MIAMI - Florida voters will decide if school board candidates are required to disclose their party affiliation under a constitutional amendment in November.
The Partisan Election of Members of District School Boards, or Amendment 1, would require district school boards to be elected in a partisan election as opposed to a nonpartisan election.
Amendment 1 was sponsored by Rep. Spencer Roach, R-Fort Myers.
"This is not about, at least for me, advancing the cause of one political party over another. But for me it,'s about transparency, and I simply believe that we have an obligation to give voters as much information about a candidate as possible, ad let them make a decision about vetting a candidate," Roach previously said.
As an example, a school board candidate would be featured as a Democrat or Republican. Currently, a candidate is not labeled and therefore nonpartisan.
School board elections have remained nonpartisan since a voter appr0ved amendment in 1998.
Others, like Rep. Angie Nixon, D-Jacksonville, are opposed to the amendment.
"I believe this bill is not about transparency at all. This bill is about making our school-board elections and our school boards more contentious, more like D.C., which y'all (Republicans) honestly always try to oppose," Nixon said.
If passed, Amendment 1 will take effect for the November 2026 general election. If opposed, school board elections would remain nonpartisan in the state.
A 60% vote threshold for the measure is required for approval.
School board members in Florida are elected on four-year terms and oversee the schools of the district. Florida is one of 41 states with laws currently requiring school board elections to remain nonpartisan.
