Florida education chief targets district officials. One pushes back.
Tampa Bay Times | Jeffrey S. Solochek | April 28, 2026
The big story: Florida education commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas continues to use social media to criticize the politics of school district officials.
It’s an approach he began when he first took office. And it’s become common enough that Gov. Ron DeSantis, who asked the State Board of Education to appoint his former deputy chief of staff to the seat last summer, regularly jokes at public events about Kamoutsas taking on the districts.
The latest round finds the commissioner chastising a familiar target, Alachua County school board member Tina Certain, this time for speculating online that President Donald Trump staged an assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
“School board members are elected to prioritize the safety and academic success of students, not engage in political activism and conspiracy theories to build their own political careers,” Kamoutsas wrote, saying he looked forward to the day Certain’s board term ends later this year.
Certain, who also faced criticism for comments after Charlie Kirk’s shooting death, told the Gainesville Sun that she regretted her post about Trump.
Kamoutsas also blasted St. Johns County superintendent Brennan Asplen over allegations that the superintendent told teachers to vote against officials who support school vouchers. The commissioner further rejected Asplen’s statements that vouchers are financially harming public education, suggesting the superintendent is mismanaging his district, Politico Florida reports.
Asplen, who lost his job as Sarasota superintendent when a right-wing majority took over in 2022, called on Kamoutsas to prove it rather than just say it, WJXT reports.
He additionally took the commissioner to task for airing his views on social media rather than asking questions directly. “I find this concerning as it appears to be politicking rather than professional communication,” Asplen said in a written rebuttal. Read more from St. Johns Citizen.
In related news, the Broward County school district might consider new purchasing rules after Kamoutsas and state chief financial officer Blaise Ingoglia called out the board chairperson for using a district credit card to pay for a political ad, the Sun-Sentinel reports.
