A.G. Gancarski
A proposal that eventually could impose term limits on all school board members was set up for a Senate vote Monday.
Whether it has a path to get the needed 60% of the vote on the floor is another matter altogether.
SB 1480, filed by Sen. Joe Gruters, cleared Rules, its final committee of reference.
It would lay the groundwork for an “eight is enough” rule, similar to term limits imposed on state legislators.
Gruters took questions from Democrats, including regarding how many school boards had term limits and whether a “one size fits all” model would work.
Sen. Oscar Braynon said the bill would likely tank on the floor, where it would require just 16 no votes, considering the Democratic caucus is against it.
@FLSenateDems took a Caucus position opposing SB1216, which proposes a constitutional amendment imposing school board term limits in all of Florida's 67 counties.
— FL Senate Dems (@FLSenateDems) March 2, 2020
Sen. Anitere Flores, a Republican, also came in against the bill. Monday’s back and forth didn’t change her mind.
For her, this was another attempt to “cure a problem that doesn’t exist.”
The Sarasota Senator defended the push for “new blood … fresh blood.”
The bill sets up a potential Constitutional amendment to be voted on this November.
The bill already passed the House 79-39.
If the proposal passes the House and Senate and made the ballot, it would require 60% voter approval to be adopted as a constitutional amendment.
Opposition has been present from the educational establishment.
The Florida Education Association has asserted that while “term limits for school board members might sound good, there could be some unintended consequences for voters. The true intent is to further weaken school boards’ power [and] to shift local control up to the state level.”
Members of the public waited through more than five hours of testimony, mostly to waive against the proposal.
Chris Doblin, of the Small School District Council, said “this bill will place every single county at the mercy of a statewide vote from people who have no idea what’s going on in their community.”
“If there are bad actors … people doing corrupt things, they should be removed,” Doblin said, decrying the bill as a special interest push.
“This is not consistent with state term limits,” Doblin said.
Nicolas Tomboulides, a term limits activist, argued conversely about a “problem with school board incumbency” exacerbated by people running unopposed for decades.
Tomboulides, for his trouble, took repeated questions from Democrats in an attempt to run out the clock on the bill.
Charter schools, as we reported previously, have backed the push for term limits.
