Mary Foreman unseats longtime Manatee County School Board member Dave Miner
Mary Foreman, a certified public accountant for several decades, has ousted longtime school board member Dave Miner from the District 3 seat.
Foreman received 112,504 votes, or 59 percent of the ballots cast on Tuesday evening. Miner received 78,740 votes, or 41 percent.
“I’m very, very grateful for their votes,” Foreman said on Tuesday night. “I’m kind of overwhelmed by the percentage. I’m going to work very hard to represent them.”
“I congratulate Ms. Foreman on her victory and wish her well in her service to the community,” Miner followed. “I’m sure she’ll take this job very seriously. We need to work all together to continue the progress we made before. I hope she will work with the fine board that we have and the fine superintendent that we have.”
District 3 includes Manatee High School, along with King, Lee and Sugg middle schools. It also includes seven elementary schools: Anna Maria, Miller, Moody, Palma Sola, Prine, Sea Breeze and Stewart. All voters in the county were eligible to vote in the election.
Residents elected Miner to the District 3 seat in 2012, but his interest in local schools began more than two decades ago. Miner, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and local attorney, said he became involved after his daughter faced rampant mold on her middle school campus.
Miner then learned about public records, district operations and the importance of who sits on the school board. After his election eight years ago, Miner split his time between board meetings, school events and clients at the Law Office of Dave “Watchdog” Miner, which neighbors CVS and the Shake Pit in Bradenton.
He prides himself on pushing a one-mill tax referendum to victory in 2018, providing millions of dollars for better salaries, charter schools and trade programs, along with science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses. He then served as the board chair from November 2018 to November 2019.
“It’s really a thrill to work for public office,” Miner said on Tuesday. “I have no regrets about asking the community to extend my office for another four years. I felt a moral obligation to at least make myself available for their review and election.”
“It’s a beautiful thing that we, as a country, have elections,” he continued. “We provide an opportunity for voters to choose the leaders that are supposed to serve us. I salute everybody, whether they voted for me or not, for going to the polls.”
While his campaign was built on the theme of “experience and credibility,” Foreman questioned the “watchdog” nickname that Miner often touted.
Though she acknowledged his past achievements, Foreman said Miner lost sight of the residents and educators affected by his leadership. General public comment was moved to the end of board meetings during his tenure, making residents weather long discussions and late nights before they could make a three-minute comment, Foreman noted.
She also pointed to the increasing cost of new administrative positions and the need for more money in local classrooms. Foreman, who worked as a certified public accountant for more than 40 years, said she has the ability to scrutinize Manatee’s budget and ask tough questions.
Her CPA experience was coupled with seven years on the school district’s independent Audit Committee. She joined the committee in 2013, volunteering countless hours to review district audits and, more recently, to serve as its chair.
“I look forward to opening up lines of communication, responsiveness, transparency— all the things I’ve been talking about in my campaign,” Foreman said on Tuesday. “I do think I will bring some financial abilities they haven’t had in the past.”
This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 9:07 PM.