The Controversial Amendment No One is Talking About: Partisan School Board Elections

As the general election quickly approaches, Florida voters will also find six amendments on their ballot. Amendment 1, if passed, will require school board members to declare political parties when voting. The amendment needs 60% support to pass.

Supporters of Amendment 1 are glad to have this on the ballot, because they think the change will provide transparency. Opponents feel that this will politicize school boards and have negative effects on education and on students.

“I don't think it's going to pass, because if it did pass, it would make decisions regarding the education of children political. It would put [education] in the hands of the political parties. And that's not how education should be brought,” Andrew Spar, the president of the Florida Education Association (FEA) told MediaLab@FAU. FEA is the statewide umbrella over all the teachers’ unions. 

Everyone wants great public schools, but there isn’t necessarily agreement on how to get there.

“Regardless of someone's political affiliation, voters overwhelmingly believe that we should have strong public schools, that we should support our teachers and staff, that we should make sure that there are plenty of curriculum opportunities for students, and that they have a robust curriculum that is grounded in facts and ensures that students become the best they can become,” Spar said.

Lynn University early education major Natali Velasquez thinks this amendment will have people talking and sharing their opinions.

She thinks it could separate kids and their parents from other families if they don’t share the same beliefs. However, it might foster some meaningful conversations and people will become more educated about the topic.

“I think it's beneficial in a way, but also not, because I've seen a lot of debates, and it could cause a lot of fights too,” Velasquez said.

The amendment’s sponsor, Rep. Spencer Roach, appeared on The Florida Roundup, a WLRN interview program, to discuss the amendment in August. He believes the amendment will provide transparency and increase voter participation in the election by giving more people a voice in the general election.

“We want maximum participation. We want maximum transparency and we want these school board members to reflect the values of their communities, and having a partisan label on the ballot helps voters make that assessment,” Roach, a Republican who represents the North Fort Myers part of Lee County, said.

Roach thinks Amendment 1 will be a close race. Spar, however, doesn’t think it will pass.

Unlike Roach, Spar doesn’t want to bring partisan school boards back to Florida and doesn’t think voters do, either.

“Politicians always want to turn back the clock of time, but as a society, I hope we progress and not regress and so I would say, yes, voters in Florida in 1998 said no more politics in school boards. Why would we want to bring politics back?” Spar posed. “And I think that's why voters are saying they don't, because they realize the importance of education is to focus on students and their learning, not on political parties.”

Partisan school boards are hardly a foreign concept to Florida voters. School boards were partisan until 1998 when voters approved an amendment to make it nonpartisan.

Spar said that Amendment 1 only has 30-40% of voter support, which means it would not pass. 

Eitan Esan, a father of three, agrees and feels that school boards should not be partisan.

“I think that I am definitely non-partisan. You know, I’d rather have non-partisan representation for the school board, as opposed to partisan,” Esan, who’s mother is a retired public school teacher, said. His seventh grader attends Verde K-8 School in Boca Raton.

While not everyone voting in the Nov. 5 election has children under the school board’s care, Spar says everyone should care about this amendment because education is the key to a healthy and thriving community. All of that could be harmed if each and every school board candidate has to reflect a political party’s values.

“When you see strong, vibrant communities, you see strong, vibrant public schools,” Spar said, based on roughly 30 years of experience. “If you don't have strong public schools that are truly focused on the needs of students and the community, then you're not going to have a strong community.”