Melissa Lopez Marantes is making teacher pay, literacy and student mental wellness the center of her bid for Orange County School Board District 1. The attorney and educator is facing David Shepard in a two-candidate, nonpartisan race on Aug. 18.
In the Orlando Sentinel’s voter guide, Marantes says she would support literacy, math and arts programs while making educator compensation a first-year policy priority. She also frames teacher retention and declining enrollment as connected problems, arguing that student success depends on schools meeting individual needs.
Her campaign biography describes her as an Orange County Public Schools graduate, attorney, educator, mother and adjunct professor at the University of Central Florida. It also says she has lived in District 1 for a decade and serves as executive director and co-founder of the Orlando Center for Justice.
Teacher Pay And Reading Are Her Opening Arguments
Teacher compensation is the bluntest part of Marantes’ pitch. The Florida Education Association, citing National Education Association data, says Florida ranked 50th nationally in average teacher pay for the third consecutive year…