Political palanca is pushing the gas pedal
It looks like the BusPatrol program is still parked in neutral — and the Miami-Dade School Board could decide Wednesday whether to tow it away or try to fix it. And three members are very connected to BusPatrol lobbyists pushing for the program to be reinstated.
Six months ago, after rampant complaints, Sheriff Rosanna “Rosie” Cordero-Stutz pulled the plug on the “school bus safety” camera program, which had been in operation since June of last year and issued more than 144,000 citations. Ticketed drivers said there were mistakes and no real process to contest the fine. At least 8,600 citations have been contested.
The BusPatrol plan was supposed to be a turn-key solution that cost the district nothing. Cameras would catch motorists who passed stopped school buses, read license plates, and tickets would go out automatically, and the company would share the revenue with the district. But it turns out that “turn-key” really meant turn a blind eye.
Now, the district is still trying to figure out what went wrong — and how to get out of the ditch.
According to an audit report requested by School Board Member Roberto Alonso and released last month, the program was never properly vetted, didn’t include any clear chain of communication between the district, the sheriff, and the courts, and ignored public problems BusPatrol had already experienced in other states like New York and Pennsylvania.
But that didn’t stop then-Chief Operating Officer Luis Diaz from pushing it through last year. Nor did it go through the usual competitive bid process, because it was revenue-generating — meaning 70% of every $225 ticket went straight to BusPatrol, and the other 30% went to the district. No violation of policy, the auditors say. Just a terrible idea that looks good because it has netted the school board more than $9 million so far.
The program hit the road in June of last year — and blew the engine before 12 months. An investigative story by The Miami Herald and Tributary found that hundreds, maybe thousands of innocent motorists were getting $225 tickets even when they were driving on the opposite side of a raised median, which is perfectly legal. But the cameras apparently didn’t know that. And BusPatrol didn’t care. Because there was no clear way to contest them, many ticketed drivers just paid the fine. Even on bogus tickets.
Read related: Miami-Dade Sheriff to county leaders: Budget cuts handcuff public safety
In May, Sheriff Rosie said basta and hit the brakes. She announced on X that she was immediately suspending all citations. And Alonso requested the audit that basically confirmed what everyone suspected: Miami-Dade Public Schools never really vetted BusPatrol before signing on the dotted line. According to the district’s own internal auditor, the BusPatrol contract slipped through a loophole in the district’s procurement rules. Because it was “revenue-generating” and under $50,000 on paper, the deal didn’t have to go through a competitive bid process.
That meant no formal vetting, no references from other school districts, no testimonials. Staff told auditors that they relied on word of mouth and a Google search.
“We found a lack of evidence that BusPatrol and the overall program were sufficiently vetted prior to entering a contract,” the audit says. In plain English: They didn’t do their homework.
Turns out, the so-called turn-key program in one neat package — cameras, ticket processing, coordination with law enforcement, even court services — wasn’t what it was promised to be. The audit said the district “was not prepared for the scope of coordination needed” among the different agencies.
BusPatrol, of course, insists everything was done by the book. In a statement, the company pointed out that the audit confirmed the procurement process followed the rules — technically. But the auditors also “legal” doesn’t mean “smart.”
Superintendent Jose Dotres sent a memo to the schools police chief ordering him to work with the sheriff’s office to “fix the citation review process.” But the scope of the problem — and the lack of due process — was so bad that a class action lawsuit was filed in March against BusPatrol, alleging that Miami-Dade drivers were denied their right to contest the fines. According to a story aired by NBC6, an attorney for the motorists said the program “prioritized revenue generation over rights.”
Ya think? According to the audit, BusPatrol got around $22 million for 10 months of work.
In part, the complaint filed in court says BusPatrol “not only deprived citizens of Miami-Dade of their property without lawful justification, but also enriched the defendants at the expense of the public under questionable legal and ethical circumstances.”
So, just another day in 305 politics?
Read related: In Miami-Dade, first day of school jitters come with ICE deportation fears
BusPatrol wouldn’t explain much. In a statement, the company said the lawsuit was a “frivolous and baseless attempt to undermine a critical student safety issue in Miami.” For details about the saga, company executive Steve Randazzo told reporters only: “You’re going to have to ask the sheriff’s office.”
She’s not your biggest fan, dude.
But don’t worry, BusPatrol has friends in high places. And we don’t mean just State Rep. Vicky López — a potential replacement for Eileen Higgins on the county commission — who ushered the law that allows for Bus Patrol to install cameras in Miami-Dade school buses, and just happens to have her son and her brother-in-law on their payroll.
Since the suspension, as the Herald reported last week, the company has hired two politically connected lobbyists: David “Disgustin’” Custin and Tania Cruz Gimenez. Custin ran school board member Danny Espino’s 2024 campaign — for which Espino paid him more than $56,000 — and also worked for Mary Blanco, who paid him about $106,000. His gravy train in Tallahassee — former Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez and former State House Speaker Jose Oliva — is over, so he’s making his bed at the school board. Hey, he’s gotta sleep somewhere.
Cruz Gimenez, who helped elect Cordero-Stutz — and is now helping Miami District 3 candidate Denise Galvez — is married to Carlos “CJ” Gimenez, who is the son of the congressman but, more importantly for this story, the nephew of School Board Chairwoman Mary Tere Rojas.
Now Espino, Blanco and Rojas are key players in the fate of the BusPatrol program. Shouldn’t they all recuse themselves?
Instead, Espino has become the program’s biggest cheerleaders. At a committee meeting last week, the attorney proposed hiring the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings to handle the ticket challenges virtually. He said the system already works in Hillsborough County and could “provide the sheriff comfort” that there’s due process for drivers. He is sponsoring the revisions proposed to the board Wednesday.
Superintendent Jose Dotres tried to pump the brakes, warning the board not to promise the district would cover the administrative costs of those hearings. “We just have to be very cautious in saying that we are going to bear the cost,” he said.
The board votes on Espino’s proposal Wednesday. The meeting starts at 11 a.m. at the school board meeting downtown, 1450 NE Second Avenue.
Ladra bets there’ll be a lot of hand-wringing and finger-pointing — but not much accountability. Because in Miami-Dade, bad deals like this one always seem to have friends behind the wheel.

