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Third school board group enters Florida political debate

The latest one touts conservative values.
 
Published Jan. 8, 2018

A new school board members' group has joined Florida's education debate just as lawmakers prepare to launch their 2018 session.

The Florida Conservative School Board Members Association debuted on social media in the first days of January, sharing stories about issues it considers important, such as state education funding and teacher merit pay.

Escambia School Board member Kevin Adams, who launched the group — which he called a "work in progress" — said he expects the organization to support both school choice and public education.

"This organization also believes legislators need to leave local issues to local governments, whose leaders are most accessible and most accountable to local voters," Adams said via e-mail.

Critics have complained that the Florida Legislature, with its control over tax rates and classroom mandates, often acts as a super-school board. Several boards are suing the Legislature, contending it overstepped its bounds in 2017 with the controversial HB 7069.

The Conservative School Board Members would become the third such organization in Florida, alongside the larger Florida School Boards Association and the smaller Florida Coalition of School Board members, which split from FSBA amid disagreement over tax credit scholarships.

The much smaller Coalition, which includes the spouses of two sitting lawmakers, has supported much of the Legislature's recent effort to expand the voucher-like program and other initiatives. Its past president, Collier County board member Erika Donalds, has called for limiting board member terms and eliminating elected superintendents in Florida, as a member of the state Constitution Revision Commission.

Adams said his group would be distinct from the Coalition, of which he is not a member.

The group's core principles, listed on its website, begin with public education. They also include choice, accountability, fiscal responsibility and "traditional conservative values."