Come November, voters will be presented with Amendment 1, which would impact school board elections.
What does Amendment 1 do?
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If voters vote yes, come 2026, the school board elections will become partisan. Political parties will be listed next to school board candidates on the ballot.
"It's not unusual, but most places across the country when they run for school board, they do it without a party label," political science professor Sean Foreman said.
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Foreman says there’s a reason the state moved to non-partisan school board elections in 1998: to remove politics from decisions on education and curriculum.
How many states have partisan school board elections?
Currently, nine states have partisan school board races in the U.S. If the amendment applies in Florida, Foreman believes it will bring changes.
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At the ballot box, Foreman thinks voters might be inclined to do less research.
“They'll just follow the D and the R, and they'll get the expected outcome," he said.
Foreman says that voters who are independent would not be able to vote in the primaries. And those who want to run for school board elections and are not affiliated with a party won’t be as likely to campaign.
It could also impact those elected on the board.
“If somebody gets elected with a party label, they're more likely to do with the party members want on the one hand is good for the party, but probably not good for education policy," Foreman said.
Where do things stand now?
But routine school board meetings have already become a political battleground at times. Most recently, on Wednesday at Miami-Dade Public Schools, there were seven hours of public comment on whether the district should recognize LGBTQ+ History Month.
The board ultimately voted no.
Political analyst Brian Crowley says in the last two elections, Gov. Ron DeSantis endorsed candidates. Crowley says it already made it clear where their party loyalty lies without partisan elections.
“I think everybody knows if you pay attention to the school board meeting that who is a Democrat and who is a Republican," he said. "I'm not sure if we go to races it's going to make a really big difference because that's where we are now."
The amendment needs 60% of the vote to pass.
