Exploring the Dark Secrets of the Florida Education Department Investigation: The DeSantis administration has pledged to investigate allegations that Florida state and local officials mishandled a multimillion-dollar bid to manage a rural education system.
According to a subpoena first reported by the Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times, federal prosecutors in Gainesville have requested a large volume of documents related to the long-running Jefferson County School District saga that led to the resignation of a high-ranking Florida Department of Education employee and the former chair of the state Board of Education.
The subpoena indicates that federal investigators are interested in determining whether or not the Florida Department of Education improperly favoured a former Republican state representative and colleague of former Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran, a key education ally of the governor, when awarding a contract to help manage the school district.
In the end, the federal grand jury that issued the subpoena in late June could shed more light on a controversy that sparked outrage and a state “investigation” in 2022, but whose results have not been made public.
Exploring the Dark Secrets of the Florida Education Department Investigation
The investigation focuses on a contract sought by Florida in 2021 to assist Jefferson County schools in regaining their status as a typical local school system. In 2017–18, following years of low test scores and budget cuts, the Jefferson County School District turned to a charter management company.
Previously, it was discovered that vendors with ties to the DeSantis administration and Corcoran submitted two separate bids for a $4 million state contract to deal with schools in Jefferson County. Now, the Office of Inspector General for the United States Department of Education, headquartered in Pembroke Pines, Broward County, appears to be investigating both of these incidents.
Andy Tuck, a citrus grower who was appointed to the state board in 2014, and Melissa Ramsey, the vice chancellor for strategic improvement at the agency, were investigated by the Florida Department of Education to determine if they violated conflict-of-interest rules by attempting to use their positions to obtain the state contract.
The FLDOE inspector general discovered that Tuck and Ramsey’s company had registered for a state contract through a third party. However, only pre-approved suppliers were eligible to apply for the contract, and their proposal was largely “copied and pasted” from that of a competitor.
Nonetheless, Tuck and Ramsey both resigned during the investigation, thus terminating it. The federal subpoena identifies Ramsey, the former K-12 chancellor Jacob Oliva, and the deputy commissioner of finance and operations for the Florida Department of Education, Suzanne Pridgeon, in an effort to obtain additional information regarding meetings and inner workings between state and municipal officials and other participants.
Oliva, who is currently the secretary of education in Arkansas, has never been subpoenaed and has never been summoned to testify, according to Arkansas state officials, who were contacted about the news from Florida.
Other than MGT Consulting, which is owned by Trey Traviesa, a former state legislator and Corcoran’s colleague, no other proposal for the administration of Jefferson was submitted to the state. According to the Miami Herald, MGT received preferential treatment in the tendering process for the Jefferson County project and was informed in advance of the project’s specifications. However, according to the Tampa Bay Times, MGT’s proposal was unsuccessful.
The federal government was particularly interested in any communications between Traviesa, MGT Consulting, Jefferson County schools superintendent Eydie Tricquet, Somerset Academy Inc. representatives (who managed the Jefferson schools), and Ralph Arza (a prominent charter school lobbyist and Corcoran ally).
In January 2022, the DeSantis administration announced that Florida’s Chief Inspector General, Melinda Miguel, will investigate the contract dispute in Jefferson County. If an investigation was conducted, the results have not been made public.
