- Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday announced the launch of his Education Agenda Tour in an attempt to push his educational platform
- The tour launches on August 21 and includes stops in Miami-Dade, Sarasota, Volusia, and Duval counties
- The listed appearance stops are home to school board candidates that DeSantis has endorsed
As part of his effort to be re-elected as Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis on Monday announced his Education Agenda tour. The series of public appearances will be used to tout DeSantis’ educational platform.
The tour will launch Sunday, August 21, and include stops in Miami-Dade, Sarasota, Volusia, and Duval counties.
According to DeSantis’ Political Action Committee, 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 has undertaken various legislative actions to further his educational agenda, including the Parental Rights in Education bill, the Stop ‘WOKE’ Act, and funding to launch the state-sponsored civics education curriculum.
“These pro-parent, pro-student local school board candidates are committed to the DeSantis Education Agenda. Parental rights, curriculum transparency, and classrooms free of woke ideology are all on the ballot this election, and it starts with school board elections,” said DeSantis. “Florida’s school boards need members who will defend our students and stand up for parental rights and will ensure Florida’s children are protected from woke ideology in their classrooms. I am proud to stand by each of them.”
The public appearances will also likely be used by the governor to offer support to the twenty-nine school board candidates he offered endorsements.
The list of endorsed candidates encompasses some of the state’s most populous counties, including Miami-Dade, Hillsborough, and Duval, of which several are expected to host stops on DeSantis’ tour.
“I’m proud to release my full slate of pro-parent, student-first school board candidate endorsements. Our school board members are on the frontlines of defending our students and standing up for parental rights,” said DeSantis. “These 29 candidates are committed to advancing a bold education agenda in Florida. Parents can rest easy knowing that these candidates will fully support their right as parents to ensure their children reach their full potential in Florida’s K-12 education system.”
School board candidate endorsements have become forms of political ammo in recent months. Both DeSantis and likely gubernatorial challenger Rep. Charlie Crist have endorsed school board candidates. The action marks the first time a pair of democratically-elected lawmakers injected personal opinion or endorsement in non-partisan, local races.
The two candidates are jockeying themselves to represent opposite sides of the educational binary. While DeSantis seeks the eradication of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and gender or sexual education from early elementary curricula, Crist advocates for the reinstating of local autonomy within school districts, enabling each district to approve or deny learning plans at their discretion, which may or may not include elements of CRT.