Jacob Ogles
Gov. Ron DeSantis has appointed Chad Choate III to fill a vacancy on the Manatee County School Board. He will replace former School Board member Scott Hopes, who was hired this year as Manatee County Administrator.
Choate promised to bring with him top agenda priorities from the Governor.
“I am humbled by this opportunity to serve and look forward to standing with Governor DeSantis by opposing a mask mandate in Manatee County Schools, keeping Critical Race Theory out of our classrooms and prioritizing civics education,” Choate said in a statement.
Choate works at Edward Jones Investments in Sarasota as a financial adviser and previously worked in the school district as a teacher and football coach.
His grandfather, Chad Choate Sr., served as principal of Manatee High School and has an administration building at the school named after him. The elder Choate died in 2018, according to the Bradenton Herald. There’s also a bench at the school named for Chad Choate Jr., who died in a car accident in 2003.
He serves on the Leadership Manatee Alumni Association Board of Directors, the Manatee County Aging Network Board of Directors, the Kiwanis of Bradenton Membership Committee and the Trinity United Methodist Church Board of Trustees, which he chairs. The asset management specialist graduated from the University of South Florida, which has a satellite campus in the county.
He will hold the District 4 seat previously held by Hopes, who of note was first appointed to the seat as well, by former Gov. Rick Scott. Hopes later won election to the seat in 2018. Hopes had committed to remaining on the School Board until a replacement was appointed, but also promised county commissioners he would leave the school board post as a condition of his hire as administrator.
Choat has not filed as a candidate for the seat, which is up for election next year. To date, Garin Hoover, a lawyer, is the only candidate filed for the seat.
