Miami-Dade schools narrow superintendent search to six semifinalists

Miami-Dade County Public Schools has narrowed its superintendent search to six semifinalists, pushing the district closer to a replacement for Jose Dotres while board members try to have a successor in place by August. Dotres has led the third-largest school system in the country since 2022, and his contract runs through February 2027.

The search began in April and drew more than 20 applicants from inside and outside South Florida. The semifinalists were chosen from that larger field after board members advanced the candidates they wanted to keep in the process. The mix of internal names and administrators from outside Florida suggests the board is weighing continuity against fresh experience as it looks for someone who can steady a district under pressure.

Among the names visible in the wider applicant pool are Jose Bueno, Dotres’ chief of staff; Ernie Lozano, Broward County Public Schools’ chief human resources officer; and Sylvia Mitchell, a former Miami charter school principal and charter school network executive in Texas. Their backgrounds point to the kind of resume Miami-Dade appears to value: leadership in large systems, experience with staffing and operations, and the ability to move between public, charter and out-of-state education settings.

The stakes are larger than a personnel change. Miami-Dade enrolled 313,220 students at the start of the 2025-2026 school year, and the district is still dealing with enrollment declines, school consolidations, teacher retention, parent expectations and political scrutiny. The next superintendent will inherit decisions that affect classrooms, staffing, facilities and the district’s ability to recover from the disruption of the pandemic years without deepening instability for families already navigating constant change.

Board member Luisa Santos has pushed for a transparent, community-centered process, and district engagement materials said participants wanted a superintendent who is visible, accessible, collaborative and committed to building trust with students, families, employees, labor organizations, community partners and the broader Miami-Dade community. The board had voted to pursue an internally run search rather than immediately relying on an outside firm, though later discussions included Hazard, Young & Associates and a reported spending limit of $30,000. CBS Miami had put the preliminary search budget at $50,000.

That tension, between a homegrown administrator who knows the system and an outsider who can reset it, is now at the center of the board’s decision. Whoever emerges will be judged not just on management style, but on whether Miami-Dade can keep teachers, stabilize schools and restore confidence in one of the county’s most consequential public institutions.