A Florida teacher gave a conservative teenager the yearbook superlative Most Likely to Become a Dictator just for his political views.
Now another Florida history teacher has been doing something worse to a conservative student – for two straight years.
Florida AG James Uthmeier says what this Pine View teacher did to a conservative boy is enough to end her career.
Liz Ballard Turned a Pine View Conservative Student Into Her Classroom Punching Bag for Two Years
Liz Ballard teaches history at Pine View School in Sarasota County – the top-ranked public school for gifted students in Florida.
According to Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier's letter to the Sarasota County School Board, she spent two of those years making one boy personally answer for every conservative position she decided to debate in class – in defiance of his parents, who had told her in writing to stop.
The parents pulled their son out of her class in November 2024. The harassment followed him out the door.
By January 2026, Ballard was texting Pine View teacher group chats about the boy, talking to his coach, and bringing it up in her ninth-grade class – even though he hadn't been her student for months.
Sarasota County's own HR investigation found Ballard "behaved in an unprofessional manner" and "continually engaged with the student's behavior on a level that could be interpreted by the parents as targeting the student." That's the school's own investigators, not Uthmeier's office.
Then Ballard called the boy a "misogynist" and made sure the whole school heard it.
She also "openly questioned the suitability and influence of the student's father," according to Uthmeier – what the AG called "the reputational destruction of a child."
Multiple parents had already opened HR files on Ballard before Uthmeier got involved – and one of those investigations found she had filed a complaint against the student that "resulted in a false allegation."
https://twitter.com/AGJamesUthmeier/status/2102114103854555449
Sarasota County Schools Missed Uthmeier's Deadline While the Teachers Union Rushed to Defend Ballard
Uthmeier gave Sarasota County Schools until October 1 to tell him what action the district had taken or planned to take. The deadline passed. The district sent a letter from their attorney – not a termination notice.
Teachers union president Jason Means went straight to the media to defend Ballard.
"She's a great teacher at a great school," he told WFLA, then added that Uthmeier "might have, you know, overstepped his bounds a little bit."
The union boss thinks Florida's AG has bigger fish to fry than a teacher who spread that label around an entire campus about a boy she no longer even taught.
Tell that to the student whose father was openly disparaged by his own history teacher while the boy stood up in class and defended his beliefs on command.
Florida law is clear: teachers cannot target students for their political views or smear them in front of their peers.
Uthmeier says Ballard did both – repeatedly – violating state law, School Board policy, and no fewer than six principles of professional conduct for educators. His demand: fire Ballard and revoke her certificate so she never teaches in Florida again.
This is the second time in 13 months Uthmeier has stepped in to protect a conservative student from a Florida public school teacher.
In August 2025, he demanded the firing of a Gainesville teacher who nominated a conservative student for the "Most Likely to Become a Dictator" superlative and let classmates call the boy a "Naziphile" for his interest in World War II history.
Same law, same demand, same pattern.
When Florida's AG is personally writing letters to school boards twice in 13 months because teachers won't stop targeting conservative kids, this isn't an isolated incident – it's a culture.
And the union boss calling it a distraction tells you exactly how much that culture intends to change.
Sources:
- James Uthmeier, "Letter to Sarasota County Schools Superintendent Terry Connor," Florida Office of the Attorney General, September 21, 2026.
- "History Teacher Harassed, Tried to Cancel 8th-Grader for Conservative Views: Florida AG," The Post Millennial, September 2026.
- "Attorney General Accuses Teacher of Bullying, Harassing Eighth Grader for Conservative Views," Action News Jax, September 2026.
- "Florida Attorney General Accuses Teacher of Calling Student 'Misogynist,'" FOX 13, September 2026.
- "Florida AG Calls for Firing of Teacher Who Nominated Conservative Student as Most Likely to Become a Dictator," Florida's Voice, August 2025.
- Sarasota County Schools, HR Investigation Final Report, obtained via public records request, 2026.
