Rocky Hanna is heading into his third term as Leon County Superintendent of Schools, propelled by 72 percent of the vote. He’s got an agenda -- and Joe Burgess, his former opponent, has one, too.
Hanna’s election night watch party was at The Egg restaurant in Kleman Plaza. Joining were several members of the school board, including Chair Rosanne Wood. She says Hanna and the board work together as a team, which she thinks is remarkable given the dissension on other school boards.
“One of many common purposes is to raise all of our children up to the very best of their ability, to close that achievement gap, and to give students career opportunities that they’ve never known about before," she said. "And we are making tremendous progress on that, and that is going to give our kids good jobs…AND HERE HE COMES! YAY!”
“When I started this job, I weighed 180 pounds," Hanna said. "I weigh 160 now."
He says running a school district while campaigning has taken it out of him. The night before the election, he says, he couldn’t sleep…
“...and I started thinking about where we were in 2015 and what we said we were going to do and what we’ve accomplished. And I’m really proud, and I made peace with myself that no matter what happened today, it was going to be okay [chokes up]. And I’m really proud of what we have done collectively together," he said. "We did every single thing we said we were going to do from the very beginning.”
Hanna says the district has reduced capital debt by more than $140 million and is on track to be debt-free by 2028. He says school safety is still his top priority, followed by teacher pay -- a sore point with many educators. But Hanna says the school district has trimmed its budget as much as possible.
“At some point, the Florida Legislature has to step up and fund public education in the state of Florida like so many other states do across the country," he said. "It is completely unacceptable that our state, the state of Florida, ranks 49th or 50th when it comes to per-pupil funding. And now we have enough money to fund vouchers to go to private schools but we don’t have enough money to increase what we’re doing for our teachers. That’s absurd.”
Hanna has had his troubles with state leaders. He was investigated after a member of Moms for Liberty wrote a letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis, complaining about Hanna’s positions on new state laws concerning LGBTQ issues. He settled with the Florida Department of Education.
While Hanna was at the party, Chiles High School Principal Joe Burgess was across town in a gathering of family and friends at his home. He won 28 percent of the vote and says it was a thrill to see his name on a ballot. He’s still trying to figure out if another run for superintendent is in his future.
“You can ask me a month from now -- I’ll still feel like I was the best person for the job," he said. "But they wanted someone else, and so as an old American history teacher, I have to respect the will of the voters. I will continue to have my Facebook Lives. I will continue to speak out on the issues. And people think when you’re speaking out, you’re just trying to be antagonistic. No, I’m actually speaking truth to power.”
One thing Burgess is sure of: He’ll keep trying to be a voice for all kids, especially those with special needs. He’ll continue to advocate.
“Our services and our relationships with our special-needs families and our students is not where it needs to be -- the level of service, the level of resources that they get is NOT where it needs to be," he said. "And when you are an educator, we’re kind of like the Statue of Liberty. We take care of everybody. Everybody is welcome here, everybody should get the best here, inside of our schools.”
Burgess has also advocated for himself -- against Hanna. He was given a two-week suspension for making extra payments to some teachers without properly tracking or documenting their time.
Meanwhile, Hanna, who is 60, promised his wife in front of a roomful of people that he won’t run again.
“I promise you and I promised her, this is the last one,” he said.
That would leave an opening in four years.
