School Board member changes her mind on single-member districts

The debate over whether school board members should be elected by the county as a whole or by single-member districts will be stirred up once more at Tuesday’s Manatee County School Board meeting.

School Board member Karen Carpenter said Monday she is reconsidering her Feb. 14 vote opposing a referendum on the structure of school board elections. Carpenter had joined board members Gina Messenger and John Colon in voting down the resolution to hold a referendum during the 2018 general election that would ask voters if they wanted school board members to be elected from single-member districts or in at-large elections.

Carpenter said she has heard from several “very thoughtful observers” who have changed her mind, and she is now in favor of the referendum. She is planning on proposing a motion to reconsider the resolution at Tuesday night’s board meeting and asking for a re-vote.

Board chairman Charlie Kennedy said Carpenter could make a motion to reconsider the previous motion, and that it would likely need to be given public notice before the board voted on it. Dave Miner, who with Kennedy voted in favor of a referendum, declined to comment on the issue, citing Florida Sunshine laws.

Under the current structure, school board members must live in specific districts but are elected in at-large elections and represent the entire county.

Proponents of reconsidering the system have argued the structure requires candidates to have deep pockets as they must campaign countywide. The more money candidates need to campaign, the more susceptible they are to special-interest outside funding, so the logic goes.

The board’s Feb. 14 vote came with much hemming and hawing by board members. Eventually, fears of future board members fighting to bring home pork for their home districts outweighed fear of outside money, and the board decided against holding the referendum.

At the time, Colon said it would be impossible for board members elected by single-member districts to not think about making sure their home district was taken care of.

“It all boils down to who votes for you,” Colon said.

On Monday, Carpenter said she is reconsidering her vote partially on the merits of single-member districts, but also because it seemed reasonable to her to allow the voters to decide.

“The process around electing school board members, part of it is this should be decided by people, not just three of us that want to block it,” Carpenter said. “There’s something quite undemocratic about that.”

This story was originally published February 27, 2017 at 4:56 PM with the headline "School Board member changes her mind on single-member districts."