Cathy Moon, a retired U.S. Postal Service executive, is running for a seat on the Flagler County School Board. In a recent interview, she discussed her background, her priorities, and her views on several issues facing the district.
Background and Why She’s Running
Moon said she holds a bachelor’s degree in education, a graduate certificate in human resources, and a master’s degree in business administration. She said she originally planned to become a teacher but instead spent 30 years with the U.S. Postal Service, rising from letter carrier to an executive leadership position in Washington, D.C. She said she managed a $280 million budget and led a team using Lean Six Sigma process-improvement methods that reduced organizational costs by $400 million without layoffs or service cuts.
Moon said she and her husband moved to Palm Coast after retiring in 2017 to be near their granddaughter in Jacksonville. She said she decided to run for school board after attending a presentation by Superintendent LaShakia Moore and feeling inspired by the district’s programs. She said she discovered the District 4 seat was vacant and decided to run, later learning her opponent had filed to run for the same seat on the same day.
Kindergarten Readiness and VPK Transportation
Moon identified kindergarten readiness as the district’s single biggest challenge, saying data presented by Superintendent Moore showed that 37% to 63% of children arrived at kindergarten unprepared to learn last school year. She said students who start behind are far less likely to pass third-grade literacy testing, and said roughly 75% of children who start behind never catch up to their peers academically. She said children who attend the district’s free Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK) program are more likely to test ready for kindergarten and pass third-grade literacy testing.
Moon said a lack of transportation is the biggest barrier keeping families from enrolling their children in VPK, since the state only funds transportation for full-day K-12 students, not the half-day VPK program. She described visiting families in the Mondex area near Hidden Trails Community Center who face a 20- to 25-minute drive each way to reach the nearest VPK site at Bunnell Elementary, without access to before- or after-school care they can afford. She said she has spoken with the Flagler County Education Foundation about seeking grant funding to pilot VPK transportation at one elementary school, arguing that even fully funding transportation for VPK students could ultimately cost less than years of remedial support for children who start behind.
Teacher and Bus Driver Retention
Moon said Florida’s low, state-controlled teacher salaries make it difficult for the district to retain teachers as they gain experience, saying she has spoken with teachers still earning less than $60,000 after 15 years in the profession. She said newer teachers bring energy but need time to become “master teachers,” and said the district loses too many before reaching that point.
On bus driver shortages, Moon said the district often loses newly licensed drivers to higher-paying jobs elsewhere once they gain experience. She said Florida ranks last in the nation for average teacher pay and said addressing both issues ultimately depends on the state legislature increasing education funding. She also spoke about the need to think “outside the box” for solutions, mentioning that the solution may be an unconventional one, while acknowledging any new approach would need to be carefully studied for safety.
Budget Oversight
Moon said she would want to review the district’s budget and staffing “top down” to ensure resources are fairly distributed across schools, while acknowledging that Title I schools legitimately receive additional funding to support higher-need student populations. She raised questions about the district’s number of fleet vehicles, saying she understood the district does not maintain usage logs for those vehicles, which she said would make it difficult to determine whether the fleet size is appropriate. She said she is not interested in eliminating academic or extracurricular programs outright, preferring to study whether resources could be shifted between programs based on need.
Home Rule and State Funding
Moon said she supports pushing for more local control, or “home rule,” saying decisions about the district’s tax rate and per-student state funding are largely dictated by the state legislature rather than the local school board. She said she would prioritize attending legislative advocacy events in Tallahassee if elected, saying local officials need to actively communicate the district’s needs to state lawmakers.
School Safety
Moon said school safety is a top concern for parents. She credited the district’s school resource officers as central to campus security but said large elementary school campuses can make response times a concern. She said she wants to hear directly from Sheriff Rick Staly and school resource officers about what additional support they believe would help.
On the state’s “Guardian Program,” which allows trained, non-teaching school staff to carry firearms on campus, Moon said she is a Second Amendment supporter and gun owner but expressed reservations about the program, citing an incident in which a staff member was rendered unconscious by a student, and separate reports of an accidental discharge and a firearm left unattended in a school restroom in other districts. She said she would want to review safety data before forming a final opinion. She also described a separate, drone-based security pilot program being tested in some Florida high schools, including in Deltona, which she said could give responding officers real-time information about a threat without introducing more firearms into schools.
School Board Properties
Asked about school board-owned properties, including a roughly seven-acre parcel near a hospital and the former Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club, now used as a staff wellness center, Moon said she supports the board’s recent decision to reject two unsolicited offers for partial purchase of the seven-acre site, saying a partial sale would have devalued the remaining land. She said the board has discussed potentially building a new competition pool on that site to serve both area high schools and the public.
Moon noted that a board presentation on district-owned properties from three years ago recommended evaluating properties for potential sale, but said none had been sold as of the more recent follow-up presentation. She said proceeds from property sales are restricted to capital projects, such as new construction, and cannot be used for operating costs like teacher salaries. She also said the district’s stable-to-declining school-age population, driven partly by lower birth rates and an aging general population, should factor into any decision about new permanent construction to replace portable classrooms.
Vouchers and School Choice
Moon said she supports school choice and having funding follow students to the school setting that best fits their needs. However, she raised concerns about the state’s per-student funding formula, arguing that public schools retain certain fixed costs, such as bus routes and food service infrastructure, even after students leave for private schools or homeschooling, which she said should be studied further.
She said she is not opposed to homeschooling, noting that Florida requires homeschooled students to either complete standardized testing or submit a work portfolio for review, providing documentation of academic progress. She said private schools are not required to report standardized test results publicly, which she said makes it difficult for parents to compare academic outcomes across options in the same way they can compare public schools.
Closing Pitch to Voters
Asked why voters should choose her over her opponent, Moon acknowledged her opponent’s 28 years of teaching experience and prior school board service but argued that classroom teaching and school board governance require different skill sets. She said her opponent moved directly from teaching to the school board without serving in administrative roles such as assistant principal or principal. Moon pointed to her 30 years of program and project management experience across multiple federal agencies, along with her graduate-level education credentials, as preparation for the role. She also noted that voters had previously chosen not to reelect her opponent to a full term on the board.
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