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State Panel Supports School Board Term Limits, Appointed School Superintendents
November 28, 2017
School board members would be limited to eight years in office, and school superintendents would be appointed in all 67 school districts under measures advanced Monday by a panel of the Florida Constitution Revision Commission.
In a unanimous vote, the commission’s Education Committee backed a measure (Proposal 43), sponsored by Commissioner Erika Donalds, that would impose an eight-year term limit on school board members, who now serve four-year terms without limits on running for re-election.
Donalds, a Collier County School Board member, said her proposal was patterned after the eight-year term limit for members of the Legislature, which was adopted by voters in 1992.
“Term limits provide fresh faces and new ideas to elected office,” Donalds said. “Longtime politicians become entrenched with the status quo and develop a pride in ownership of the bureaucracy they helped to create and sustain.”
Donalds said limiting terms will reduce the influence of special-interest groups in elections and remove the power of incumbency, making it easier for new members to join school boards.
But the measure drew opposition from a number of education advocates.
Chris Doolin, representing a coalition of 38 rural school districts, said imposing term limits would be “a giant leap” from the current system and could hurt smaller districts where there is “a limited pool of folks willing to run and serve on their boards.”
“This proposal is arbitrary,” Doolin said. “It is unfair, and it doesn’t trust the voters.”
Andrea Messina, executive director of the Florida School Boards Association, said a review of school board races since 2010 showed 65.5 percent of the races were competitive, with a 41 percent turnover rate.
“School board races are some of the most challenged races in the local communities,” Messina said. “We agree it should be left up to the local voters.”
Shawn Frost, chairman of the Indian River County School Board, said he had advanced the idea of term limits because he believed board members should be performing “a public service” rather than looking to establish a career.
Commissioner Marva Johnson, chairwoman of the education panel, added an amendment to Donalds’ proposal that would make term limits “partially retroactive.”
She said her aim was to start the term-limit clock going back to the 2016 elections even though the proposal, if it is adopted by the full Constitution Revision Commission, will be on the 2018 ballot.
The 37-member Constitution Revision Commission, which meets every 20 years, has the power to place proposed constitutional amendments directly on the 2018 ballot. Its committees are considering dozens of proposals, with the commission expected to whittle the list of ballot measures in the coming months.
Any proposals that go on the ballot would need approval from 60 percent of voters to change the Constitution.
In a 6-2 vote Monday, the commission’s Education Committee also adopted another Donalds measure (P33) that would require all school districts to appoint their superintendents rather than have them elected.
Currently, 26 districts, including all of Florida’s major metropolitan areas, appoint their superintendents, while 41 districts, representing largely smaller, more rural counties, elect superintendents. The superintendent in Escambia County is elected.
Donalds said Florida is out of step since the overwhelmingly majority of school systems across the nation appoint superintendents. She said only Alabama and Florida still allow elections.
Donalds and other supporters also said allowing the appointment of superintendents would broaden the pool of potential school administrators, rather than restricting the job to county residents through the elections process.
Pasco County Superintendent Kurt Browning, who is elected, opposed the measure.
“My fundamental concern is the loss of local control,” Browning said.
Noting the statewide average for the tenure of appointed school superintendents was about three years, Browning said there is “much more” stability with an elected superintendent, who serves a four-year term.
He also discounted the argument that appointing superintendents reduces the politics in the process, noting appointed administrators still need to keep the support of at least three members of a five-member school board.
“It is political whether you are appointed or elected,” he said.
Donalds also asked the Education Committee to delay a vote on a third measure (P32) that would eliminate salaries for school board members.
The salaries now average more than $34,000 a year statewide, ranging from $25,413 in Lafayette County to $44,443 in the largest counties.
The two measures approved by the education panel next head to the commission’s Local Government Committee.
