Daniel Foganholi was appointed to the Florida Board of Education in August after losing his seat on the Broward School Board. (Screenshot via Florida Channel livestream)
Exactly three months after receiving 20% of votes cast in the Broward County School Board primary election, Daniel Foganholi on Wednesday sat on the statewide Florida Board of Education for his first meeting.
Foganholi was appointed to the state board, by Gov. Ron DeSantis. His position on the Broward board was thanks to the governor, too. The governor appointed Foganholi to that board twice, first in April 2022, and again eight months later though DeSantis did not include Foganholi in his 23 school board endorsements this year.
“I am honored to sit up here and I look forward to doing great work with you, and continue to be innovative, create, and continue to make Florida the number one place for education,” Foganholi said to other board members during the Wednesday meeting in Orlando.
Foganholi faced his first election in August 2024. He received 20% of the vote. Maura McCarthy Bulman won the three-way primary with 51.1%, earning a majority vote and negating a runoff in November. Jon Canter received 28.9%. He ran in August as “a firm supporter of both school choice and the public school system” and highlighted his support for a National Day of Prayer and Clergy Recognition Month in the schools.
Foganholi thanked God and the governor in his first remarks on the board.
“I do first and foremost want to thank God for this opportunity. … His grace, his favor, [I] wouldn’t be here without it,” Foganholi said. “But I also do want to thank our governor, great governor of free state of Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis for this opportunity. His vote of confidence and believing in a young Brazilian American from Broward County to be able to do change in schools that I cared so much about in Broward.”
Foganholi, a first-generation American born to parents who came to the United States from Brazil, is a member of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission, to which DeSantis appointed him.
The 38-year-old Republican is from Coral Springs, the governor’s office said, and holds certificates in marketing and business management from Florida Atlantic University, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Used to be a rapper
Miami New Times reported in August that Foganholi used to be a rapper. He told the outlet that he is proud of his music venture, but not of the music itself, which includes him “spitting bars about everything from getting women to getting high,” according to the New Times.
Foganholi appeared in a music video that includes a depiction of him robbing a convenience store with a gun, the outlet reported and published a screenshot of the YouTube video. The video linked in the article has since been deleted.
The now-statewide education official toured his music around the U.S., including opening for the Jonas Brothers, the outlet reported, although his music career has been quiet since 2019.
His appointment to the Board of Education is subject to Florida Senate approval.
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In conjunction with charters
The Board of Education meeting was held in conjunction with the three day Florida Charter School Conference and School Choice Summit in Orlando. The conference serves to connect private and charter schools with the Department of Education and companies providing services to private and charter schools.
Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr., who previously served as chief operating officer of a college affiliated with a charter school operator, remarked on the size of the conference, telling board members that it was hosting more than 1,300 attendees and 160 exhibitors, the largest school choice conference held in Florida, he said.
“It’s a sign of the movement in Florida and the work that is being done by this board, by our governor, by the Legislature, so I’m very proud of that,” Diaz said.
The conference included welcome remarks by Diaz and Success Academy Charter Schools CEO Eva Moskowitz and will feature closing remarks on Thursday by Department of Education Senior Chancellor Paul Burns.
In Florida, 405,000 students attend 738 charter schools, Diaz said, a growing number as school choice initiatives continue to flow out of the Florida Capitol.
School safety
In his update to board members, Diaz said he sent a letter to school superintendents following “a sharp rise in false reports submitted through Fortify Florida.”
FlortifyFL is an app used by parents, students, teachers, and law enforcement to report suspicious school activity and threats. It was created in 2018 in response to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting that left 17 people dead that same year.
“This is especially troubling since false reporting is not only reckless but it takes resources away that are needed for actual emergencies,” Diaz said.
The board passed a policy during Wednesday’s meeting requiring annual trainings for parents on how to use the app, and the consequences for misusing the app.
Policy already required students to be trained to use the app, but an update to the policy requires the training to spell out possible consequences for falsely reporting a school threat or making a school threat.
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