Ed note: The Sunshine Journal has reached out to Tom Lange via email for interviews and comment since the beginning of the campaign season. He has not responded to requests.
The Editorial Board of the TC Palm held their biannual interview with the school board candidates last month led by community editor Laurence Reisman and his boss, managing editor Adam Neal. The online forum featured incumbent Dr. Jacqueline “Jackie” Rosario and challenger Tom Lange. Reisman’s opening question asked, “What are the 2 biggest issues the school district faces?” and how each candidate would approach them. He asked the candidates not to include the property tax issue.
Going first, Lange said the issues are based on funding. From there he proceeded to incorrectly state how Florida funds scholarship vouchers. “It goes to how we are receiving money from the state, as far as the vouchers and the money that is being kind of taken from the money that is allotted to the district and given to the families that have chosen to go elsewhere,” he said.
Lange commended Superintendent Dr. David Moore and the district for trying to “get ahead of” the alleged funding crisis he believes exists. He added, “The other one is ensuring that the funding is there—all depending on where the vote goes this coming November with the property taxes. Making sure that we continually, um... we are prepared for the crunch that comes that way with funding for our schools.”
Lange’s answer on property taxes came straight from the political misinformation found online. Dr. Rosario followed in her response by correctly informing, “School taxes are not on the ballot in November.”
Yet, his mischaracterization of vouchers is a parroting of school board member David Dyer, who is the former vice chairman of The Learning Alliance (TLA), a non-profit working toward raising literacy rates in the school district. The state funds scholarship vouchers separately through third-party vendors like Step-Up. While the monies are recorded in the budget showing how many students in the county have been accepted into the program, they are not coming from ad valorem taxes or other budgetary accounts.
A January 29 letter from the Florida Department of Education states, the department reports scholarship students for each school district based on the number of students enrolled in the FES program. Reached by The Sunshine Journal, Director of Strategic Communications and Marketing for the school district, Dr. Kyra Schafte said, “At a basic level, it is accurate to say that the state funds educational programs based on student participation and that school districts receive funding based on the full-time enrollment they generate. If a student has never been enrolled in a traditional public school but receives a Family Empowerment Scholarship, the student and associated funding flow directly through the FES program rather than through the District.”
Dyer has claimed repeatedly from the dais that public schools in Florida are being defunded by scholarships. In April he called scholarships “an unfunded mandate from the state,” which is not true. The district’s operational budget has increased $54.2 million in the last 5 years for an average increase of $10.84 million annually. The preliminary budget projections for the upcoming school year show general operating funds rising to $247.5 million from $238.9 million.
The bigger question is TLA’s motive in backing Lange. Dr. Rosario has never questioned the literacy efforts since Dr. Moore took charge in 2019. Since 2018, she has advocated for progress monitoring of students, which the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) has implemented statewide through their assessment schedule. Dr. Moore has also created a student-focused system that uses data to recognize education issues with students that instructors can answer in real time. What Lange said to TC Palm, that he believes data should be monitored in the district, is already being done at a high level.
The TC Palm mentioned TLA in their endorsement, saying Superintendent Dr. Moore works with TLA “to build a support network for students.” In April, Dyer commented from the dais that TLA financially supports 27 positions in the district directly, including teachers, reading coaches, interventionists, and supervisory staff hired by Dr. Moore. The annual funding is around $2 million. The support is salaried positions only. Dr. Moore oversees the instruction to get students reading proficiently by 3rd grade. Outside the school system, TLA has developed the Moonshot Community Action Network.
This past February, the district held the Wired to Learn Fast Summit, which was ‘a national learning experience focused on accelerating literacy outcomes through coherent, systems-level leadership.’ School leaders in 31 states were invited to see what Dr. Moore and his team have implemented in Indian River County. Board member Dyer was a presenter.
TLA came away from it thrilled because three school districts in other states want to launch Moonshot programs after visiting Indian River County schools. TLA recently spent $2 million on the production of a 10-part documentary, The Moonshot Series - Exploring what’s possible in early education. It was created in partnership with The Literacy Project.
The intent of TLA is to take their program nationwide using private donations and taxpayer funding. TLA has received $3.6 million from the county and Indian River Hospital District since it began operations in 2012, with over $1.6 million being awarded in the last 4 years through the county’s Children’s Service Advisory Council (CSAC).
