Should Fla., School Boards Be Partisan? Voters Will Be Able To Decide Through A Constitutional Amendment

By Diane Rado, Florida Phoenix

April 19, 2023

Florida’s local school boards have been partisan for at least two decades, but that could change immeasurably.

The Florida Senate voted 29-11 on Wednesday to allow voters to decide if the boards should be partisan or not. The measure would be in the form of a constitutional amendment in the next general election or at an earlier special election. The state House version had already OKd the bill, with a vote of 79-34.

The final discussion in the Senate chamber showed how much the issue means in a K-12 education system of about 3 million public students, with 67 school districts and their local school boards.

“We’re giving full transparency to voters,” said State Sen. Joe Gruters, the sponsor of the measure. He also said he believes that politics are already in local school board races, though the boards are currently nonpartisan. Gruters represents Sarasota and part of Manatee County.

But other Senate colleagues were against the measure.

“How does this make education in state of Florida better. How does it improve education?” asked State Sen. Bobby Powell, a Democrat representing parts of Palm Beach County. “We cannot put our children at risk based on our personal politics.”

Democratic Sen. Geraldine Thompson, representing part of Orange County, said, “If we make school board races partisan, we’re disenfranchising Florida’s voters. I wanted to make that very clear.”

She was referencing the group of “NPAs,” meaning No Party Affiliations. Thompson said those voters represent about a third of voters in Florida.

So if school board elections become partisan, NPA voters would not be able to vote in the primaries. However, “on a general election ballot, the appropriate three-letter abbreviation of a political party or no party affiliation (NPA) in capital letters will be included for each school board candidate,” according to a legislative analysis.

The partisan vs. nonpartisan debate has been intensifying over the course of the COVID pandemic and beyond.

Ahead of the 2022 elections, Gov. Ron DeSantis made waves by endorsing local school board races over the summer, which was generally unprecedented given that school board members campaign in nonpartisan races. And the governor campaigned to get his endorsed candidates elected. That included financial contributions, social media posts about the races, and speeches at campaign rallies, the Phoenix previously reported.

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