“My values are actually to protect children,” she said. “To make sure that our parents are engaged.”
The Pinellas school board races have caught the attention of other up-ballot candidates.
Florida Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna has campaigned with Marolf and the other Moms for Liberty-endorsed school board candidates in Pinellas, Stacy Geier and Erika Picard.
“Kicked off campaign door-knocking this morning with them,” Luna said in a video posted on August 3. “We want them to take over the school board.”
Other backers include Florida Faith Foundations, a group of pastors pushing to elect biblically aligned candidates to counter anti-Christian values at work in American life.
“The liberals, the anti-God people, they are running too much in this country,” FFF president Anthony McDaniel said in a YouTube video.
“So what are we going to do?” McDaniel said. “Get conservative competent Christians elected to the Pinellas County School Board.”
Leftist groups push back
Critics say there’s often a pattern when a conservative-leaning school board takes over — they go after the superintendent.
After newly elected members took office in November 2022, superintendents in Brevard and three other counties were forced out.
Erika Picard, a DeSantis-backed candidate in Pinellas, said she supports her district’s superintendent, who has the backing of the current board.
“They’re thinking anybody on Moms for Liberty is out to get everyone. And that is just not the case,” Picard said. “I just want to make very clear: I’m running my own campaign.”
Other DeSantis-aligned board members have worked to expand prayer in schools, to oppose homosexual celebrations in schools and toss out pornographic textbooks—actions that many Leftists have decried as extremist.
Left-wing groups have cropped up to counter conservative candidates with their own money and messaging. The Florida Democratic Party has advanced its own slate of 11 school board candidates.
Back in Brevard County, a Democratic school board candidate named Jennifer Jenkins has decided not to seek reelection. Instead, she’s launching a new PAC called Educated We Stand, to combat DeSantis and Mom’s for Liberty in Florida.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
