Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas offered public comment at the Leon County School Board meeting Tuesday evening. His first criticism was a lack of teacher pay increases so far this year despite getting extra money from the state.
“This district continues to hold up teacher pay increases. Just last year, more than six months passed before teachers were able to see a pay increase in their paychecks,” Kamoutsas said. “Instead of Leon County learning from its past mistakes and making sure at the beginning of the school year they had a plan in place to be able to prioritize teacher pay, we are in the same boat we’ve been in year after year.”
A recent offer from the district that amounted to around a $40 a month pay increase was rejected by the Leon Classroom Teachers Association.
Kamoutsas mentioned additional money from the state for students in the K-12 system, which he called the highest per student FTE (full time equivalent) funding at an increase of nearly $150 per student.
“One would expect that the Leon County School Board would allocate these funds responsibly to support teachers and enhance student outcomes,” Kamoutsas said. “Instead, it appears that much of this funding is being used to support executive pay raises rather than classroom instruction. In fact, several administrators at the district level received raises exceeding $10,000 annually.”
Kamoutsas added that Leon has a disproportionately high number of executive and administrative staff compared to other districts. He cited St. Lucie County as an example, which he said has 9 fewer such staffers than Leon but about 20-thousand more students.
“This imbalance highlights a troubling trend – that district executives are prioritized over our teachers,” Kamoutsas said.
He also criticized the compensation package of Leon Classroom Teachers Association President Scott Mazur, which he noted is more than double the salary of a starting teacher in Leon.
Kamoutsas then zeroed in on school board member Darryl Jones for his social media comments following the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“The idea that any educator, any district leader, or a school board member – those who are entrusted with protecting the health, the safety, and the welfare of our students – would promote, condone, or excuse any violence on a school campus is reprehensible,” Kamoutsas said. “Board member Darryl Jones has shown a disturbing willingness to engage in political theatre to appease political fanatics and has encouraged teachers in this county to do the same.”
The next comment brought vocal reaction from the audience.
“He chose to use the murder of an innocent man on a school campus to sow division….”
Loud groans and comments led board chair Laurie Lawson Cox to wield her gavel and call for order. “Hey, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, but we’re not going to have any outbursts from the audience when someone is speaking.”
Kamoutsas went on, “His actions erode the trust and distract from the district’s educational mission.”
Jones did not offer any response during the meeting.
In September, Kamoutsas sent a letter alerting the state’s public school superintendents that teachers who make social media comments celebrating Kirk’s death could lose their jobs and their teaching licenses.
When the meeting’s public comment period was over, Lawson Cox touted everyone’s right to free speech.
“It doesn’t matter what you say, and Charlie Kirk would absolutely agree with that. But it doesn’t come without responsibility,” Lawson Cox said. “Elected officials, teachers, administrators -- we just have to be absolutely careful what we’re saying, that it’s not divisive, that it is absolutely true in what you put out there before you isolate a whole group of people.”
