School Board Candidates Asked to Pledge Support of DeSantis Agenda

BRADENTON – Earlier this month, Governor Ron DeSantis endorsed three candidates for the Manatee School Board. The endorsements followed the governor’s political campaign releasing the DeSantis Education Agenda survey in late June. Included with the survey was a certificate that hopeful school board candidates were encouraged to sign pledging their allegiance to the governor’s educational agenda.

The survey appeared to be aimed at accessing how closely aligned a school board candidate is with the governor’s education platform. The certificate to pledge support for the DeSantis Education Agenda instructed signees to send a PDF copy of the signed certificate to political@rondesantis.com.

"The DeSantis Education Agenda is a student-first, parent-centered initiative focused on setting Florida’s children up for success, ensuring parental rights in education, and combatting the woke agenda from infiltrating public schools," DeSantis' campaign website shared in a message describing the intent of the survey. "This statewide agenda is for school board candidates and school board members who are committed to advancing these priorities at the local school board level."

The survey, which is accessed via a button-link on the Ron DeSantis for Governor campaign website, included a disclaimer informing candidate participants that their responses do not authorize any claims of endorsement by the governor. However, respondents must agree to terms allowing their responses to survey questions, including their names, to be used by the DeSantis campaign for such things as political communications including political advertising and electioneering.

"Note: Completing the DeSantis Education Agenda Survey does not authorize any school board candidate or member to represent that Governor DeSantis endorses or supports such candidate or member and should not be treated as such," read information provided at the start of the survey.

The survey is divided into three categories, student success, parental rights, and curriculum transparency. Many of the questions were formatted with YES/NO responses. Several of the questions, however, required a respondent to reply with either a written answer or video recorded response.

While some of the 15 questions included in the survey read less politically charged than others, some of the questions touched directly on hot-button culture war issues that have increasingly crept into the public debate on education. Other questions were related to some of DeSantis’ more controversial policy positions that have appeared as recent legislation and garnished national media attention.

Questions that required only YES/NO answers by respondents included:

• "Does CRT belong in K-12 public education classrooms in Florida?

• "Do you support the Governor’s efforts to require students to learn about the horrors of communism?"

• "Do you agree that students should be educated and not indoctrinated?"

A few of the questions from the survey requiring either a written or video recorded response from respondents were:

• "How will you protect a parent’s right to publicly disagree with their school board?"

• "What should your school district do to better prepare students as citizens?"

• "How do you think Governor DeSantis's commitment to school choice initiatives will impact your school district?"

Other questions related to topics such as the Guardian Program, which arms trained personnel to enhance school campus safety, teacher compensation, and progress monitoring goals for student achievement.

Days after the governor’s reelection campaign had launched the survey and pledge certificate, DeSantis announced a first round of endorsements via his campaign’s Twitter and Facebook accounts. Bridget Ziegler, an incumbent Sarasota candidate who co-founded Moms for Liberty, was one of the school board candidates included on the first list of endorsements.

"We need strong local school board members who are committed to advancing our agenda to put students first and protect parents’ rights," the June 20 Tweet read before sharing the link to access the survey.

A later list of endorsements was shared to social media on July 14 by the DeSantis campaign, including Manatee County School Board candidates, Chad Choate for District 4, Cindy Spray for District 2, and Richard Tatem for District 5. The list also included Sarasota candidate, Robyn Marinelli who is running for Sarasota's School Board District 4 seat.

It’s crucial we elect strong candidates who are committed to advancing our pro-parent, student-first education agenda in FL.

These candidates will ensure our students succeed, protect parental rights in education, & combat the woke agenda from infiltrating our public schools. pic.twitter.com/solsNOlS5Y

– Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantisFL) July 14, 2022

Manatee School Board candidate Chad Choate shared a photo of the pledge certificate he signed in a Facebook post on June 22. When asked whether she had signed the DeSantis campaign's pledge certificate, candidate Cindy Spray responded by email, writing, "I am endorsed by Governor DeSantis!" Candidate Richard Tatem did not respond to TBT's emailed question by our publishing deadline.

The decision by the DeSantis campaign to issue the survey and particularly the school board candidate endorsements which followed the survey's launch, has not been without critics. The unprecedented nature of such endorsements comes at a time when school board seats are of increased interest to partisan platforms. In Florida, school board races are nonpartisan and generally do not elicit the sort of high-profile attention that DeSantis' endorsements have brought them.

In response, former Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who is seeking the Democratic nomination in order to challenge DeSantis in the fall, issued his own endorsements of school board candidates in some Florida counties.

In 1998, Florida voters approved a statewide ballot initiative making school board races nonpartisan, but recent initiatives led by state Republicans have sought to overturn the initiative. In 2021, Sarasota-based Senator Joe Gruters, who also serves as chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, sponsored a proposal aimed at placing a constitutional amendment on the 2022 ballot that would ask voters to consider making school board races partisan again.

While the measure did receive approval from the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee, it died in the education committee and will not appear as an amendment on the 2022 ballot.