$21,766.00

At this evening's meeting of the Escambia County School Board, an expenditure will be made totaling $21,766.00.  In the scheme of a District with a $600Million + yearly budget, this number does not seem, on its face, to be that significant.

But how many books would this buy for students?  How many field trips would this amount cover for students?  How many athletic fees would this cover for students that are impoverished?  I think this is a big number.

And this amount is significant because it represents almost 80% of the School Board's yearly office budget, with the remainder going to travel and a minimal portion going to office supplies.  This $21,766.00 expenditure is going to pay annual "dues" to the Florida School Boards Association.

I strongly believe, as do many others, that individual constitutional officers like school board members should be able to determine whether or not to send their portion, on a pro-rata basis, to an organization like FSBA.  I want to opt-out of this expenditure and return my portion to our district's general fund;  Sadly, the current system for funding advocacy groups with taxpayer money precludes individual choice in this for individual school board members.  Subsequently, organizations like FSBA conscript false legitimacy by claiming they represent all school board members when in reality those of us that choose to,  cannot opt out.  The legislature should fix this so that like all other constitutional officers (Sheriffs, School Superintendents, Supervisors of Elections, etc.) we can make an individual determination regarding the funding of "advocacy" groups.  This, in turn would force such groups (FSBA) to be more responsive to the minority views of their members, lest they lose the funding.  Such a change would also foster competition, which is always beneficial.

So here is the problem with this expenditure:

Over the last several years, the relationship the FSBA has had with our elected legislature and Governor has become strained (and that is using a polite adjective).  Three years ago, then President-elect of FSBA (and current President of the organization) Patty Hightower and I sat in the office of a Tallahassee Senator, at that moment in time the second most powerful and influential man in Tallahassee, right behind Governor Rick Scott.  In that meeting, this senator looked Patty Hightower right in the face and said "Of all the organizations that come here to see me, I can think of none, not

Statewide School Board Member Election Results: Many Incumbents Ousted Statewide

The FSBA provided the following summary about the school board elections statewide held last Tuesday.  The number of incumbents that were voted out (31) spiked this year as compared to the last election;  however, incumbents still did exceptionally well overall with 71 that sought their seats being re-elected in either the primary or general elections.

Locally, all three board members that sought re-election were returned to their seats by the voters.


Statewide, here is the way the election for board members played out, by the numbers:

210 school board seats were up for election
 444 candidates qualified for election to those 210 seats
 41 school board members did not seek re-election or vacated their school board seat
 60 school board members were re-elected without opposition at qualifying
 6 new school board members were elected without opposition at qualifying
 60 school board members were re-elected in the Primary Election
 40 new school board members were elected in the Primary Election
 22 incumbent school board members were defeated in the Primary Election
 11 school board members were re-elected in the General Election
 32 new school board members were elected in the General Election
 1 school board election remains to be decided pending a recount
 9 incumbent school board members were defeated in the General Election


A very well done, county by county analysis of all the races in every county can be found here