If amendments clear the committees and are taken up by the full commission, they will need support from 22 of the 37 members to be placed on the November 2018 general-election ballot. The commission has a May 10 deadline for finishing its work.
by Lloyd Dunkelberger, The News Service of Florida
Pictured top: Escambia County School Superintendent Malcolm Thomas. Below: The Escambia County School Board. Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Comments
10 Responses to “State Panel Supports School Board Term Limits, Appointed School Superintendents”
REGARDING:
“Dumb decision. The longer they do their job, the better they get at it. ”
Maybe, maybe not.
Some never get any good.
Some start off good.
They will probably get better, yes, but may still never become competent if they start out incompetent.
And some start out good and competent but may become either complacent or frustrated and stop giving the job their best.
For certain all government jobs are ultimately political even if the people have to vote to close entire programs to undo the harm of some bad ones — or people characterized as bad
What might help in any case would be keeping a running vote regarding perception of how well or poorly each one is doing his or her job. But for that to mean anything, you would need to know how competent the judges were to judge each one. Teachers and parents for example might or might not know how well Malcom is doing his job — or they might be suck-ups or people with axes to grind. No way for most to know.
It would be interesting to try. Imagine if you could remove a county commissioner from office after…say two months of negative ratings. Say the commissioner gave away public roads to private colleges and you objected. You could give a bad rating. Others who thought it was a wonderful idea would have time to rally the troops to support the give-away. (To avoid excessive turn-over, let every voter who said nothing be counted as approving. That would be the usual case. Also, the voters/raters would have to renew their decisions every week, two weeks or month for disapproval to be counted.) So, yes, they would always be running for office but every day would be election day.
David for participant feedback
REGARDING:
Donalds said Florida is out of step since the overwhelmingly majority of school systems across the nation appoint superintendents. She said only Alabama and Florida still allow elections.”
Being out of step with the rest of the world is verrrry bad. We need to conform to the standards not just of other states but Islamic states, Communist states. It doesn’t matter if what they do is silly, foolish, immoral, unethical — what matters is CONFORMITY.
(Please note the above is sarcasm.)
David for reasonable people
@ Gene “I’m NOT hearing term limit on an appointment?”
Reason is an Appointment in that position is the same as a Contract and the Superintendent would serve as an agent of the District School Board.
School Board members would determine the length and standards of that Contract and if the Supt and Board were in disagreement then the Supt can be dismissed or outright FIRED.
In the case of a School Board “releasing” an Appointed Superintendent they usually have to pay out the remainder of the contract.
Should a Superintendent be Appointed by the Board for 3 years and after 2 years the Board decides to release them then the taxpayers are responsible for buying out the contract, basically paying off the final 3rd year.
No Term Limits associated with an Appointed Superintendent of Schools.
The VOTERS of Escambia County could change the way the superintendent is chosen, we don’t need the State, or a Constitutional Amendment to do that. Some commenters say that an appointed superintendent would eliminate the system of “I’ll scratch your back if you’ll scratch mine”. I think all that would change is that the superintendent would have to scratch another bunch of politicians {the school board that hires him} instead of the citizens that elect him now.
The pay is so small. That is a job for someone who truly cares about children.
As for longevity and doing a job well, there may need to be some discussion about that. Remember, all elected officials are running for election everyday from day one.
The question should lie in those elected to the school board to hire the best qualified person as superintendent. Of course, the various unions will want to take part in the process. Being insane would certainly be a qualification…trying to please members of the SB and do a competent job of running a system as large as ECSD!
Maybe this is like the dog chasing its tail…once caught…, now what?
I think it would be a great thing if our Superintendents are appointed. It will surely stop the old “you scratch my back and I will scratch yours” syndrome. We especially need ours to be appointed in Escambia County.
Like to have elected office term limits but if not good ya can limit that term to 4yrs if they are elected, I’m NOT hearing term limit on an appointment?
Dumb decision. The longer they do their job, the better they get at it. This is not a smart financial decision either.
My feelings are that this Revision Commission needs forget about their promotion of a State Wide Appointment for Superintendent of Schools
They serve Locally for each County and they should be ELECTED by the People/