Partisan school board elections bill aims to bring ‘transparency’

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FLV) – A proposal giving voters the chance to decide whether school board races should be partisan is headed to the Senate floor.

Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, sponsored the bill, which passed 14-5 through the Senate Rules Committee Tuesday.

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.

“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.

“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,” he said.

Primary elections for purposes of nominating political party candidates to district school boards may occur before the 2026 general election.

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

During public comment, some members of the public spoke out in opposition of the bill.

“There are 67 traditional school districts and some 2.8 million students in Florida public schools. This is a place where students learn how to interact with each other – different students from different backgrounds and walks of life and making school boards partisan is going to degrade that learning and cooperation. Education is not and should not be partisan,” said one member of the public.

Rep. Spencer Roach, R-North Fort Myers, sponsored the House version of the bill, which the floor already passed.