State Senator Don Gaetz is keeping a close eye on two fronts this legislative session — the confirmation of University of West Florida trustee appointments and a stalled scholarship/voucher reform bill he’s been pushing. I caught up with Gaetz Tuesday afternoon to get the latest.
UWF Trustee Confirmations Moving Forward
Both Adam Kissel and Zack Smith, Governor DeSantis’ controversial UWF trustee appointees, are expected to come before Gaetz’s Senate Committee on Ethics and Elections in the coming weeks.
- “I know that Kissel is coming back for confirmation,” Gaetz told me. “He’ll be up, I think next week. They both will come through.”
Kissel Rumor: There had been a rumor circulating that the governor might bypass the committee process and move Kissel directly to the Senate floor for a vote. Kissel didn’t receive confirmation last spring, but Gov. DeSantis reappointed him. If the West Virginia resident isn’t confirmed this session, DeSantis must find someone else to fill the seat.
Gaetz quickly set the record straight on how that works—and who holds the power.
- “The governor doesn’t have the authority to do that,” Gaetz said. “The president of the Senate has the authority to move any bill or any nominee for confirmation directly to the floor. It’s an extraordinary measure. It may or may not be used, but my expectation is that Kissel will come through, and so will the other one.”
Gaetz was clear that while the governor can request a floor vote, only Senate President Ben Albritton can actually make that call. It’s a distinction worth noting as the DeSantis administration continues to push its university governance agenda statewide.
Voucher Bill Stuck in House-Senate Rivalry
Gaetz has been one of the most persistent voices in Tallahassee calling for accountability in Florida’s school voucher system, and his reform bill passed the Senate committee process — but it’s going nowhere fast in the House. He offered a candid assessment of why.
- “I think there’s a lot of pride of authorship in the House,” Gaetz said. “House staff wrote the scholarship bill, and I think there’s a feeling they don’t want to change it.”
But pride of authorship isn’t the only obstacle. Gaetz believes the bill has become collateral damage in the broader friction between House and Senate leadership.
“This bill is caught up in the friction and the frustration that exists between the leadership of the Senate and the leadership of the House,” he said. “It’s being viewed in the House as potential trading stock or a trading chip.”
That’s a troubling development given what’s at stake. Florida’s auditor general has documented serious problems with the voucher system — including duplicate enrollments where students are counted in both the public school system and the scholarship program — and a commingling of funds that makes it nearly impossible to track where taxpayer money is actually going.
The Florida Department of Education recently claimed it has made operational fixes to reduce duplicate student enrollments, something Gaetz acknowledged but viewed with measured skepticism.
- “We’ve been pounding away on them for two years,” he said. “It still doesn’t get to the heart of the problem as identified by the auditor — the mixing of the money so that it’s very difficult to account for where the money is and how it’s being spent, and who it’s being spent on.”
The session rolls on, and Gaetz isn’t backing down. But with the House treating his accountability bill as a bargaining chip, Florida families and taxpayers may have to wait longer for answers.
