The Leon County teacher’s union is endorsing school board candidates Rosanne Wood and Jeremy Rogers. The union’s endorsements are based on the candidates’ support for public schools.
Leon Classroom Teachers Association President Scott Mazur acknowledges that Wood has decades of experience as an educator, while Rogers, a firefighter, is challenging a retired teacher with 36 years under her belt.
“And there’s probably going to be some people that go ahead and say, ‘Well, in one race you’re supporting a career educator and in another race, you’re NOT supporting a career educator,'" he said. "We understand that that may on the surface for some folks look like it’s contradictory, but when we go back to the principles and the values that we believe in, it’s not a reflection of that person.”
Mazur says the union's choices are based on the candidates’ support of traditional public schools.
“We believe in ensuring that every child, regardless of where they live and whatever their background is, has the best opportunity – the SAME opportunities, to be honest with you," said Mazur. "We shouldn’t have one school on one side of town that has a robust computer lab and the other side where they don’t have any computers.”
Both Wood and Rogers have opponents, Daniel Zeruto and Laurie Lawson Cox, respectively, who support school choice. The union blames those programs for major losses of funding for traditional public schools.
The union isn’t endorsing a candidate for school superintendent yet. That’s because incumbent Rocky Hanna is running for re-election against fellow Democrat Star Swain in the August primary. The winner will face NPA Joe Burgess in November.
