A.G. Gancarski
Clay County’s School Superintendent, at least through the 2020 election, will be an in-house appointee.
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday appointed assistant Superintendent David Broskie of Fleming Island to the top job.
He is a Clay County lifer: a 30-year tenure including a dozen years as a principal, in which he won Principal of the Year in 2010.
Broskie replaces Addison Davis, whose resignation is effective March 2.
Davis was selected to be the Superintendent of Hillsborough County’s school district as its current superintendent, Jeff Eakins, is retiring.
Before his stint in Clay, Davis was Chief of Schools in Duval County.
Broskie takes over at a time when Clay County schools are enjoying metrical success.
The eighth best school district in the state, Clay now has A-rated schools, with the boom in Broskie’s own Fleming Island a key driver.
Davis was on the re-election ballot, having raised $46,000 as of the end of January.
However, he was losing the fundraising race to Charlie Van Zant, a longtime political commodity in Clay, by nearly 2-to-1.
Clay Today notes that Van Zant was previously Superintendent before losing an election to the departing Davis.
He raised $88,000 in January, with his namesake father (a former state Rep.) and former State Attorney candidate Kenny Leigh among the donors.
Barring a quick ramp up by the appointee, the race likely is Van Zant’s to lose.
DeSantis chose Clay County as the location to announce his ambitious plan to raise the pay of starting teachers to $47,500 last year.
While the House and Senate each are willing to raise teacher pay, there is disagreement about the mechanism and the allocations, and it is unlikely that the Governor’s proposal makes it through fully intact.
The Senate budget appropriates $500 million for teacher raises, along with $325 million in Base Student Allocation flexible spending, which districts can invest in teachers and school district personnel.
Meanwhile, the House proposal would “increase the minimum base salary for a full-time classroom teacher to an amount that is achievable by the school district’s portion of the $500 million; however, no school district is required to increase the minimum base salary to an amount that exceeds $50,000.”
