It's a good choice for School Board

Good grief, I just looked at the calendar.

The election is two weeks from Tuesday. Guess I better start writing about election stuff.

Early voting starts Monday and runs through Saturday, Nov. 2. Already, 12% of the county’s 119,606 registered voters have cast ballots by mail.

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Voter turnout for presidential elections is generally north of 75%; in 2020, it hit 80% in Citrus County. We’re probably looking at something similar this year.

Just as the primary was mainly a local ballot, this one is the opposite. The national race gets all the attention; it’s easy for the School Board and Mosquito Control Board races to get lost on the ballot.

So, let’s talk a little today about the School Board. And, while we’re at it, proposed Amendment 1, which would make School Board seats partisan.

First off, here’s what I’m looking for on the School Board: Well, we want someone fairly intelligent. Someone with strong community ties. Someone successful in business, retirement, or at home. In other words, someone with a track record of getting things done without drama.

To me, the ideal School Board member doesn’t crave attention. School Board is a role of anonymity.

The School Board is different from any other elected board. Power is shared with an elected administrator. Not the same for City Council or County Commission, whose members hire the administrator and give that person direction.

Individual commissioners and council members need to have their faces and names in the communities they serve. Not necessarily so with the School Board. The elected superintendent — incoming, that’s Scott Hebert — is the school district’s public face.

Ginger Bryant filled that School Board role perfectly. In her 24 years in office, I never once recall Ginger bringing trouble to the school district because of personal views, opinions, or actions. I’ve long referred to Ginger as the Mayor of the School Board. Every board would be fortunate to have a Ginger Bryant type among its members. I know this one is going to miss her greatly.

Voters have a real choice between Victoria Smith and Ken Frink. Smith is a teacher, and Frink is a civil engineer. While Frink also has political experience, both in elected office and in administration, Smith has the one thing he doesn’t have — direct classroom experience. Smith knows teachers. Frink knows government.

I’ve heard concerns about both throughout the campaign, but nothing worth mentioning here. No candidate is perfect. I’m just happy we have a choice.

Which brings me to Amendment 1. Bad idea. Very, very bad idea.

Basically, Amendment 1 makes the School Board partisan, like the County Commission. Right now, it’s nonpartisan. Partisan people, particularly Republicans, are unhappy because they think Democrats are getting away with something in a race where we’re supposedly blind to political parties.

Let me first say that my opposition to this amendment has little to do with whether School Boards should be partisan or not. I don’t fall into the sky-is-falling argument that we’ll somehow taint public education by having Democratic and Republican School Board members.

Nope, it’s the process that concerns me.

Here’s how it now works: All the candidates are bunched together into one primary, and the top two finishers have a runoff in the election (unless the primary winner gets 50%-plus-1 vote). All registered voters have their say in the primary, and all have their say in the election.

Now. Let’s say it worked like the County Commission. Well, guess what’s happened there the last two elections? Dummy candidates. No-party affiliation candidates restrict the primary to Republican-only voters. Non-Republicans are blocked from the real contest.

So, to recap. Currently, races for School Board are wide open for all voters. Amendment 1 would eliminate that and invite the type of frustrating shenanigans that are meant to fool voters and serve no useful purpose.

Amendment 1 restricts our voting access. Simple as that. It’s a hard no from me.

Have a marvelous Monday, friends.

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