Florida roundup: Choice, charters and school board election results

florida-roundup-logoOusters.  Both the president and presdent-elect of the Florida School Boards Association are ousted in elections in which school choice figures prominently. Indian River Press Journal. Central Florida News 13. Daytona Beach News-Journal.

Charter schools. A pair of charter school supporters seek Collier school board seats. One prevails. Naples Daily News. A charter school administrator defeats a Walton incumbent. Northwest Florida Daily News.

Incumbents. Sitting school board members have good Election Nights in Alachua County, Tampa Bay and South Florida. GradebookMiami HeraldSun-Sentinel. Palm Beach Post. Gainesville Sun. A Broward incumbent overcomes an N-word controversy. Miami Herald.

Runoffs. School board races aren’t over in Hillsborough, Marion, Putnam and Manatee Counties. Tampa Bay Times. Ocala Star-Banner. Florida Times-UnionBradenton Herald.

Gestures. Two Volusia school board candidates pledge to donate their salaries. Orlando Sentinel.

Budgets. School tax referenda pass in Orange and Volusia Counties Orlando Sentinel. WKMG.

Testing. A standardized testing critic wins a school board seat in Lee County. Fort Myers News-Press.

Labor. Meanwhile, Brevard approves a new teacher contract. Florida Today.

Security. The Manatee school board delays a vote on hiring a private security firm. Bradenton Herald.

Adult education. A 79-year-old woman earns a high school diploma. Panama City News Herald.


Avatar photo

BY Travis Pillow

Travis Pillow is Director of Thought Leadership at Step Up For Students and editor of NextSteps. He lives in Sanford, Fla. with his wife and two children. A former Tallahassee statehouse reporter, he most recently worked at the Center on Reinventing Public Education, a research organization at Arizona State University, where he studied community-led learning innovation and school systems' responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. He can be reached at tpillow (at) sufs.org.