Florida Governor Ron DeSantis this week organized a one-day political training for prospective and current school board members he supports called the "Freedom Blueprint."
His motivation for organizing the event stems from certain Florida schools implementing mask mandates during the pandemic even though he was against them.
Hosted in Orlando and attended by 150 to 200 people, The Capitolist reported that the training event featured former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, as well as current Florida Department of Education Commissioner Manny Diaz, Jr. and former Commissioner Richard Corcoran. One of the most vocal conservative parental groups in attendance was Moms for Liberty, who presented on empowering parents.
DeSantis feels empowered from his endorsement of school board members as the school board candidates he endorsed won 24 out of 30 elections in November. He is proactively looking for more school boards to control in 2024 to pass his controversial legislation policies like the "Don't Say Gay Bill" that makes it illegal for teachers to instruct or present any topics related to gender identity or sexual orientation through the third grade.
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To further support his candidates, DeSantis' political action committee donated $1,000 to each candidate, and he stated that his campaign spent over $2 million to support school board candidates through various communication methods.
It is widely anticipated that DeSantis will run for the 2024 Republican Presidential nomination.
