Herald recommends: Miami-Dade voters, keep partisan politics off School Board with these smart choices
As with every other nonpartisan election in which the Editorial Board has made recommendations — judicial races and those for the County Commission — races for the MiamiDade County School Board have been similarly sullied by partisan politics. Of course, classrooms has become huge battlefields for the governor and Republican Legislature’s assault on public education. Fortunately, there are School Board candidates who are putting students first and willing to fight back. Here are our recommendations.
DISTRICT 2
Miami-Dade School Board member Dorothy BendrossMindingall has been a force for her district since 2010. She now is seeking a fourth term on the Board, and facing a challenger — La-Shanda West — for only the second time.
Bendross-Mindingall has a record of accomplishment, having confronted the challenges in her district, which takes in Liberty City, Overtown, Little Haiti, Wynwood, Morningside, El Portal and Miami Shores.
The district comprises lowincome, working- and middleclass neighborhoods, along with many schools. One of BendrossMindingall’s primary concerns is learning losses students experienced while on remote learning during COVID-19 quarantine.
“A lot of them lost a lot, but in District 2, because we are a little bit behind in terms of our children being at the top of the ladder in terms of learning, we have got to work very, very hard to catch them up,” BendrossMindingall told the Editorial Board. “We’ve got to engage our parents in working with our children and we got to engage the community so our children are getting the best of all worlds.”
The incumbent rightly cites among her accomplishments meetings where she listens to parents, her efforts that increased the number of K-8 centers in District 2 and her support for a referendum in November to increase teacher pay and school safety measures.
A former state legislator, teacher and school principal, Bendross-Mindingall has brought a wealth of know-how to the district and to the school board, to the benefit of both.
However, she should also listen carefully to West, who has taught a range of topics — such as civics, law, reading and U.S. history — to middle schoolers, and global studies, speech and debate honors, world cultural geography honors and world history to high school students.
West questioned the incumbent’s accessibility — a lament we have heard from other quarters. In addition, West articulated well what she sees happening in the classroom — the belly of the beast, as it were — and not all of it is pretty.
On the subject of learning losses during quarantine, West told the Editorial Board, “Tutoring? Yes, those services are available. But accessibility to all students? I would like to know the data of how many students take advantage of those programs that my opponent talks about, because I see clearly that students are still lagging.”
Similarly, West also wondered whether mental-health services that Bendross-Mindingall has touted were easily accessible for students.
West addressed the long arm of the governor and state Legislature reaching into classroom curriculum: “The only concerns
I would have with the discussion coming from Tallahassee — because they make the policies, they make the standards — is that there are mandates for teaching African-American history, Holocaust history, character education. We use those mandates to go beyond the curriculum, go beyond the textbook.”
“So if we have academic freedom, according to our contract with the Miami-Dade County Public Schools and the United Teachers of Dade, we need to make sure our school districts are protecting teachers for doing what they are doing best — teaching those difficult topics that may be uncomfortable but are necessary to talk about.”
She said that she also stands with LGBTQ students in affirming their identities however they may choose.
West has the makings of a solid education leader, even capable of eventually following in Bendross-Mindingall’s footsteps.
Right now, given the incumbent’s record of accomplishments in her time on the board, the Miami Herald recommends DOROTHY BENDROSS-MINDINGALL for Miami-Dade School Board, District 2.
DISTRICT 4
Public education should be a nonpartisan issue, but this year’s school board races have been dragged into Florida’s partisan culture wars, thanks to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ apparent push to elect members who will do his bidding.
The race for Miami-Dade County School Board District 4 is a case in point. Incumbent Perla Tabares Hantman, the wellregarded School Board chair first elected in 1996, filed to run for re-election, but dropped out of the race in April.
Tabares Hantman and the majority of the board defied a DeSantis order last year and instituted a mask mandate in schools, setting up a clash with the governor.
Tabares Hantman, a Republican, told the Herald Editorial Board Thursday that she changed her mind about running for reelection because she wants to “pursue other interests and enjoy my children and grandchildren.”
But she may also have seen the writing on the wall, with her own party backing the DeSantisendorsed Roberto Alonso for the District 4 seat. The governor appointed Alonso to the Miami Dade College Board of Trustees in 2020. He’s developed educational software and works for his family’s real estate business, Costa Realtors, in Miami Lakes. He’s also the co-founder of Miami Lakes Cars for a Cure Foundation, which raises money for cancer research.
Since then, two other candidates have jumped in the race.
Maribel Balbin owns a publicaffairs agency and is the former president of the Miami-Dade League of Women Voters. Balbin said she’s running to keep politics out of education and build on Tabares Hantman’s legacy.
Kevin Menendez Macki is the only candidate with classroom teaching experience. He was a public school teacher for 11 years and has been the principal at Horeb Christian School in Hialeah for six, where he said he’s increased enrollment by 134% since taking over.
The District 4 race plays out against the backdrop of DeSantis’ apparent plan to turn public education into a hyper-partisan arena. If he’s successful, expect more efforts to ban books and control how schools teach about race and the LGBTQ community.