Lange’s donor base is small but made up of large contributors to TLA and a PAC named Education First for IRC, that is funded primarily by some of the non-profit’s board members and elite donors. Of his $18,055 in recorded donations, TLA and their PAC-affiliated contributors have given $14,600 to Lane’s campaign. Those same contributors to his campaign have infused over $50,000 into Education First for IRC.
The PAC has raised $90,650, of which $90,000 of it has been directed to Vero Beach Social Media, LLC to support Lange’s campaign. Payments were in 2 installments on April 1 for $20,000 and on June 1 for $70,000 for “digital advertisements,” according to the PAC’s filings. The PAC has done a mail campaign designed to reach mail-in ballot voters. The PAC has a Facebook page with one follower.
Donors to his campaign and the PAC include the recently retired TLA President Ray Oglethorpe, who gave $1000 to Lange and $10,000 to the PAC. Oglethorpe’s wife, Myriam Robinson Oglethorpe, gave $1000 to Lange as well. TLA’s current board members are also named in the PAC contributors. Those include Vice Chair Susan Hunter ($10,000), Claire Joyce ($10,000), Secretary Susan Oglesby ($2000.00), Dorothy Sprague ($5000), and Chairman of the Board Michael White ($5000).
School board member David Dyer gave $5000 to the PAC. He also gave an additional $1000 to Lange, as did his wife, Harriet Dyer. Mr. Dyer was the former vice-chair of TLA who resigned to run for school board in 2024.
Even if TLA was not involved, it wasn’t a surprise that the TC Palm editorial board endorsed Tom Lange for school board over Jackie Rosario. They have never endorsed Jackie Rosario. When Rosario was endorsed by the governor in 2022, Reisman wrote, “DeSantis picked up the idea this year—on the Treasure Coast anointing candidates with among the weakest resumes, including Rosario….”
Rosario had 3 master’s degrees, plus 30 years in education in NYC and FL. She had worked in every school position but principal. Today, she holds a PhD in Educational Law from Liberty University. Dr. Rosario is the only Florida School Board Association (FSBA) certified board member at the district. One in 4 school board members statewide have the FSBA distinction.
Tom Lange doesn’t have nearly Dr. Rosario’s accreditations. He was an English teacher promoted to chair of the English department at Sebastian River High School. Before retiring in 2023, he served his last 5 years as a Career and Technical Education Specialist. His greatest achievement, which should not be understated, is being the Director of Sebastian River Rowing, Inc., which he personally launched in 2005. It is a dedicated club rowing team for middle and high school student athletes that has won national awards.
While Lange was successfully coaching regatta teams to championships, Dr. Rosario was winning at the school board on issue after issue. She successfully advocated for the Pelican Island Classical Magnet School. For 3 years she promoted it behind the scenes. She researched and advocated for the curriculum that is used today.
Dr. Moore caught the vision with a competitive push from his former district. The classical school was launched this past academic year and is one of two in the state—the other being in Dade County. It already has a waiting list. Dr. Rosario endorsed Dr. Moore’s hiring because of his vision that Indian River County would become a full-choice district.
“I have been a staunch advocate for parents to choose the best educational environment for their student(s). Parents and guardians know best,” said Rosario to The Sunshine Journal. Dr. Moore has listened to her and the parents. With credit to Dr. Moore’s leadership and the district, Rosario commented, “We created an opportunity for every school in our district to showcase its special choice program.”
Even the board has come around to her side despite Dr. Rosario being in the political minority. Recently, she protected teachers from enormous health insurance rate increases after union leadership and the superintendent came to an agreement to amend the contract. During the discussion, Mr. Dyer was upset that Dr. Rosario freely notified teachers, who are her constituents, through social media after receiving the proposal late on Friday for a following Monday workshop. He murmured that the board should have a restrictive social media policy. His idea went nowhere.
The board also eventually sided with Dr. Rosario and unanimously voted to remove all pornographic literature from the library. The board voted to approve the Amplify curriculum that has been an integral part of the English Language Arts program for elementary schools. While Moms for Liberty members advocated for the curriculum publicly at school board meetings, TLA leaders were advocating for it behind the scenes.
Backing Dr. Rosario, Moms for Liberty members also sat on the school discipline committees, getting approved strict no-bullying policies, cellphone discipline, and ending restorative justice measures in the district’s Code of Conduct. Concerning the restructuring of the district, Dr. Moore announced the closure of the alternative school where kids would serve in-school suspensions because its attendance became minimal.
These advancements were overlooked by Reisman, who leans on his own political opinion rather than the truth behind the headlines.
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