In November, voters will have to decide if Hillsborough County’s schools superintendent should become an elected position.
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed HB 4027, which will put the measure on the ballot for referendum this fall.
The bill was introduced by state Rep. Michael Owen, R-Apollo Beach, who pitched it as a way to create more accountability and give voters a bigger say in the position.
The move followed a year in which Hillsborough County’s superintendent, Van Ayres, faced scrutiny from outgoing Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas and the State Board of Education over book removals.
The bill received widespread criticism from education leaders, who believe the bill will inject politics and outside money into the role.
In March, the Hillsborough County school board extended the superintendent’s contract and expressed concerns over making the position elected. Currently, the superintendent is hired and can be fired by the school board.
At a Tiger Bay forum, all school board candidates present agreed on one thing: that the position should stay appointed and remain an educator instead of a politician.
Florida is the only state other than Alabama with districts that elect superintendents.
Hillsborough County used to elect superintendents, but appointed its first superintendent in 1967, after its elected superintendent was convicted of embezzlement charges of using school property for personal gains. That decision was later overturned because of perjury from a district employee, but the memory left questions of what could happen if the district’s top position in charge of major contracts and hires was influenced by outside money and politics.
School board member Nadia Combs questioned why none of Florida’s other large districts, including Miami-Dade, Orange, Broward or Pinellas counties, elect their superintendents.
Accountability, she said, already exists in the general public’s ability to elect seven school board members who are able to fire a superintendent immediately if they do not meet expectations.
“Why would you do this in the seventh largest district in the nation?” she said. “It’s not about the kids, it’s about special interests.”
Board member Lynn Gray said the current superintendent’s track record speaks for itself, and she believes voters’ support of millage rates to support schools have shown support of how the district is being led.
“We’ve got higher graduation rates from Van Ayres,” she said. “We’ve got higher test scores from Van Ayres. The state rates will be released in July, and I know already those will be higher than last year. We want to keep it that way.”
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