Federal authorities are probing state and local officials over the Florida Department of Education’s handling of a multimillion dollar bid to oversee a rural school district, an issue the DeSantis administration pledged to investigate last year.
Federal prosecutors in Gainesville have requested scores of documents — including correspondence between school officials, charter school lobbyists and former top leaders in DeSantis’ education department — surrounding a long-running Jefferson County School District saga that sparked the resignation of a high-ranking Florida Department of Education staffer and former state Board of Education chair, according to a subpoena first reported by the Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times.
