Jacob Ogles
Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Karen Rose to the School Board, months after voters booted her off.
Late on Friday, the Governor named the former School Board member to a different seat recently vacated by Tim Enos, who just returned to a prior role as the school district’s police chief.
“Rose is a former Sarasota County School Board Member. Active in her community, she currently serves as a member of the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota District Board of Trustees and previously served as a member of the Florida Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development,” a release from the Governor’s office reads.
“Rose earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Youngstown State University and her master’s degree in education from the University of South Florida.”
Rose, a former principal and school district-level administrator, won a seat on the School Board in 2020. She had the backing of the local Republican Party, though it was a nonpartisan race. She beat Democrat-backed opponent David Graham. That came two years after she unsuccessfully challenged then-School Board member Shirley Brown, a former Democratic state Representative.
But four years later, she failed to win re-election. Instead, voters in November elected Liz Barker, who was backed by Democrats, in a rebuke of a conservative majority. Rose was among several candidates DeSantis endorsed for School Board seats across the state who were ultimately defeated.
Of note, Rose for the first two years of her term was in a political minority along with Bridget Ziegler, at the time a nationally prominent advocate for conservative education policy and school choice.
Voters elected a conservative majority on the School Board in 2022, all endorsed by DeSantis at the peak of his political power. Immediately after the new board took office, Rose controversially spearhead the ouster of School Superintendent Brennan Asplen.
But in 2023, Ziegler found herself at the center of a sex scandal, along with husband Christian Ziegler. Rose, the School Board Chair, called for Ziegler to resign her post at the time. Ziegler refused and remains on the board.
Enos announced earlier this month he would resign his seat, a move criticized by School Board member Tom Edwards.
Rose’s return to the board doesn’t change its political make-up, which retains a 3-2 conservative majority. She will serve out Enos’ term, which ends next year. But now she will share the dais once again with Edwards and Barker, her prior political opponent.
