Karen Rose, Bridgette Ziegler back in leadership roles as Sarasota education politics come full circle

Sarasota’s education politics came full circle this week as a Senate committee advanced Karen Rose’s appointment to the Board of Trustees for the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota.

The move came one day after Rose nominated Bridget Ziegler, the colleague she once urged to resign, to lead the Sarasota County School Board once again.

The Senate Ethics and Elections Committee voted Wednesday to move Rose’s nomination forward to the full Senate for final confirmation. Gov. Ron DeSantis originally appointed Rose to the Board on June 27, 2025. If confirmed by the Senate, her term on the SCF Board will run through May 31, 2027.

Rose’s confirmation would keep the SCF’s seven-member Board at full strength. Trustees set policy for the Bradenton-based institution, which serves about 11,000 students across campuses in Bradenton, Lakewood Ranch and Venice.

The appointment comes as Rose navigates a rapid return to public office. In August 2024, Rose lost her re-election bid for the Sarasota County School Board District 2 seat to Democrat-backed challenger Liz Barker, despite holding an endorsement from DeSantis.

However, DeSantis appointed Rose back to a different seat on the School Board in August 2025 to replace former School Board Chair Tim Enos, who resigned from his District 5 seat to accept a role as the district’s Police Chief. She is currently serving out the remainder of Enos’s term, which ends in November 2026.

Rose, a former principal and curriculum supervisor in Sarasota County schools, was first elected to the School Board in 2020. Following the 2022 elections, she aligned with a conservative majority that drew statewide attention for voting to remove former Superintendent Brennan Asplen shortly after taking office. 

While Rose frequently supported DeSantis’ education priorities, she broke with key ally Ziegler in December 2023. While serving as School Board Chair, Rose publicly called for Ziegler’s resignation following a widely publicized sex scandal involving Ziegler and her husband, then-Florida GOP Chair Christian Ziegler. Ziegler refused to step down, and recently filed a lawsuit against the city of Sarasota over the scandal.

DeSantis has continued to support Rose through his gubernatorial appointments despite the tussle, and Ziegler has worked her way through controversy to a prominent role on the Sarasota School Board. Ziegler was selected as the School Board Chair on Tuesday evening, reprising a role she held in 2017 and 2022. Rose nominated Ziegler for the seat, inviting a chuckle from the crowd.

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Jacob Ogles and Gabrielle Russon of Florida Politics contributed to this report.