Amendment 1, placed on the ballot by the Florida Legislature, will make school board elections partisan. Currently all registered voters can vote for school board members regardless of party affiliation.
Why change? Supporters of the amendment say it will create more transparency and align with other partisan races. But do we really want school board elections to mirror the rancorous negativity and division of other races? Do we want politics to infest our school boards which should be focused on education policy and students’ best interests, rather than a party’s political agenda?
Partisan school board races will enable a minority of voters to elect our local school boards. Florida is a closed primary state. This means that only voters registered with a party may vote in that party’s primary election. Almost one-third of Florida’s voters register as NPA (No Party Affiliation). Approximately one-third are Republicans and one-third Democrats.
Since many school board races are often decided in the primary election, almost two-third of eligible registered voters will be shut out. Suppose for example, that the only two candidates running are Democrats. This means NPA’s and Republicans have no vote. However, in a non-partisan election, all registered voters can vote.