School Board of Alachua County (SBAC) Vice Chair Tina Certain attended Thursday’s Florida State Board of Education meeting, where she had the chance to address questions from board members regarding a controversial Facebook comment she made about the late Charlie Kirk.
Kirk, a conservative activist and founder of Turning Point USA, was shot and killed on Sept. 10 while speaking at an event on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
His death sparked prayer vigils throughout the country, including on college campuses such as the University of Florida. Additionally, thousands of people also attended a memorial service for Kirk on Sept. 21 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
Certain referenced the service in her comment, which she made on her personal Facebook account.
“I didn’t watch any of that Dump rally! I went to see an elder bcs the weight of it all…,” she wrote, while also referring to Kirk as a “31-year-old uneducated white boy” who “has been glorified.
“He has a organization bcs a millionaire gave him money & connections to start it. To see the feds & state elevate him angers me,” she said on the post.
State board members initially addressed Certain’s comment at their Sept. 24 meeting, in which they also discussed other recent incidents involving SBAC members and Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS).
During that Sept. 24 meeting, Board Chair Ryan Petty told Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas that he would like Certain to come before the state board at its next meeting (Thursday) to answer some additional questions from members.
“I, quite frankly, am of the opinion that somebody [who] would write that [comment] and post it on Facebook doesn’t belong on a state board or any district in the state,” he said at the Sept. 24 meeting.
Gary Edinger, an attorney representing Certain, sent a letter on Monday to Kamoutsas stating that her comment is protected by the First Amendment and that the state board “does not have the authority to compel” Certain’s attendance at the meeting.
“The board lacks the power to issue subpoenas and is not authorized by statute to conduct investigations or adjudicate offenses,” Edinger wrote, adding that Certain will attend the meeting “voluntarily to answer those questions which she deems prudent to address.”
Certain reiterated those comments in Edinger’s letter in her opening remarks at Thursday’s meeting.
“I came to this meeting not as an employee of the [Florida] Department of Education (FDOE), but as a locally-elected official chosen by the voters of Alachua County to serve on our local school board,” she said. “I am not representing the entire board. I came as one member.”
Certain also defended her comment on Kirk, calling it “constitutionally protected speech.”
“My personal Facebook comment, while frank and imperfectly worded, was constitutionally protected speech,” she said. “It expressed a viewpoint on the rhetoric of Charlie Kirk, a public figure whose statement and influence were widely debated. And while there are awards being given out now, there are a good sector of society who do not hold him in high regard for the things that he stood for. And I’m one of them.”
Certain fielded several questions and concerns from state board members, including a few related to her reference of Kirk as an “uneducated white boy.”
“The uneducated white boy was rhetoric,” Certain said. “It was a rhetorical use of race reflecting the same racial framing that Charlie Kirk himself frequently used in public comments. He openly questioned the intelligence and qualifications of black pilots, black women and other educated black professionals. He had significantly less education than the people he criticized.”
Board Member Daniel Foganholi said that as public officials, they “have a responsibility.”
“We have to take that responsibility to represent all people,” he said.
Foganholi also said that “words matter” and “tone matters.”
“And there is no difference between a personal Facebook page and a political Facebook page,” he added. “Your name is your name. You are that representative all the time. I am a state board member all the time, whether I’m in church or sitting up here [on the dais], whether I’m at the park with my kids…I have a responsibility.”
FDOE investigating discrimination complaints in ACPS
In a post on X Thursday, Kamoutsas said the FDOE has received several complaints about the “accommodations and services provided to students with disabilities” in ACPS, “indicating a potential pattern of discrimination against our most vulnerable students.”
During his Commissioner’s Report at Thursday’s state board meeting, Kamoutsas said the FDOE’s Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services was in Alachua County investigating the complaints “to be sure all students receive the services and accommodations to which they are entitled.”
Jackie Johnson, spokesperson for ACPS, told Mainstreet in an email reply Thursday afternoon that the district was “aware that a parent had shared concerns” with the FDOE.
“To protect the student’s privacy, we cannot share any details, but the district is continuing to address those concerns,” she wrote.
State board adopts Phoenix Declaration
Also, during Thursday’s meeting, the state board voted unanimously to ratify and adopt The Phoenix Declaration: An American Vision for Education.
The Heritage Foundation, in partnership with leading education scholars, unveiled The Phoenix Declaration on Feb. 17.
According to an FDOE press release, Florida is the first state in the country to adopt the declaration, which is dedicated to the following: parental choice and responsibility; transparency and accountability; truth and goodness; cultural transmission; character formation; academic excellence; and citizenship.
For more information about the declaration, click here.
State board approves History of Communism standards
During Thursday’s meeting, the state board also approved new History of Communism standards.
According to an FDOE release, the standards were “developed by Florida educators and content experts and will be implemented beginning in the 2026-27 school year.”
The board’s approval comes more than a year after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed SB 1264 , requiring the history of communism to be taught in Florida public schools.
“By adopting the History of Communism standards, we are equipping Florida’s students with an honest and rigorous understanding of how communist regimes exploited authority to erode freedoms and inflict generational harm,” Board Member Grazie Pozo Christie said in the release. “The new standards will help our youth become better informed citizens prepared to safeguard our constitutional republic for future generations.”
