Manny Díaz Jr.


Manny Díaz Jr. is a Republican member of the Florida Senate, representing the 36th district, which encompasses the Hialeah area in northwest Miami-Dade County, since 2018. Previously, he served three terms in the Florida House of Representatives, representing parts of Broward and Miami-Dade Counties from 2012 until his election to Senate. He serves as the Chairman of the Senate Education committee and Vice- Chair of the Senate Education appropriations committee. Diaz sits in the Education Commission of the states.

History

Díaz was born in Hialeah, graduated from Miami Springs High School, and attended St. Thomas University, where he graduated with a degree in human resources in 1994. He then attended Nova Southeastern University, graduating with a Master's degree in educational leadership in 1998. Díaz then began working as a teacher and a coach at Miami Springs High School and Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School, and then became an assistant principal at Hialeah-Miami Lakes. In 2010, Díaz ran for the Miami-Dade County School Board, but lost to Perla Tabares Hantman in the primary, receiving only 39% of the vote to her 61%.

Florida House of Representatives

In 2012, following the reconfiguration of Florida House of Representatives districts, Díaz ran in the newly created 103rd District in the Republican primary against former State Representative Renier Díaz de la Portilla and Alfredo Naredo-Acosta. Despite the nastiness and perceived closeness of the race, Díaz ended up defeating his opponents by a wide margin, winning 55% of the vote to Díaz de la Portilla's 39% and Naredo-Acosta's 6%. He faced only write-in opposition in the general election and won by a wide margin.
While serving in the legislature, Díaz sponsored legislation that would "allow more private online education providers, some from outside Florida," to offer classes to public school students; allow students to take classes in public virtual schools in other counties, and require the Florida Department of Education "to create a catalogue of online offerings."
Also while in the legislature, Diaz took the steps to increase privately operated, tax-payer funded charter schools in Florida, providing more access to students across Florida. The Hialeah Republican works as chief operating officer of the private non-profit
Doral College, sits on the Education Committee and the K-12 Appropriations Subcommittee.