Less than one year into the job as Florida’s Education Commissioner, Manny Diaz has seen education be front and center in the news lately.
From the state’s controversial rejection of an AP African-American Studies course to the recent removal of Broward Schools Superintendent Dr. Vickie Cartwright, Diaz – a Miami Lakes native and former State Senator – will be front and center in the upcoming session of the Florida Legislature.
Friday, he spoke with our sister station Telemundo 51 about those issues and more.
ON THE REJECTION BY GOV. RON DESANTIS OF AN AP AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES COURSE
“Look, I think it’s been overblown. This is a process. Anytime the College Board wants to introduce an AP course, the state has a process. They’ve gone through this process, the course had parts that were rejected because they violated state law. For example, you’re talking about a course in African American history. Why do we have queer studies? Why do we have taking down capitalism? Why do we have the abolishing of prisons and the removal of cash bail? These things are out of compliance. We’ve gone back to the College Board and said change these things. There are very valuable parts of this course – and by the way, we already have five courses in African American history, so it’s clearly taught in the state. They’ve announced thy are going to come out with a revision preview (next week), so we’re looking forward to seeing what changes they’ve made.”
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ON THE RECENT MOVES BY THE BROWARD SCHOOL BOARD, INCLUDING THE REMOVAL OF CARTWRIGHT
“I think Broward has had issues over the last few years, different kind of issues. They are continuing to have issues. They’ve had board issues, they’ve had issues with the administration that the grand jury report clearly pointed out. I’m hopeful they can find a leader who can take them in a direction where they can get past these issues and focus on their main mission, which should be educating students.”
“I think they need to find a leader who understands the community and that’s why you have a local elected board. I’m hoping that’s the direction they go and they find someone who can lead them in the right way.”
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ON GOV. DESANTIS’ LEGISLATIVE AGENDA
“The Governor’s proposal for the Teachers Rights Bill is No. 1. First of all, he announced an additional $200 million for teachers’ salaries that brings the total to $1 billion. That’s something that started three years ago because of the governor. That never existed in Florida, it was always the school boards who were responsible for salaries. So, the Governor has moved that up from $500 million to $800 million to $1 billion. It’s not just about money, it’s about the professionalism and teachers being treated as professionals. To have the right to command their classroom and do their job. To not be able to be pressured by school districts to have them violate state law and give them a recourse when that happens. And also to have them understand their rights whether they decide to be a part of a union or not in Florida, they still have their rights. This bill, the idea is to clarify that and to show and send a message to the classroom teachers that the Governor supports them fully.”
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ON PROPOSED PLAN TO EXPAND SCHOOL VOUCHER ELIGIBILITY
“The Legislature is moving to expand the vouches and it looks like they have tremendous support from the polling I’ve seen in the community. COVID changed the world and now parents want to have control of their child’s education and in Florida, we’ve always had educational choice and educational options. I think the legislature is moving in that direction and I think it does have a lot of support from parents.
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