Floridians will vote on making school board candidates declare political party

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FLV) – Florida lawmakers passed a joint resolution that would allow voters to weigh in on whether school board elections should be changed from nonpartisan to partisan.

Rep. Spencer Roach, R-Fort Myers, proposed the resolution that passed 79-34 in the House. Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, sponsored the resolution in the Senate that passed by a vote of 29-11.

The bill required a three-fifths vote of the membership of each house of the legislature to pass.

The resolution proposes a change to the Florida Constitution to require district school board candidates be elected in partisan races.

If 60% of voters approve the proposal on the ballot, school board members would be elected on a partisan basis in the November 2026 general election.

“This is not about, at least for me, advancing the causes of one political party over another. It’s about transparency. I simply believe that we have an obligation to give voters as much information about a candidate as possible, and let them make a decision about vetting a candidate,” Roach said during a previous committee meeting.

The Florida Constitution currently requires school board elections be nonpartisan. However, the joint resolution will propose an amendment to change the state constitution and make them partisan elections.

Rep. Angela Nixon, D-Jacksonville, opposed the bill in a previous committee meeting, and said it is not about transparency.

“This bill is about making our school board elections and our school boards more contentious – more like D.C., which you always try to oppose. We need to keep politics out of it,” Nixon argued.

“I want to say all these races are partisan now. What we’re doing is, we’re pulling the bag off of people’s heads, allowing people to have full knowledge of where people stand,” Gruters said during a previous committee meeting.

“Why do people register for a political party? Because you’re like minded and you have similar beliefs and core values. We’re allowing the voters – we’re giving them knowledge – all these races are partisan right now. And what we’re doing is we’re trying to give full transparency to voters,” Gruters said.

School districts across the state will have partisan school board races beginning in November 2026 if voters approve the ballot measure.