Meet the two finalists for Miami-Dade public schools superintendent
Miami Herald | By: Austin Horn | July 22, 2026
The Miami-Dade school board is moving forward with two finalists to replace Superintendent Jose Dotres. The board winnowed down its list from six semifinalists to two in a vote at a special meeting held Tuesday. It marks the latest step in the months-long process to find Dotres’ eventual replacement.
Both finalists have deep ties to South Florida. One is internal to the public school system and the other is an administrator in Broward County Public Schools. The finalists are Ernie Lozano, Broward County Public Schools chief human resources officer and Rafael Villalobos, MDCPS’ south region superintendent. To decide the finalists, the board took a vote among its eight members on each of the six semifinalists individually to advance them. Those with a majority of the members’ approval were moved forward as finalists. Lozano got “yes” votes from six members of the board, with only District 2 Board Member Dr. Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall and District 4 Board Member Roberto Alonso registering “no” votes.
Villalobos got “yes” votes from all eight board members. Dotres’ chief of staff, Jose Bueno, almost made the list. Four board members, including Board Chair Mari Tere Rojas, Alonso, Bendross-Mindingall and District 9 Board Member Luisa Santos voted for him. The other board members did not. Two semifinalists, Sylvia Mitchell and Carlos Perez, only registered one “yes” vote from a board member. Christopher Ruszkowski, a former secretary of education for New Mexico who is now overseeing the state of Texas’ takeovers of a large school district and charter school network, got two “yes” votes from Santos and Alonso. Either Villalobos or Lozano could be named superintendent as early as next week. Board members voted on July 29 as the date for public interviews as well as a final selection. After the votes were tallied, one board member, Alonso, wanted to go ahead and name Villalobos as “superintendent designate” at the meeting. No board member seconded his motion. Earlier, Alonso also brought up the idea of adding on Deputy Superintendent Michael Lewis as a finalist for the role. Lewis did not apply, but Alonso suggested he might be a qualified candidate. “We have an incredible list here of candidates, and after going through this list I’ve always had one name of one individual that I thought would be on this list… That is Dr. Lewis,” Alonso said.
Alonso’s comment was only for discussion and did not come with a motion for action. Board members agreed Lewis was highly qualified, but several said they didn’t see the need to make him a finalist at this point in the process. Santos said she was “disappointed” with how slim the list of finalist candidates was, expressing a desire for a broader pool of candidates to interact with the public in their finalist interviews. She had earlier stated she’d like to see all candidates who got advanced as semifinalists by more than one board member, which included Bueno and Ruszkowski, to be named finalists. “At this point, the public has not seen any of the candidates respond to public questions… I would have liked to see a greater number of finalists answering questions in front of the public,” Santos said. Lozano and Villalobos Both finalists laid out their visions for the district in their cover letters for the role. Villalobos said he would address trends like enrollment decline with “fiscal responsibility… without compromising the strength of our educational foundation.” He also said he would prioritize bolstering legislative advocacy and transparency. Lozano’s cover letter also spoke to the importance of “fiscal responsibility and operational sustainability amid changing enrollment and budget realities” as well as strong leadership development and “workforce systems” for all staff.
Lozano added that he’s had experience coordinating significant reductions in workforce, including when Broward County Public Schools reduced 1,000 positions this past school year. He also wrote that he spend much of his time growing up in Miami’s West Little River community.
Villalobos highlighted his inside view of MDCPS, calling it “far more than an educational institution.” “Our responsibility extends beyond academic achievement alone. We must ensure that students are academically prepared while also developing the character, resilience, ethical values, and sense of purpose necessary to contribute meaningfully to society,” Villalobos wrote. Lozano’s started his career in Broward County Public Schools as a fourth grade teacher in 1998. He served as an assistant principal at two schools, principal of James S. Hunt Elementary in Coral Springs, then a principal supervisor. From 2022 onward, Lozano has held multiple central office roles, including chief of staff, executive director of professional standards and labor relations, executive director for behavioral threat assessments and chief safety and security officer. He’s held his most recent title as chief human resources officer since July 2025. Villalobos began his career in Miami-Dade Public Schools as a teacher at South Dade Senior High in 1994. He was an assistant principal, working at South Dade Adult Center and Felix Varela Senior High, from 2000 to 2005. Villalobos was principal of four different schools from 2005 to 2010 before leaving for the private sector. In the private sector, he worked as a sales executive for two education technology companies, Acheive3000 and Rethink. 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 received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Nova Southeastern University. He is a doctoral candidate at Florida International University. Lozano received his bachelor’s, master’s and PhD degrees from Florida Atlantic University.
