FLORIDA – Out of the six amendments on Florida’s ballot in the 2024 election, only two reached the 60% threshold required to pass: Amendment 2 and Amendment 5.
RELATED: Florida Amendments: Here’s which ones failed and which ones passed
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Amendments 3 and 4 gained plenty of attention throughout the state, but one of the less-discussed amendments that failed was Amendment 1, which, if passed, would have returned Florida to a time when candidates running in school board elections would have their party affiliation as part of their identification beginning in November 2026.
The amendment reached 55%, meaning Florida voters chose to keep school board elections as they are now, non-partisan. One person who paid close attention to the developments was Duval County school board member, Warren Jones. Jones is wrapping up his final days on the board, as he is now term-limited out.
“I was thankful it did not pass,” Jones said. “We don’t need to inject politics into school board issues.”
Jones is no stranger to politics. Prior to serving on the school board, Jones served nearly three decades on the Jacksonville City Council. Jones said for years, there was no indication of what party a candidate or board member belonged to.
“Other than Tommy Hazouri, who served one term as mayor, and myself, who served several years on the city council, people didn’t know, other than the two of us, what party you were affiliated with,” Jones said. “Even though there have been attempts to inject politics in local school board races, I think having school board races nonpartisan allows the freedom of the candidate to be focused on education issues, and not worried about whether Tallahassee or this party supports [a] particular agenda.”
In recent years, issues like transgender student policies and book bans have become hot-button topics for Florida public schools. Also, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has endorsed several school board candidates over the last couple of years, including some in Duval County, which government law attorney, Chris Hand, weighed in on.
“It’s rare for governors to get involved in school board races,” Hand said. “Very few of his predecessors did that in the same way. Ron DeSantis will be governor for two more years. So, it’s not clear what any successor of his will do as well. But there’s no question, school board races have become more political.”
Republican Representative Spencer Roach, Amendment 1’s sponsor, said, “This is not about advancing the cause of one political party over another. For me, it’s about transparency, and 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 continued, “If folks truly want to vote for nonpartisan candidates, those candidates in Florida who are NPAs, [who] don’t have a philosophical association with either of the two major parties and [voters] viewed them as sort of purist NPAs, right now in Florida, the law prevents you from doing that because you don’t know who that candidate is.”
Now that voters have spoken, Jones hopes this could motivate more voters to look beyond political affiliation before heading to the polls.
“You don’t have that label, that label means you lean this way, or you lean that way,” Jones said. “You support this agenda, that agenda. The agenda that we should be focused on and promoting and advocating for, is an agenda that best represents what’s best for our students.”
