TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign for “parents’ rights” didn’t win him the Republican presidential nomination, but he’s still waging that battle on another front: Florida schools, where the movement can have an impact on the public. education long after he left.
Although the seats are officially nonpartisan, DeSantis has endorsed 23 school board candidates in 14 counties this term — targeting 14 incumbents. It’s part of his agenda to oppose what he calls “woke” ideology in public schools.
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 began in opposition to pandemic precautions in schools, and is now fueled by complaints about classroom teaching about identity, race and history.
A view of Pinellas County
Katie Blaxberg wants to make school board meetings boring again. But his campaign for an open seat on the Pinellas County School Board on Florida’s Gulf Coast has been anything but.
Since launching her bid, the mother of three has been slammed online, opponents labeled as child abusers and she has increased security at her home.
Blaxberg, a Republican and former legislative aide, supports school choice and parental involvement in the classroom — but said the activists behind the parental rights movement have gone too far.
Blaxberg has found herself on the opposite side of a local group of Moms for Liberty, a conservative group. Activists aligned with the group have disparaged her online and published information about her children and home. The department chairman did not respond to phone and email messages from The Associated Press.
“I don’t want to feel unsafe in my home. And I don’t want my kids to feel unsafe in my home just because I’ve decided to run for public office,” Blaxberg said.
Blaxberg is running for one of three Pinellas board seats, which, depending on the outcome of the Aug. 20 election, could determine political control of the district.
Historically known as one of the state’s biggest swing counties, Pinellas has shifted to the right in recent years. As at school board meetings across Florida, conservative activists have read aloud passages from the books, likening certain teaching materials to pornography and branding teachers “guardians.”
“It’s disgusting,” Blaxberg said. “And that’s a shocking value.”
It’s part of a political storm sweeping across Florida school boards that critics say has disrupted the mission of student achievement — or the lack thereof. Only 53% of Florida students are reading at least on grade level, according to state data.
“The misinformation and intent of this group of people … to mistrust our teachers,” Blaxberg said, “people are sick of it.”
Republican officials rally behind school board candidates
Conservative activists and elected officials seek to win majorities in local school districts, which are often the largest employers and landowners in their counties.
DeSantis built his national profile by capitalizing on the culture wars, banning the teaching of sexual orientation and gender identity, and limiting what Florida schools can teach about racism.
She has embraced Moms for Liberty in their quest to flip school boards across the country.
“I believe that mothers are the most important political force in this 2024 cycle,” DeSantis said at the group’s 2023 national conference in Philadelphia.
“He knows who the real conservative is in my race,” said Pinellas County School Board candidate Danielle Marolf after winning DeSantis’ endorsement.
“My values are actually about protecting children,” she said. “To make sure our parents are engaged.”
The Pinellas school board races have drawn the attention of other candidates.
Florida Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna — whose seat has been targeted by national Democrats as a potential pickup — has campaigned with Marolfi and fellow Moms for Liberty-endorsed school board candidates Stacy Geier and Erika Picard in Pinellas.
“Began knocking on campaign doors this morning with them,” Luna said in an Aug. 3 video. “We want them to take over the school board.”
Other supporters include the Florida Faith Foundations, a group of pastors that seeks to elect the “most biblical candidates” to oppose what they see as the “Spirit of Antichrist” in American life.
“Liberal, anti-God people, they’re running rampant in this country,” FFF President Anthony McDaniel said in a YouTube video. He did not respond to several emails from The Associated Press.
“So what do we do?” McDaniel said, “Elect conservative qualified Christians to the Pinellas County School Board.”
Liberal groups are pushing back
Critics say there’s often a pattern when a conservative-leaning school board takes over — they go after the superintendent.
“I’ve seen it on my own board,” said Jennifer Jenkins, a Brevard County school board member who unseated then-incumbent Tina Descovich, who founded Moms for Liberty.
When the newly elected members took office in November 2022, the superintendents of Brevard and three other counties were forced out — moves critics say threw the districts into chaos and cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Erika Picard, a DeSantis-backed candidate in Pinellas, said she supports her district’s superintendent, who has the support of the current board.
“They think that anybody from Moms for Liberty wants to have everything. And that’s just not the case,” Picard said. “I just want to be clear: I have my own campaign.”
Other members of the DeSantis group have worked to expand prayer in schools, opposed LGBTQ history month events and thrown out sex education textbooks.
Liberal advocacy groups have risen to oppose conservative candidates with their own money and messaging. The Florida Democratic Party has added its own 11 school board candidates.
In Brevard County, Jenkins has decided not to seek re-election. Instead, he’s launching a new PAC called Educated We Stand to support candidates pushing back the right-wing turn in education.
“The extremism of public education is not something that is palatable to the average family,” Jenkins said.
___ Kate Payne is a member of The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places reporters in local newsrooms to report on classified issues.
