MIAMI, FLORIDA – MAY 17: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a press conference at the University of Miami Health System Don Soffer Clinical Research Center on May 17, 2022 in Miami, Florida. The governor held the press conference to announce that the state of Florida would be providing $100 million for Florida’s cancer research centers, after he signs the state budget into law. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Neil W. McCabe – National Political Correspondent
UPDATED 3:30 PM PT – Tuesday, August 30, 2022
Tallahassee, Fla. Florida Democratic gubernatorial nominee and Congressman Charlie Crist Aug. 28 chose Miami-Dade school teachers’ union president to be his lieutenant governor running mate, and the campaign of Florida Republican Gov. Ronald D. DeSantis wasted no time blasting the pick citing her hostility to military veterans teaching in Florida schools.
“This is them de-professionalizing our careers,” said Karla Hernandez-Mats, the president of the United Teachers of Dade, about the veterans becoming teachers in an interview on MSNBC.
Charlie Crist’s running mate, teacher union boss Karla Hernández Mats, opposes teaching certification for veterans. She thinks combat vets “deprofessionalize” education.
“To think someone with combat experience would do well…is actually very disrespectful to our educators.”? pic.twitter.com/Y7ho1zhUB4
— DeSantis War Room (@DeSantisWarRoom) August 28, 2022
“Teachers have gone to school for four years,” she said. “They have their bachelor’s, they have master’s, they have doctoral degrees—and to think that somebody that has four years of combat experience would do well in our schools is actually very disrespectful to our educators, to our teachers.”
From her position leading one of the country’s largest teachers’ unions, Hernandez-Mat has become one of the leading opponents of parental rights in education reform.
The Florida plan to help veterans transition into classrooms is an extension of the Pentagon’s Troops-To-Teachers program, which has been transitioning military veterans into classrooms for more than 15 years.
According to the Troops-To-Teachers website, proudtoserve.com, more than 100,000 veterans have become teachers through the program with most participants choosing to teach in high poverty and or high minority communities with 90 percent of surveyed principals saying Troop-To-Teachers veterans have had a positive impact on students to a greater degree than traditionally prepared teachers.
Charlie Crist’s running mate, teacher union boss Karla Hernandez Mats, is president of UTD. While #KarlaMarx accuses opponents of wanting to “politicize education”, her union’s Facebook makes clear what kind of radical ideology she and @CharlieCrist want in Florida classrooms. pic.twitter.com/U8p71H6JYa
— DeSantis War Room (@DeSantisWarRoom) August 29, 2022
As DeSantis pushes left-wing indoctrination out of Florida schools, Karla Hernandez-Mats is pushing it back in, earning her the moniker “Karla Marx.”