ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — Florida’s Education Commissioner is accusing St. Johns County’s School Superintendent of encouraging teachers to vote against pro-school choice lawmakers.
Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas detailed the allegations in a letter to St. Johns County School Superintendent Dr. Brennan Asplen Friday.
In it, he claimed to have received complaints from multiple teachers who allege Asplen told them to vote specific state legislators out of office due to their support of universal school choice scholarships.
The Commissioner explained under normal circumstances, Asplen would face disciplinary action, but the teachers who raised concerns were unwilling to sign a sworn statement, “out of fear of retaliation”.
“I have never told anybody to vote in or out any official,” Asplen said.
Action News Jax spoke with Asplen over the phone Friday afternoon, and he flatly denied the accusations.
“When I get that question, what can we do about this issue, who do we talk to, I always let them know that they are always free to talk to their local delegation, as we do, to understand a law or to see if there’s an amendment that could be placed on that, or just to share your opinion,” Asplen said.
St. Johns County School Board Chair Jennifer Collins said she was not present at the meeting detailed in the Commissioner’s letter, but offered a defense of Asplen.
“I have only heard Dr. Asplen go out of his way to speak in factual terms, not political terms,” Collins said.
Asplen has been vocal about his concerns surrounding universal private school scholarships’ impacts on the district’s budget since taking over as Superintendent last year.
The Commissioner countered that perspective by highlighting the fact the district has seen per-pupil allocations increase more than 16 percent since 2019.
“If an increasing budget and increasing student enrollment do not allow you to make ends meet, perhaps the St. Johns County School Board can find a leader who can manage resources more effectively,” Kamoutsas wrote.
But Asplen argued those numbers don’t tell the full story.
He explained that’s because students who were already in private schools are now receiving funds through scholarships that could have otherwise gone to public education.
“The money is being drained that direction from students that we have never had, never served, never seen. And so, the revenue decreases because of that when they apply for the vouchers and receive them, but our expenses increase because we have more students,” Asplen said.
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