{"id":71608,"date":"2025-12-04T21:43:25","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T21:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/71608\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T21:43:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T21:43:25","slug":"florida-education-commissioner-booed-at-tampa-school-board-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/71608\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida education commissioner booed at Tampa school board conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas told school board members and superintendents from around the state on Thursday to get over their complaints about Schools of Hope<\/a> seeking to co-locate in underused district buildings.<\/p>\n

Then he suggested the state could look at shutting down \u201cfailing\u201d school districts.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when the boos started flying.<\/p>\n

Kamoutsas\u2019 lunchtime remarks riled attendees of the Florida School Boards Association\u2019s winter conference in Tampa, the latest escalation of tension between the state\u2019s top education official and local district leaders.<\/p>\n

Kamoutsas \u2014 who had been invited to the conference but not confirmed as a speaker until Thursday \u2014 touted the strong student results of New York-based Success Academy, Florida\u2019s latest Schools of Hope-approved charter school operator, and argued that local districts should want the same kind of outcome.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat proven success is why Florida has committed to expanding the Schools of Hope model,\u201d Kamoutsas said. \u201cLet\u2019s not forget Schools of Hope are subject to the same assessment program and grading system as the traditional public school. But these schools operate under a performance-based agreement with their sponsor, so if they fail to meet standards, they will be closed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then came the boo line: \u201cThere\u2019s not a school district in this state that could be shut down for failing to meet performance standards, though maybe we can talk about that with the Legislature this session.\u201d<\/p>\n

The crowd \u2014 who had previously heard the commissioner say some of them lacked leadership and conviction \u2014 erupted in anger, leaving the commissioner to repeatedly ask them to let him finish. A couple of attendees walked out of the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay ballroom where the meal was taking place.<\/p>\n

After about 20 seconds, the group quieted down. Then Kamoutsas doubled down, telling them that he was not asking, but rather expecting them to innovate in any way possible to make the model succeed. Florida\u2019s students don\u2019t deserve failing public schools, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not the moment to protect the way things work,\u201d Kamoutsas said. \u201cThis is the moment to put students first. We have a responsibility, a moral obligation to ensure that every child in Florida has access to a world-class education, not someday, not when it\u2019s convenient, not after the funding gets negotiated. Now.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he would hold everyone accountable, he said, no matter how uncomfortable it might be.<\/p>\n

After winding down, Kamoutsas hustled out of the room, stopping only briefly to chat and take photos with a couple of board members who sought him out. One apologized for the negative reaction in the room.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounds like it was a hit,\u201d Kamoutsas said.<\/p>\n

Afterward, some in the audience said they took issue with the commissioner\u2019s messaging.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he doesn\u2019t understand what the real problem is with Schools of Hope,\u201d said Beverly Slough, a St. Johns County board member. \u201cThe real problem is they\u2019re coming in without any financial support at all,\u201d leaving operational expenses to districts. \u201cThey pay nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others had problems with his approach, a mix of threats, warnings and insults<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want to unite politically divided boards, he just did that,\u201d said Heather Felton, a Manatee County board member. \u201cHe basically threatened us with the next legislative session.\u201d<\/p>\n

Orange County board member Stephanie Vanos said she was taken aback by the aggressiveness of the commissioner\u2019s comments. Rather than trying to build relationships, she said, \u201che came in with a message that this is the way we are doing it and you better fall in line.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI support nonpartisanship,\u201d said Caprice Edmond, chairperson of the Pinellas County board. \u201cWhen we have people come in and make it divisive, that makes it problematic.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, some attendees said they appreciated that Kamoutsas spoke at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t often get the opportunity to hear directly from him. That he chose to come and speak directly to us I think is valued,\u201d said Allison Campbell, president-elect of the Florida School Boards Association.<\/p>\n

And not everyone was worried about the Schools of Hope issue, which has seen a handful of charter operators lay stake to space in hundreds of campuses across Florida.<\/p>\n

Saul Speights, vice chairperson of Hamilton County\u2019s school board, said co-location isn\u2019t a concern in his district. He did criticize the state\u2019s attacks on public education, though.<\/p>\n

Jeffrey S. Solochek and Divya Kumar are reporters covering education as members of the Tampa Bay Times Education Hub. You can contribute to the hub through our journalism fund by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas told school board members and superintendents from around the state on Thursday to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[18900,15349,41118,28,41117,4043,41116,5950,7539,135,137,136],"class_list":["post-71608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-anastasios-kamoutsas","tag-board-members","tag-failing-public-schools","tag-florida","tag-local-district","tag-school-board","tag-school-boards-association","tag-school-districts","tag-schools-of-hope","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71608","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=71608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}