Alonso showed a decent grasp of K-12 issues and presented good ideas in his interview with the Herald Editorial Board. He said the district must focus on vocational training and teachers’ struggles to afford exorbitant housing prices in MiamiDade County. He proposed hiring reading and math coaches to help teachers address the different levels of student achievement caused by the pandemic.
Alonso said he’s not a “puppet for anybody,” but parts of his platform look like a copy of DeSantis’ agenda. On his website, you’ll find run-of-the-mill issues like school safety, but also a promise to oppose “attempts to impose Critical Race Theory and other extreme liberal agendas in K-12” and “protect female athletes and female sports — boys can’t compete in girls’ athletics!”
School districts have repeatedly said they don’t teach CRT, and DeSantis already banned the theory from K-12. Also already prohibited: transgender athletes in girls’ sports, a rare occurrence even when they were allowed in Florida public schools. These are non-issues, but red meat for the governor’s base.
Unfortunately, Alonso is deploying boogeymen and fighting culture wars to appeal to voters, a strategy DeSantis has mastered. That might work in GOPleaning District 4, but voters should defend public education from divisive political stunts. We cannot recommend him.
Balbin said she has lived in District 4 for three decades and has been civically involved, serving on several local boards such as the Miami-Dade County Commission for Women and the Miami Lakes Municipal Advisory Committee. Although she doesn’t have education experience, Balbin is up to speed on what’s happening in public schools. She points to the need for more summer and after-school programs and pre-K options for working parents. She said third-graders have seen some of the most dire learning losses because of the pandemic, and that new programs are needed to address reading in particular.
Menendez Macki said he’s “walked in the shoes of those public school teachers.” He told the Editorial Board the district must dig into data about learning losses, in particular for students who learned virtually for extended periods of time. He said schools need more intervention in math and reading, whether that be through additional staff or programs. He believes the growing number of students leaving for charter and private schools must force traditional public schools to innovate. Menendez Macki points to the example of Barbara Goleman Senior High in Miami Lakes, which reversed dwindling enrollment by reinventing itself as a “mega magnet” school.
Balbin and Menendez Macki are fine choices. But they trail Alonso significantly in fundraising. Alonso’s campaign has raised $102,000 to Menendez Macki’s $25,000 and Balbin’s $21,000.
What tips the scale in Balbin’s favor is that she presents herself as a counterpoint to efforts to reshape education according to a specific ideology. In previous elections, that wouldn’t be a factor, but this year, it must be.
Balbin said she would rather spend time on the real needs of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, not on political issues like CRT.
“I’m definitely not beholden to anybody, and those who know me know that nobody can tell me what to do,” she told the
Editorial Board. “And there will definitely be a voice just for your students, the parents and the residents of District 4.”
The Herald recommends MARIBEL BALBIN for MiamiDade County School Board, District 4.
DISTRICT 6
The race for Miami-Dade County School Board District 6 features two candidates with vast experience as educators. One is a well-funded incumbent who previously held leadership positions in public schools. The other is a first-grade teacher who says issues at her school are going unaddressed.
School Board member Mari Tere Rojas began her career in 1975 as a classroom teacher at Henry M. Flagler Elementary School, then became principal at different schools, including Sunset Elementary, and eventually was appointed assistant superintendent in the district’s office of professional standards. Before her election in 2016, she was an aide for former school board member Susie Castillo.
Rojas’ depth of knowledge and connections within the district are crucial at a time when schools are dealing with pandemicrelated learning losses. She notes that the district did better than expected in this year’s Florida Standards Assessments, with scores improving over last year. However, she recognizes a lot needs to be done. Only slightly more than half of students earned a passing score in English and math. Rojas said she has drafted a proposal to direct the superintendent to study how primary-school students and third-graders are performing and provide recommendations to boost their achievements.
With $177,521 raised as of
July 13, Rojas, is a formidable incumbent. She’s got deep ties to local Republican politics as the sister-in-law of U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, the former mayor of Miami-Dade County. Perhaps for that reason she has been able to to fend off an organized effort from the political right to unseat her after she voted for a mask mandate last year — a move that required political independence. With the delta variant wreaking havoc, the board balked at Gov. Ron DeSantis’ threats and followed the recommendation of a panel of medical experts.
“My position at that point was to continue masking, but to monitor very, very carefully on a weekly basis, so that we could see when the [COVID-19] numbers started to improve,” Rojas told the Herald Editorial Board.
With DeSantis’ attack on local control of what’s taught in classrooms, especially on issues of race and gender, it’s crucial that school board members stand up against political interference. While Rojas showed independence in her stance on masks, her recent vote against the adoption of a sex education textbook was disappointing, though it might resonate with some voters in Republicanleaning District 6.
The textbook came under fire from conservative groups like Moms for Liberty, which is well connected in GOP circles, and parents who took issue with things like the mention of gender identity and emergency contraception. The materials and complaints were evaluated by a district-appointed hearing officer who recommended the board adopt them.
The board reversed a previous decision to reject the textbook on Thursday after Chairwoman Perla Tabares Hantman flipped her vote. Rojas continued to vote “No.”
