The list of school officials targeted by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appears to be growing longer, with Leon County Superintendent Rocky Hanna revealing this week that he’s the subject of a “meritless” probe to possibly strip him of his teaching certificate after he criticized the governor.
Hanna claims the state isn’t even trying to spin why they’re investigating him, saying plainly that he’s under-the-gun in part for sharing his “political views,” according to a Florida Department of Education complaint.
The superintendent, which oversees public schools in the state capital where DeSantis lives, said in a statement to The Daily Beast that he believes the probe stems from a letter sent to DeSantis last year from a right-wing Moms For Liberty executive who begged the governor to oust Hanna.
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That letter, penned by a Brandi Andrews and stamped with an all-caps “Let’s Go Brandon” on the bottom, dissects an email Hanna sent to teachers at the start of the school year.
In that email, Hanna said to ignore the increasing political pressure in the state, telling his instructors “you do you” and “to continue to teach the standards just as you have always done”—something Andrews took issue with.
In a letter of his own, Education Commissioner Manny Diaz, Jr. wrote to Hanna that there’s probable cause to “justify sanctions against your Florida educator certificate” because of his “you do you” statement. Diaz wrote that it may lead teachers to impose “their own individual political and religious views on students and teachers failing to teach with fidelity the Florida standards.”
Hanna’s email to teachers goes on to tell them to “not worry for one minute about naysayers,” political or otherwise, and to ignore “others who are trying to mislead people and control what you can and cannot say in your classroom.”
“It’s a sad day for democracy in Florida, and the First Amendment right to freedom of speech, when a state agency with unlimited power and resources can target a local elected official in such a biased fashion,” Hanna said in his statement.
If ousted, Hanna would join a growing list of officials—largely in education—who have been pushed out in Florida. WUSF reports that of the 12 superintendents who fought DeSantis’ ban on mask mandates in 2021, just five, including Hanna, remain in office.
Notable firings of superintendents with influence from DeSantis include school leaders from two of Florida’s most progressive regions, including Alachua—home to the University of Florida—and deep-blue Broward County.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has targeted a number of officials who have opposed him.
RONEN ZVULUNFormer Alachua Superintendent Carlee Simon was ousted after a school board member, an appointee of DeSantis, made a motion to terminate her contract without cause last March.
In Broward, a school board made up with a majority of DeSantis-appointees voted to fire Superintendent Vickie Cartwright in November, rehired her in December, and cut ties a second time in January after repeated clashes over bans on mask mandates and other political issues.
Shocking dismissals haven’t been limited to local school boards. DeSantis has become infamous for targeting any official who speaks out against him—denouncing “cancel culture” while canceling any voice in Florida that opposes him.
Other officials ousted by DeSantis included Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren, who was removed from his elected position for his stance on abortion; the entire board for Disney’s self-governing Reedy Creek Improvement District, which were replaced with Republican donors; and the trustees to the New College of Florida, who promptly fired the university’s president and hired a DeSantis ally to replace him—giving the position a massive raise in the process.
Moms for Liberty, the conservative parents’ rights advocacy group who championed Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill and authoritarian book bans, has been at the forefront of flipping school boards conservative across the state, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.
The close ties between the group and DeSantis was on full display in Andrews’ letter to the governor last year. In a copy obtained by The Daily Beast, Andrews wrote: “It was an honor to take part (sic) filming a campaign ad for you… the freest state in the nation!”
Hanna said state officials have tried to drum up old issues within his school district so the Moms for Liberty letter isn’t the only reason he’s probed. Some of those separate issues—like his opposition to DeSantis’ stance on mask mandates—were already investigated and he was found to have no wrong done, Hanna said.
“How this is being handled and the tactics the Florida Department of Education is using to create this ‘investigation,’ are certainly a serious cause for concern not just for myself,” Hanna said, “but for any Superintendent or school employee in the State of Florida.”
