The school boards of Broward and Miami-Dade counties are changing after Tuesday night’s election.
In Broward, two political novices defeated incumbents appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis – incumbents who did not live in their districts.
“The message is that our community’s voice is important, that you can’t just come in here and take away our rights, take away our ability to be represented,” said Rebecca Thompson, who defeated Torey Alston.
“I’m very happy to see the direction and new composition of the school board, and I think we’re really gonna be able to make some great inroads and positive change moving forward,” added Maura Bulman, who bested Daniel Foganholi.
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Foganholi addressed the news media Wednesday just before the school board meeting started.
“The two years that I’ve served have been fantastic, 10 plus years, this district being a 'B' district, we turned it around and made it an 'A' district," Foganholi said. "We’ve seen enrollment get better, we want things to move forward in this district, but the voters want to go a different way. They have that voice and I respect that voice."
Alston sent NBC6 a statement saying, “Thank you to the nearly 10,000 voters in southwest Broward! When I jumped into this nonpartisan race, I knew that the odds would be against me if voters focused more on party affiliation than qualifications and experience. But, I am a strong man of faith. I pray for the new board seated in November and wish all the best for the district and our children.”
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Meanwhile in Miami-Dade County, incumbent board member Luisa Santos fought off a challenge from a conservative challenger backed by Moms For Liberty, while incumbent Mary Blanco, who works at a Catholic school and was appointed by the governor, is locked in a runoff with former tech entrepreneur Max Tuchman.
“I was appointed by the governor, I’ve had his support throughout this entire time, I am here to support our children, I am here to keep the indoctrination outside of our schools,” Blanco said.
“I come from the business world, this is a $7 billion budget, I think it’s incredibly important that people are electing someone who can be fiscally responsible and also make sure that money is spent wisely,” Tuchman said.
In a contest for the seat vacated by Lucia Baez-Geller, who is running for Congress, former board member Martin Karp will run it off against former state legislator Joe Geller, who says his priority is to keep politics and culture war issues out of the public schools.
“Public money is supposed to be for public schools, and we have to teach the truth to our kids, teach them real history, so that’s what this is about, it’s not about me,” Geller said.
Karp believes his experience as a classroom teacher and 16 years on the school board will resonate with voters.
“This is my passion, this is what I’ve done for my career, that’s what the big difference is here in this race, given that education experience,” Karp said.
We will find out in November how much the Miami-Dade School Board changes.
