Makai Henry, a 20-year-old substitute teacher and the son of Dominican immigrants, announced Thursday that he is running for the Broward County School Board’s District 6 seat, positioning himself as a public education advocate focused on literacy, teacher pay and overcrowded classrooms.
Henry, a first-time candidate and graduate of Nova High School, said his connection to Broward County Public Schools runs deep. His mother, a union teacher originally from Dominica, has worked in the district for nearly two decades, and Henry himself regularly works in classrooms across the county as a substitute teacher and debate coach.
He is challenging incumbent Adam Cervera, a lawyer appointed last year by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to fill the seat vacated by Brenda Fam. If successful, he would join Jamaican-born Jeff Holness as the only school board members with Caribbean roots.
“Broward has a literacy crisis unlike any other, and education is on the chopping block,” Henry said, pointing to the district’s projected budget shortfall of between $90 million and $100 million.
Henry criticized district leaders for responding to declining enrollment with school closures and job cuts rather than addressing why families are leaving the public school system.
“Our county’s leadership is blaming declining enrollment for the problem, but their answer is to close schools and cut thousands of jobs across the county,” he said. “No one is asking where Broward’s students went. They went to charter and private schools on voucher dollars that Tallahassee is handing out like candy. Broward’s leadership is responding to the exodus by lowering the quality of education even further. This is managing decline, not saving public education.”
Henry argued that while Broward’s graduation rate exceeds 90%, many students are still struggling academically.
“We’ve delinked literacy from graduation in Broward,” he said. “Parents aren’t leaving because they hate public schools. They’re leaving because we’ve stopped investing in what makes them work. Fix the classroom and families come back.”
According to Henry, reversing enrollment declines requires reinvestment in public education rather than additional cuts.
“The way we solve the budget crisis is by stopping the death spiral,” he said. “Improve education in our public schools and students will return. No one is making the argument to voters that public education is worth fighting for. I will.”
Henry drew a contrast between himself and Cervera, criticizing the incumbent’s ties to Tallahassee and campaign spending.
“Adam is just another man from Tallahassee. I’m a son of Broward trying to fight for public education,” Henry said. “Adam Cervera is a millionaire corporate lawyer who dumped $50,000 from his bank account into a school board race. Adam has dumped my mother’s entire salary into this race by himself. He’s spent most of his adult life in Miami. He wasn’t even registered to vote here before being appointed. He thinks money, mailers, and incumbency are enough. But Broward’s not for sale.”
Henry said reducing class sizes, particularly at the elementary level, would be a major priority if elected.
“We need dramatically smaller class sizes in elementary education,” he said. “I see too many classrooms full of students.”
He also criticized the district’s teacher pay structure, arguing it discourages educators from remaining in the profession.
“The school board wants quality education but doesn’t want to pay educators the dollars and cents to make it happen,” Henry said. “In Broward we have pay scales that are effectively flat from zero to sixteen years of experience. Nearly half their career, their wages don’t grow a dime.”
“It’s no wonder we’re facing a shortage of teachers in Broward,” he added. “You can’t support a family on that. We ask teachers to care for our children, look after their best interests, but this county has done nothing to look out for them.”
Henry summarized his campaign around what he described as three core issues facing the district.
“Broward’s teachers are underpaid. Broward’s classrooms are overcrowded. Broward’s students deserve better,” he said. “Adam Cervera has no plan. I do.”
More information about Henry’s campaign is available at Sonofbroward.org.
