Who is Rafael Villalobos? Meet Miami-Dade public schools’ next superintendent
Miami Herald | By: Austin Horn | July 30, 2026
For months, Miami-Dade school board members have said the selection of the district’s new superintendent is the most important decision they may ever make.
On Wednesday, they unanimously landed on Rafael A. Villalobos, Jr, a South Region superintendent, former principal and Miami-Dade public schools graduate who will inherit one of the nation’s largest school systems at a time of enrollment declines, budget pressures and political scrutiny over public education.
Villalobos, who has spent most of his 30-year career in Miami-Dade public schools, will succeed Superintendent Jose Dotres, whose contract ends Feb. 14, 2027. At Wednesday’s meeting, board members praised his experience, leadership and deep ties to the district, and the selection was quickly welcomed by the teachers union, who said in a statement that Villalobos’ “knows our schools, our educators, and our students firsthand.”
Villalobos began his career as a teacher at South Dade Senior High in 1994 and rose through nearly every level of district leadership, serving as assistant principal, principal, administrative director and, since 2022, South Region superintendent. During the selection process, he pitched himself as a consensus-builder focused on strengthening academics, improving teacher retention and building trust with families and employees.
Who is Rafael Villalobos?
Villalobos counts some prominent members of the Cuban exile community as family.
During Wednesday’s interview, Villalobos’ family member, Jose “Pepe” Villalobos, the former longtime attorney for the city of West Miami, was present. Previously the president of the Cuban American Bar Association, Jose Villalobos received a “Medal of Honor” award from the Florida Bar Association’s nonprofit arm. During the Cuban Mariel boatlift crisis of 1980, he provided pro bono representation for hundreds of newly arrived unaccompanied minors.
Jose Villalobos’ son, Alex Villalobos, is a former Miami Republican member of the state Senate, where he was majority leader from 2004 to 2006. Alex Villalobos was an opponent of some education initiatives from former governor Jeb Bush, including Bush’s effort to put school vouchers in the constitution.
Rafael Villalobos, South region superintendent of MDCPS greets attendees after being selected as the new Miami Dade County Public School superintendent.
Another relative, Lolo Villalobos, was the longtime mayor of Guanabacoa, Cuba, before fleeing the country after Fidel Castro took power.
Villalobos’ current voter registration indicates that he is a member of the Republican Party. He is married and his wife, Elizabeth, accompanied him at his introductory press conference on Wednesday.
Villalobos’ career spans thirty years in the school district with a brief interlude in the private sector, working for education technology companies.
He began as a teacher at South Dade Senior High in 1994 and would serve as principal of four different schools from 2005 to 2010 before leaving to become a sales executive for two education technology companies, Acheive3000 and Rethink. He made history as the first principal to lead two high schools at the same time, Booker T. Washington Senior High and Law Enforcement Officers’ Memorial High in 2009 and 2010.
He returned to MDCPS in 2015, serving as principal of John A. Ferguson Senior High until 2021. Then he was promoted to administrative director of the South Region, and later as region superintendent in 2022.
Villalobos was named principal of the year in 2020, when he led John A. Ferguson Senior High.
According to his resume for the superintendent role, Villalobos oversaw improvement in the school district’s South Region during his tenure.
Miami Dade School Board members shared with Rafael Villalobos, after he was selected as the new Miami Dade County Public School superintendent.
He wrote that every student subgroup improved scores in both English Language Arts and Mathematics in the last two school years for which data is available from the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking. Passage rates on Advanced Placement (AP) tests also went up 13 percentage points and region-wide graduation rates hit 98%.
At his first principal assignment, Hammocks Middle, Villalobos was commended for engaging parents, essentially resurrecting the school’s PTSA.
“Rafael was extremely charismatic. He treated everyone very well,” the school’s PTSA leader told the Herald in 2007.
What are his plans?
In the days before the meeting, a website featuring a direct-to-camera video statement from Villalobos as well as a “100 Day Plan” went live.
“Who would have thought that, in 1990, a graduate of Miami-Dade County Public Schools from South Miami would be sitting here applying for Miami-Dade County Public Schools’ superintendency,” Villalobos begins in his statement.
Villalobos’ plan is centered around the research of Canadian educator Michael Fullan and features four phases. The first stage focuses on meeting school community members, the second involves building an academics strategy, the third revolves around operations and finance and the final stage brings those steps together.
“Fullan’s research is unequivocal: Trust is not a soft prerequisite to district improvement. It is the work,” Villalobos wrote.
Rafael Villalobos, South region superintendent of Miami-Dade public schools answers questions from Miami-Dade County school board members during a special meeting to interview the two candidates finalists for the superintendent position.
Though Villalobos’ career has mostly involved schools in South Dade, he said in a press conference that his “first priority” would be to get to know the entire district as well as he can.
“My first priority, first and foremost, is to make sure that I get to know the entire community — from County Line Road all the way to Florida City. I know it in the South, but it’s extremely important for me to also get to know students, teachers and staff … the business partners, the colleges, the universities, all the entities, because it takes a village,” Villalobos said.
He said at the press conference that he would make cost of living for school teachers a top priority and that he would like to push for raises.
“To me, I completely think that teachers should be raised at top dog. Definitely here in Miami, because you know the ability for them to survive without working two and three jobs sometimes is very difficult. But we’re also restricted with the amount of money that we have to serve children and serve our schools, so I’d have to see that first,” Villalobos said.
He also touched on questions around key issues facing the district — lower enrollment, which has led to flat-lining revenues from the state, as well as the struggles of immigrant parents and children in an era of increased deportations and federal immigration enforcement.
When asked what his message would be to Haitian families who recently lost Temporary Protected Status, Villalobos emphasized he plans to “welcome every single child into our schools.”
“Our main focus and our priority is to make sure that children are in seats learning, and that they feel safe and secure in our schools,” Villalobos said.