Rojas’ opponent, Sandra Manzieri, has been a teacher for 21 years and works at Key Biscayne K-8 Center. In recent months, she has been outspoken about Rojas’ handling of parental complaints about the school and its principal. Manzieri told the Editorial Board that, among other issues, students with disabilities were not receiving the services outlined in their educational plan.
Rojas said she held a meeting with the community to address those concerns. Her job as a board member isn’t necessarily to run schools but to facilitate solutions and hold administrators accountable. The principal has been reassigned to a different school, the Herald reported.
Manzieri clearly is passionate about teaching. She changed careers at 35 to pursue an elementary education degree and later a master’s degree. She wants to have trained interventionists in every school to address learning losses and said school board members must do a better job listening to teachers and parents. She’s received the endorsement of Moms for Liberty, a conservative parental rights group best known for trying to ban books with race and LGBTQ themes. The organization has gained strength thanks to DeSantis’ efforts to insert conservative politics into education.
We encourage Rojas to take Manzieri’s criticism seriously. In the end, Manzieri’s local experience doesn’t measure up to Rojas’ district-wide background. Rojas, despite her vote on the sex-ed book, is best equipped to resist political pressure from groups like Moms for Liberty and from Tallahassee.
The Miami Herald Editorial Board recommends MARI TERE ROJAS for Miami-Dade School Board, District 6.
DISTRICT 8
Veteran Miami-Dade School Board member Marta Perez never thought her bid for reelection for the non-partisan District 8 seat she’s held for 24 years would become a bitter brawl for her political life.
Perez was first elected in 1998. She has been an outspoken, persistent believer in doing the right thing, even if she has irritated critics.
A conservative Republican, she said she was surprised to find herself in the crosshairs of Gov. Ron DeSantis and Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez, who she says launched a concerted effort to get her off the board and replace her with a Nunezbacked candidate: Monica Colucci, a 26year local elementary school teacher.
“I am being bullied by these people who are intimidating others not to work on my campaign or endorse me. It’s unbelievable,“Perez told the Editorial Board.
In an emailed statement to the Editorial Board, Nuñez said: “Gov. DeSantis and I fully endorse Monica Colucci in this race. This is called democracy, not sabotage. It is time for new leadership on our School Board, and Monica’s platform of parental rights, school choice and no new taxes are what voters want for their children’s future,”
Perez says she has been bombarded with negative flyers and ads, she says, distorting her long record on the School
Board. She said former campaign allies were told she was not the governor’s choice, so they abandoned her.
It’s all part of what seems to
be a new tactic by conservative Republicans to take control of school boards across the country. Miami-Dade, the nation’s fourth-largest district, appears to be on the front lines.
This week, a lawyer for DeSantis demanded that a political committee backing Perez stop using the governor’s image alongside Perez’s on a political flyer because DeSantis has endorsed Colucci, who is running for public office for the first time. Indeed, the flyer is misleading.
The text, though, is right. It calls her a “solid conservative voice” — which she has been on the School Board, and without bringing rabid ideology to her decisions, for which we commend her.
In 2006, she was instrumental in banning from school libraries a children’s book that presented life in Castro’s Cuba favorably. “Vamos a Cuba” was removed from schools.
But last week, Perez joined a majority of board members in banning a sex-education book. Thursday, when the vote was re-taken and the measure reversed — which was the right thing to do — Perez vote remained “No,” a disappointing vote, we think, but consistent for her.
So what was Perez’s crime that placed her in the governor’s removal list?
Perez believes it was her vote at the tail-end of the 2021 school year to extend a mask mandate in Miami-Dade schools for two more weeks.
The governor opposed mask mandates.
“We were just following the advice of medical experts,” Perez said.
Perez said the School Board, along with the leadership of then-Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, has ably guided the district through the pandemic, And last month, Miami-Dade was voted an A school district, something Perez points to with pride, and for which she takes some credit, deservedly so.
Perez’s opponent is a wellversed candidate who has also worked for Nuñez’s election campaign. “I want to improve education in Miami-Dade, “Colucci said.
She says the pandemic caused many students to be left behind and she would address that first.
“I think that we need to implement more differentiated instruction to close the achievement gaps. We also have to use progress monitoring. We have to look at what gains are being made now. We have to close those pandemic gaps. And we have to start offering extra and after school tutoring, “Colucci said.
But we are concerned that she comes with another agenda — the governor’s divisive and disruptive agenda, and we oppose such political interference on the school board.
Perez, whose district is largely Hispanic and Republican, is feeling a financial pinch in her campaign. She has raised about $320,000, and made a $100,000 is a loan to herself. Meanwhile, Colucci has collected $123,000, but also has a powerful Republican PAC supporting her.
Bottom line: Perez continues to effectively fill her role as a school board watchdog. On top of that, because of the apparent political shenanigans to remove her from the board, we find it difficult to recommend her challenger.
From her many years on the dais, it’s been clear that Perez’s main concerns are the education and safety of the district’s 340,000 students.
The Miami Herald recommends MARTA PEREZ for Miami-Dade School Board, District 8.