DeSantis press secretary acknowledges state has no control over local employees' pay

[zuul]

Ana Ceballos @anaceballos_ (Miami-Herald)
.
@GovRonDeSantis office acknowledges state has no control over local employees' pay, calls on "activist" school board members who defy governor on school masks to dock their own salaries if state follows through with financial sanctions against district.

2:42 PM · Aug 12, 2021

Link to tweet

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article253442554.html

DeSantis softens school board threats. It will be on them to cut their own pay.

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration signaled earlier this week that it would slash the pay of Florida school superintendents and school board members who defy the governor on school masks .

But now — as two Florida districts, including Broward County Public Schools, remain defiant — the governor’s office is acknowledging the state has no control over local employees’ pay. His spokesperson called on “activist, anti-science school board members” to dock their own salaries if the state follows through with financial sanctions against their district.

“Those officials should own their decision — and that means owning the consequences of their decisions rather than demanding students, teachers, and school staff to foot the bill for their potential grandstanding,” Christina Pushaw, the governor’s press secretary, said in an email to the Herald/Times.

The tug-of-war between local school officials and DeSantis’ administration is playing out as millions of students return to in-person classes across Florida and parents weigh the risk of contagion amid a recent surge in coronavirus cases, including among youth and children. As of Thursday, neither local districts nor state officials were budging.

[Botany]

1. Sweet "DeSantis office acknowledges state has no control over local employees' pay"

[PA Democrat]

2. We already knew DeSantis was stupid....

But jeez, I think someone just told him that school districts employees' salaries are not directly paid by the state.

He also claimed he did not request those ventilators from the federal government. Yeah... they just showed up.

[Botany]

5. DeSantis is not stupid

He went to Yale and then Harvard Law. He knows masks and vaccines save lives but he has made the cold blooded political calculus to keep the virus going.

[gratuitous]

3. Does Gov. DeSantis have nothing better to do right now?

I mean, issuing empty threats is probably a lot more fun than his official duties, but is there nothing pressing on the state's agenda right about now?

[Thomas Hurt]

4. LOL, Death's mouthpiece asked Trumpers to dock their own pay....like that will happen.

[csziggy]

6. I wondered about that - in Florida school boards are local entitites

And mostly funded by local property tax revenues. Yes, they get additional funds from the state and federal governments, but their primary income is local.

At least that is what I was taught in high school. It's been a lot of years, so when DeSantis made his threat I thought maybe things had changed in the last fifty years. I do not have children so never paid that much attention to school board politics and issues.

[ProfessorGAC]

7. Ms. Pushaw Is Wrong

The Florida state constitution provides no power to the governor to set sanctions against a school district.
The funding is based on a formula, as in many states, that determines state funding to a district.
I've seen several articles by experts, saying this and I saw a legal scholar on CNN say the same.
There will be no financial sanctions. As soon as one (or more) district(s) go to court, the conversation is over.
She says they should dock their own pay to cover the shortfall. But, there won't be a shortfall.

[crickets]

8. So... a bully overreaches, making empty threats.

Gee, this sounds so familiar. And all in the name of protecting parents' "freedom."

[tavernier]

9. Dock their own salaries?

Huh?

[obamanut2012]

10. He literally can't put financial sanctions against school districts

It is against FL law and constitution, and would piss everyone off.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

11. DeSantis admits defeat in threats to cut pay of school leaders who impose mask mandates

DeathSantis' bluff was called

Link to tweet

DeSantis had claimed that he would cut the salaries of superintendents and funding to community schools that mandate students wear masks. Currently, Florida is suffering a massive increase in COVID-19 cases and most parents are desperate to protect their children. His hardened and Trump-like approach to the COVID crisis led his poll numbers to sink and turned his state against him as hospitals climb to capacity.

According to DeSantis, the penalties against the superintendents will be on the "honor system." He said that it will be "on them" to cut their own pay.

"Those officials should own their decision — and that means owning the consequences of their decisions rather than demanding students, teachers, and school staff to foot the bill for their potential grandstanding," DeSantis' press secretary Christina Pushaw, told he Miami Herald.

"Neither the Florida Department of Education nor the Board of Education control the payroll distribution of school districts," Superintendent Carlee Simon and School Board Chair Leanetta McNealy said in a letter from Alachua County Public Schools. "Your action would, however, remove funding from our district's general fund and would be a reduction of allocation."