Nick Anschultz is a Report for America corps member and writes about education for Mainstreet Daily News. This position is supported by local donations through the Community Catalyst for Local Journalism Fund at the Community Foundation of North Central Florida.
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Free speech doesn’t mean you have to say it
It sickens me to think that people with her world view and attitude decide and control our children’s education
The Supreme Court has ruled that government employees do NOT have First Amendment protection for speech made as part of their official duties.
This is from Garcetti v. Ceballos (2006).
As a school board member, speech in your official capacity can be regulated by:
The school board, State law, Board policies, Ethics rules, Sunshine/open-meeting laws.
She and Sara Rockwell should resign. They are poor examples for the students in Alachua county
The comments in question were personal speech on her personal social media. They were clearly not made in her professional capacity. As voters, we can reach our own conclusions about whether she is worthy of our vote, but this sanctimonious pearl clutching by an APPOINTED, UNELECTED board is disguising.
FSiF is correct. But the Supreme Court has also allows for government employees to have personal lives and personal access to “unofficial capacity” and thus the freedom to express personal feelings and preferences in venues which do not interfere with “official duties.” This comment is such.
…just change one word–BLACK FOR WHITE…& get an uprising from these same individuals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have worked for years in Gainesville and there has always been blatant racism towards white people there from local black community.
Not to be misunderstood there are many many great black people in Gainesville who are not racist at all-but there are also those who would continue to divide us.
We all have rights and also have consequences. We should not have such hate bias influencing out youth
I agree, Charlie Kirk was a horrible influence!
She is 100% free to say whatever she wants.
However, free to say it doesn’t mean that you’re free from the consequences of saying it. Posting it on social media might not have been the wisest thing to do, so that brings her judgement into question as well…
Let’s be honest: hiding behind “free speech” doesn’t excuse everything a public official says. Tina Certain’s attorney can argue her Facebook post is protected speech all day long — but that doesn’t change the reality that school board members are held to a higher standard. Their words carry weight, and when those words contain racial undertones, they don’t just “express an opinion.” They divide the community they’re supposed to represent.
Free speech doesn’t shield an elected official from accountability.
If a comment damages trust, inflames tensions, or undermines a board member’s ability to serve all families, then yes — the board and the State of Florida have every legal tool they need to step in. This isn’t complicated. It’s basic public-office responsibility.
And here’s the part that should outrage every taxpayer:
We are now spending school district money to defend a Facebook post.
Money meant for classrooms, teachers, mental-health services, and students is being burned to justify a social-media comment that never should have been written in the first place.
Our kids deserve better.
Our community deserves better.
And our tax dollars definitely deserve better than defending online drama created by an elected official.
You are free to show that at the ballot box, but the truth is she won an election.
“She was elected because voters believed she’d be a strong leader and a role model for our children. Instead, many of those same voters are now feeling blindsided and betrayed. People expected integrity and accountability — not controversies that undermine the very trust she promised to uphold.”
The voter are the real problem. They elect many board member who have zero professionalism, zero ability to act professionally with direct reporting executives, other staff, parent, teachers on and on. This is a kindergarten. The meeting are fully of loud snaking mobs disrupting and supporting the radical board .
Yes the fact she won an election tells you the problem in Gainesville. It is a community that supports delusional far left failed policies. There is nothing about Gainesville’s government about improving residents lives. It’s all about delusional social experiments.
She should be ashamed, but isn’t. Our division grows. Her insensitive and fairly absurd remarks for a school board member will probably only double guarantee her election is this county. In my opinion, her remarks demeaned a high school education and ALL those with such educations as well as the incredibly insensitive statement that 30 year old is a boy, I know how I felt decades ago as black men were openly called boys – now the mental disease of BIGOTRY has crossed racial barriers. She needs to publicly recant and open herself up to the personal growth of tolerance … but she would be disdained and never again elected. Shame, Ms. Certain.
Interesting that Nick Anschutlz and “Main Street Daily News” omitted the part where Certain was informed -After her boisterous opening remarks about her “free speech” where she again used the phrase “uneducated white boy”- that the state was actually there due to unrelated info (they are sending to prosecutors) about her clear violation of sunshine laws.
Apparently ACSB members were discussing board-related business that is legally conducted in meetings open to the public on a Facebook app.
When informed of this suddenly Certain and her Attorney had “No Comment”.
Why not report the truth, and ALL of the truth, and not just the part that fits your narrative?
Interesting to see so many “learned” folks trying to cover up Certain’s disgusting bile with as much kitty litter as it takes. Some students are watching this and thinking that Certain’s actions are OK. Well, they’re NOT OK and when America finds it’s way out of this darkness, there will be accounts to be paid.
In the meantime, Certain and Rockwell should be kicked to the curb.
Aside from violating the SBAC’s code of ethics, she’s also violating their dress code with that t-shirt. Any student in Alachua County would either be sent home or forced to change into a plain shirt.
Alachua County leaders keep preaching “do as I say, not as I do,” and the double standard couldn’t be more obvious. They demand accountability from everyone else while refusing to hold themselves to the same standard. The community gets lectures, but we get no support. Our elected officials talk about transparency and responsibility, yet their own actions tell a very different story. At this point, the hypocrisy is impossible to ignore.
The real problem they don’t have a clue what accountability is.