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Forget lunchboxes, backpacks and new sneakers. For thousands of Miami-Dade families, the first day of school comes with a sick feeling in the pit of their stomachs — and it’s not from cafeteria mystery meat.
It’s from the fear that masked, armed ICE agents could storm into the classroom or be waiting for them just outside the school, or that mamá or papá won’t be there to pick them up when the final bell rings.
There is a growing anxiety in Miami-Dade’s immigrant communities, where the 2025-26 school year begins with the regular first day jitters and a side of real fear. In a county where at least 82,000 students are English language learners and many live in “mixed-status” households — where one or some family members may be undocumented — parents and kids are bracing for the possibility that a normal school day could end with a knock on the door from immigration enforcement.
Read related: Miami could join 250 Florida cities with 287g contract to help ICE vs immigrants
And thanks to Miami-Dade’s love affair with the feds — hello, 287(g) program — and the largest school police force in the nation, nobody’s sleeping easy. While the Miami-Dade School Board Police — the largest school police force in the nation — has said they have no formal 287g deal with ICE, plenty of cities where the schools are have signed on the dotted line.
Immigrant advocates know the threat is real. The law now allows federal agents to enter schools with a warrant or “consent,” and that’s enough to keep plenty of families on edge.
There are already missing students thanks to Donald Trump‘s zeal to detain and deport hard-working, non-criminal immigrants in both Miami-Dade and Broward. According to a Miami Herald story, a number of students have already been deported to Colombia and Mexico. One day, they were happy little students in an elementary or middle school classroom and the next, they were gone.
They weren’t snatched at their school. But immigrant families and advocates worry that that’s next. Schools, churches and hospitals — which used to be off limits — are now apparently approved hunting grounds.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools policy, like that of many school districts, is to protect the right of students to education regardless of their immigration status and to keep school environments safe. This includes limiting access to school grounds and student information for immigration officials. Generally, ICE cannot enter a school without a judicial warrant or parental consent, and schools are obligated to contact the district’s legal counsel when ICE agents present themselves.
Read related: Maria Elvira Salazar’s ‘Dignity Act’ is about zero dignity and all a big act
Teachers urge parents to trust their schools and to not rob their kids of an education. But it’s not the parents robbing them — it’s this cruel president and his administration.
“I understand the impossible decisions you face,” United Teachers of Dade President Karla Hernandez-Mats wrote in an Op-Ed in the Herald. “And I know that when families remove their children from school out of fear, it’s an act of love — a desperate attempt to protect what matters most.
“But I ask you now to please consider the powerful gift of education. When your child walks through the doors of a public school, they enter one of the last sacred spaces we still have for hope, growth and community.”
Immigration advocates warn parents to update their kids’ emergency contact cards so a trusted friend or relative — not ICE or the state — picks them up if something happens.
But let’s be clear: this isn’t just about paperwork. It’s about kids in Miami-Dade County starting the school year wondering if their family will still be together by the end of the week. It’s going to be hard to focus on grammar and algebra.
Por si las moscas, here
Here is a list of free legal service providers in Florida from the U.S. Department of Justice Executive Office for Immigration Review. Here is the National Immigration Legal Services Directory to search for immigration legal services providers by state, county or detention facility. And the American Immigration Lawyers Association can also provide a referral. You can also call them at 1-800-954-0254 for more information.
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Board votes 5-3 against resolution along partisan lines

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Will she or won’t she?

Miami-Dade School Board Member Lubby Navarro — who was voted vice chair at meeting — may run for re-election, despite the fact that a new state law says she can no longer work as a lobbyist.

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Will she or won’t she?

Miami-Dade School Board Member Lubby Navarro — who was voted vice chair at meeting — may run for re-election, despite the fact that a new state law says she can no longer work as a lobbyist.

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While a Miami-Dade Commission seat has sat vacant for two months, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wasted no time in naming former Miami Springs Councilman Daniel “Danny” Espino to the county school board Monday to replace Christi Fraga, who resigned to run for mayor of Doral and has a runoff in December.

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