Three candidates are competing for the open District 5 seat on the Manatee County School Board, a race voters will decide in the Aug. 18 primary.
Camden Bedinghaus, Jonathan Mullis and Chantal Wilford are seeking the seat now held by Richard Tatem, who is not running for reelection. Only District 5 residents may vote in the contest, and because school board races are nonpartisan, voters of any party affiliation can cast a ballot.
If a candidate wins more than 50% of the vote in the primary, that candidate is elected, and no general election will be held for the seat. If no one reaches that threshold, the top two finishers advance to the Nov. 3 general election, according to the Supervisor of Elections.
The three appeared together June 30 at a forum hosted by the nonpartisan League of Women Voters.
District 5 includes Bashaw, Braden River, Freedom, Gullett, McNeal, Tara and Willis elementary schools; Braden River, Haile, Jain and Nolan middle schools; Lake Manatee K-8; and Braden River and Lakewood Ranch high schools.
Other school board seats are also on the ballot. Five candidates — James Golden, Sharon Jefferson, Margi Nanney, incumbent Cindy Spray and JT White — are running in District 2, while incumbent Chad Choate III is unopposed in District 4.
The school board sets policy based on state and federal education laws. It has five elected members who serve four-year terms.
Wilford is a member of the League of Women Voters’ Education Issues Action Team, founder of the Education Matters in Manatee County Facebook page and Substack, and a substitute middle school teacher in District 5, according to her candidate statement.
She said the greatest challenge facing the county’s public schools is staying focused on students and not being distracted by ideological or political influences.
“I think we really need to stay vigilant to protect public education, and a lot of that has to do with funding,” she said, adding that “every single student needs to have adequate resources and funding.”
Mullis has an undergraduate degree from Northeastern University and a doctorate in physical therapy from Simmons University, according to his candidate statement. He is owner and CEO of Physical Therapy Doctors of Florida in Bradenton.
He cited challenges including improving reading levels and directing more spending to classrooms, and he advocates for more career and technical education.
“I’d like to see our kids graduating with a path and knowing what they’re doing,” he said.
The board should identify challenges, set clear priorities, use data to guide decisions, measure progress regularly and adjust when results fall short, he said. Teachers, staff and parents also need the board’s support, he said: “I’d also like to see us engage parents and community more.”
Bedinghaus, a University of South Florida graduate with a degree in economics, is director of the Turning Point USA Manatee County Hub, where he coordinates educational programming and works with students and young adults across the county, according to his candidate statement. He previously spent nearly three years as a youth coordinator at Bayside Community Church, supporting mentorship, student programming and community outreach.
He listed literacy as a main challenge. “It’s the biggest problem that I’ve seen,” he said, along with accountability and transparency.
“I’m going to make sure that parents are communicated with through a complete parent portal,” he said.
Mastery of real-world skills such as financial literacy is another priority, he said, adding that he graduated from Manatee County schools with little financial knowledge.
The candidates returned repeatedly to reading and early literacy.
Wilford, who has substituted in a school media center, said access to books is a priority. “One of my concerns is that there’s a certain level of self-censorship going on within the schools because of book challenges,” she said.
“I think it’s really important for the school board to be proactive in reassuring teachers that, you know, we have your back. It’s OK to have books in the classroom,” she said, adding that every student should be able to see themselves represented in reading materials.
Bedinghaus said literacy starts with supporting teachers and providing early intervention during class reading time rather than before or after school. Those programs should be available at all schools, including Title I schools, he said, and students who are not English language learners also need more support.
Mullis said reading readiness begins before kindergarten. “I think that’s where it really starts,” he said. “We need the younger kids prepared and ready to read.”
He proposed a volunteer program — drawing on community members, parents and high school students — to help teachers with reading in kindergarten through second grade.
“The kids who are behind can catch up. They do catch up. But they need one-on-one. They need it two or three times a week, and they need 20 to 30 minutes a day,” he said.
Such a program should focus on the schools that need it most, modeled on existing partner-school arrangements, he said. “Some of the Lakewood Ranch schools have partner schools with Title I schools,” he said. “I’d like to expand that program.”
Wilford said the board must listen to teachers about what works and provide support, including teacher assistants, computer programs and appropriate reading materials.