Amendment 1: Establishing partisan school board elections

Some school board meetings have become political, with raised voices and the need for security.

Do you want to know if your elected school board member is Republican or Democrat? Or do you feel political parties shouldn’t be brought into school board elections? That’s what Amendment 1 is asking voters.

Spencer Roach, our local State Representative of House District 76, helped author Amendment 1. Roach said parents and taxpayers need to know what political party every elected school board member is affiliated with.

“These candidates are dogmatic. They are political. They are not as pure as the wind-driven snow. These races are already highly partisan. It’s just time to bring that out into the open, into the sunshine,” Roach said.

Current Florida law states that elected school board members cannot legally declare their party affiliation. However, if 60% of Florida voters vote “yes” to Amendment 1, that will change come November 2026.

If passed, candidates would be nominated through partisan primaries.

Florida is one of 41 states that participates in nonpartisan school board elections, and it has been that way for 22 years.

“It should be our obligation to give voters as much information as possible about a candidate and then let the voters make that decision for themselves. Right now, that’s not happening in our current system,” Roach said.

While Roach argues that the change will benefit everyone, Andrew Spar, President of the Florida Education Association, disagrees.

“Why would we want to put in the constitution a requirement for partisan school board elections when we know that that creates division and divisiveness, rather than focusing on what’s important for kids and making sure that they’re getting that world-class education that the Florida constitution requires,” Spar said.

Spar said there are other ways than Amendment 1 to make our school system better.

“What we need to do in our public schools is ensure that every child sees themselves in their learning, that every child sees themselves in the books that they are reading and that every child is getting the education they deserve and need, and politics can’t drive that decision,” Spar said.

Governor Ron DeSantis has already made some local school board races political when he endorsed a handful of candidates both in 2022 and again in 2024. Roach told WINK News by having all candidates declare some sort of party affiliation, school board races will be less political.

“It’s going to allow you to elect people who represent your values. This is, at its heart, a transparency measure. It’s not designed to help Republicans or hurt Democrats, that and vice versa,” Roach said.

Both sides acknowledged an increase of tension in recent years during school board meetings, like the banning of some books. Spar disagrees with Roach and believes this amendment would make these meetings more political.

“We should be focused on students and their learning and their needs. We should be focused on the communities that we serve, and I think that’s what most school board members want to do,” Spar said.

Both sides have messages for voters.

“I think this will make our system of education better in the state of Florida because it’s going to allow voters to elect people who represent the values that they want their children to be inculcated with at the schoolhouse,” Roach said.

Spar said, “This is an amendment that would make school board elections partisan and put political parties in charge of decisions that are made at school boards rather than the interests of the students, the families and the communities that our public schools serve.”

If you vote “yes,” you are voting to ensure anyone who may run for a school board position declares what political party they affiliate with.

If you vote “no,” you are voting to keep the system the same, meaning school board candidates won’t declare what political party they align with.

Read the full amendment here.