Statements
Statement from FDP Chair as Commissioner of Education Illegally Withholds Salaries for School Board Members in Alachua and Broward Counties
On Monday August 30 Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran announced that the Florida Department of Education has withheld the monthly salaries of Alachua and Broward County school board members.
In response to this appalling development, Florida Democratic Party Chairman Manny Diaz issued the following statement:
“This announcement is shocking and outrageous. Just last Friday, a Leon County Judge determined that Governor DeSantis exceeded his authority when he signed an executive order blocking local school boards from enacting mask protocols. Yet Commissioner Corcoran has moved forward with these heavy-handed tactics to further the Governor’s unconstitutional efforts to prevent school boards from enacting the health protocols they deem necessary to protect the lives of their students and employees.
“He is abusing the power he wields to enforce a dangerous agenda designed to please a radical segment of the Governor’s political base, even if that means bulldozing over the rights of the communities who elected these officials and putting lives at risk across the state. All of this occurs while the state registers one of the highest rates of COVID hospitalizations in the country and bodies are stacking up at morgues operating beyond capacity.
“I call on DeSantis and Corcoran to immediately release the salaries and discontinue the implementation of this disgraceful directive, or others like it, going forward. It is time for the Governor and his enablers to stand down, put politics aside and allow our school boards to follow the advice of the scientific community as they look to save our children’s lives.”