‘Less politics in classrooms': Amendment 1 opponents against partisan school board elections

There are only four states in the nation that have partisan school board elections. If Amendment 1 passes, Florida would join that group.

Opponents of the measure held a demonstration Wednesday outside the Miami-Dade County School Board building to explain why they think it's a bad idea to label school board candidates by their political parties.

"When school board candidates are beholden to a political party, they become pressured to tow the party line," said one of the rally speakers, Cassandra Toussaint of People Power for Florida.

Miami-Dade County School Board member Luisa Santos also spoke at the event.

"People want less politics in our classrooms, not more, and this brings more politics into our classrooms," Santos said. "When I talk to parents, they want people who are gonna deliver solutions for their everyday problems, transportation, cafeteria food, academic outcomes, and certainly, partisan political agendas don't lead us to being more solutions focused," Santos said.

"We need people who do not feel they are pressured by a hard-core partisan political agenda to do their job and to serve the students of this state," said Paul Christian Namphy of a group called the Family Action Network
Movement.

The school board already has five members appointed by or supported by Gov. Ron DeSantis, including Danny Espino. He supports the amendment, saying it enhances transparency, and will allow voters to know exactly what they're getting if school board candidates are labeled by party affiliation.

"I think that what we're seeing is people that want to take parents' voices out of elections saying that we have too much partisanship in elections when in reality what we're seeing across the state is school districts taking schools back to basics and leaving social engineering by the wayside," Espino said.

What he calls social engineering is also often referred to as indoctrination by DeSantis.

Social studies teacher Crystal Etienne says Amendment 1 sends mixed signals on that culture war issue.

"If we make the school board races partisan, does that mean as a teacher I can now bring my political affiliation into my classroom? Because maybe I would feel emboldened to do that, I don't do that now," Etienne said.

Board member Roberto Alonso, also a DeSantis ally, said in reality, voters can already figure out party affiliation just by seeing where a candidate stands on issues.

"If the voters decide that they want to keep the process the way it currently occurs, I think there's nothing that will be of damage there or cause harm to our district," Alonso said.

Opponents of the amendment say there's one more point to consider: if Amendment 1 passes, independent voters, those with no party affiliation, would not be able to vote in school board primary elections. That's about a third of Florida voters being partially disenfranchised when it comes to choosing who sits on their local school boards.