{"id":262175,"date":"2026-05-07T15:55:49","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T15:55:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/262175\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T15:55:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T15:55:49","slug":"dominican-american-makai-henry-launches-bid-for-broward-school-board-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/262175\/","title":{"rendered":"Dominican-American Makai Henry launches bid for Broward School Board seat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Makai Henry, a 20-year-old substitute teacher and the son of Dominican immigrants, announced Thursday that he is running for the Broward County School Board\u2019s District 6 seat, positioning himself as a public education advocate focused on literacy, teacher pay and overcrowded classrooms.<\/p>\n

Henry, a first-time candidate and graduate of Nova High School, said his connection to Broward County Public Schools runs deep. His mother, a union teacher originally from Dominica, has worked in the district for nearly two decades, and Henry himself regularly works in classrooms across the county as a substitute teacher and debate coach.<\/p>\n

He is challenging incumbent Adam Cervera, a lawyer appointed last year by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to fill the seat vacated by Brenda Fam. If successful, he would join Jamaican-born Jeff Holness as the only school board members with Caribbean roots.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBroward has a literacy crisis unlike any other, and education is on the chopping block,\u201d Henry said, pointing to the district\u2019s projected budget shortfall of between $90 million and $100 million.<\/p>\n

Henry criticized district leaders for responding to declining enrollment with school closures and job cuts rather than addressing why families are leaving the public school system.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur county\u2019s leadership is blaming declining enrollment for the problem, but their answer is to close schools and cut thousands of jobs across the county,\u201d he said. \u201cNo one is asking where Broward\u2019s students went. They went to charter and private schools on voucher dollars that Tallahassee is handing out like candy. Broward\u2019s leadership is responding to the exodus by lowering the quality of education even further. This is managing decline, not saving public education.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henry argued that while Broward\u2019s graduation rate exceeds 90%, many students are still struggling academically.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve delinked literacy from graduation in Broward,\u201d he said. \u201cParents aren\u2019t leaving because they hate public schools. They\u2019re leaving because we\u2019ve stopped investing in what makes them work. Fix the classroom and families come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Henry, reversing enrollment declines requires reinvestment in public education rather than additional cuts.<\/p>\n

– Advertisement –<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe way we solve the budget crisis is by stopping the death spiral,\u201d he said. \u201cImprove education in our public schools and students will return. No one is making the argument to voters that public education is worth fighting for. I will.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henry drew a contrast between himself and Cervera, criticizing the incumbent\u2019s ties to Tallahassee and campaign spending.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam is just another man from Tallahassee. I\u2019m a son of Broward trying to fight for public education,\u201d Henry said. \u201cAdam Cervera is a millionaire corporate lawyer who dumped $50,000 from his bank account into a school board race. Adam has dumped my mother\u2019s entire salary into this race by himself. He\u2019s spent most of his adult life in Miami. He wasn\u2019t even registered to vote here before being appointed. He thinks money, mailers, and incumbency are enough. But Broward\u2019s not for sale.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henry said reducing class sizes, particularly at the elementary level, would be a major priority if elected.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need dramatically smaller class sizes in elementary education,\u201d he said. \u201cI see too many classrooms full of students.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also criticized the district\u2019s teacher pay structure, arguing it discourages educators from remaining in the profession.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe school board wants quality education but doesn\u2019t want to pay educators the dollars and cents to make it happen,\u201d Henry said. \u201cIn Broward we have pay scales that are effectively flat from zero to sixteen years of experience. Nearly half their career, their wages don\u2019t grow a dime.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s no wonder we\u2019re facing a shortage of teachers in Broward,\u201d he added. \u201cYou can\u2019t support a family on that. We ask teachers to care for our children, look after their best interests, but this county has done nothing to look out for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henry summarized his campaign around what he described as three core issues facing the district.<\/p>\n

\u201cBroward\u2019s teachers are underpaid. Broward\u2019s classrooms are overcrowded. Broward\u2019s students deserve better,\u201d he said. \u201cAdam Cervera has no plan. I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

More information about Henry\u2019s campaign is available at Sonofbroward.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Makai Henry, a 20-year-old substitute teacher and the son of Dominican immigrants, announced Thursday that he is running…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262176,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[589,249,251,250],"class_list":["post-262175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-featured","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}