As Miami-Dade County Public Schools grapples with declining enrollment, budget pressures and the possibility of school closures, the search for the district's next superintendent has entered its next phase.
The Miami-Dade County School Board has narrowed its search from 21 applicants to six semifinalists, according to the Miami Herald. The next superintendent will inherit the nation's third-largest school district as it loses students, weighs consolidating campuses and prepares for a November referendum that could determine future teacher pay. The board aims to name a new superintendent by Aug. 13.
Six semifinalists include district insiders, neighboring administrator and former state education chief
Each board member selected up to three candidates from the applicant pool. Any candidate chosen by at least one member advanced to the semifinal round.
The six semifinalists are:
- Jose Bueno — Chief of staff to Superintendent Jose Dotres and one of two current Miami-Dade administrators still in the running.
- Ernie Lozano — Chief human resources officer for Broward County Public Schools.
- Sylvia Mitchell — Former Miami charter school principal and executive with a Texas charter school network.
- Carlos Perez — Charter school principal in West Palm Beach and former executive director of the Miami Beach-based Education Reform Project.
- Christopher Ruszkowski — Former New Mexico secretary of education who now oversees the Texas Education Agency's intervention in Fort Worth ISD. He was the only semifinalist found not to meet the board's minimum requirement of experience as a school principal.
- Rafael Villalobos — Miami-Dade County Public Schools South Region superintendent.
Board Chair Mari Tere Rojas said during the June special meeting that she felt "very strongly against" making exceptions to the board's minimum qualifications, potentially complicating Ruszkowski's path to the next round.
Background checks and finalist interviews scheduled this month
Background checks on the semifinalists are due by July 17. The School Board is scheduled to select finalists during a special meeting July 21, with the search firm's timeline targeting Aug. 13 for naming the district's next superintendent.
Dotres, who succeeded Alberto Carvalho in January 2022, remains under contract through Feb. 14, 2027.
Among the applicants who did not advance were Denver Public Schools Superintendent Alex Marrero and Chicago Public Schools Chief Schools Officer Jeffrey Mosley.
New superintendent will face enrollment losses, funding questions and school consolidation
The district's next leader will inherit a school system undergoing significant change.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools enrolled about 323,300 students during the 2025-26 school year, roughly 12,100 fewer than the previous year. The enrollment decline has prompted discussions about closing or repurposing underenrolled schools, including concerns raised locally about declining middle school enrollment at Key Biscayne K-8 Center.
The district also is operating with a $7.4 billion budget that is approximately $100 million smaller than the previous year's, reflecting enrollment declines and reductions in state funding.
In November, voters will decide whether to renew a property tax that helps fund teacher salaries. Dotres warned in May that if the referendum fails, "teacher salaries would drop significantly."
Families can follow the search later this month
The next major milestone is the July 21 special School Board meeting, when members are expected to narrow the field to finalists before selecting a new superintendent in August
