Passed referendum causes concern in East County

After absorbing the aftermath of a referendum, passed by voters Nov. 6 during the general election, East County residents are worried about their ability to have an adequate voice on the School District of Manatee County board.

The referendum restricts voters to only selecting the board member who represents their particular district. The board has five members who each represent one of five districts. Voters have been selecting all the board members. The new system goes into place in 2020.

The Rev. James Golden was sworn in this month after defeating John Colon in the primary. He represents District 5, which includes much of Lakewood Ranch.

Voting for just one school board member in the 2020 election may be a tough adjustment for some parents.

Gilbert W. McNeal Elementary parent Jessica Patterson said the passage of the referendum will ultimately hurt her child’s education.

“I’m disappointed that it passed,” said Patterson. “I just feel that we should all have a vote because they all make decisions for our schools and our tax dollars.”

Tara Bergstrom Merino, a parent of a Robert Willis Elementary student, said she isn’t sure the referendum’s passing will be a good thing for the district.

“Given that the school board votes collectively to make decisions for all schools in the community, I valued the ability to vote on each member,” she said.

She said only being able to pick one voice on the board will be a problem. 

“That member will not have the ability to make any decisions for (his or her) allocated zone without the agreement and support of the full board. I appreciate that this will reduce the campaign effort and cost for candidates, which will hopefully make it feasible for additional qualified candidates to run, but I’m not sure that gain outweighs the loss of voice to our voters.”

The school board referendum vote was added to the ballot after support from school board member Charlie Kennedy and Dave Miner. School board member Gina Messenger voted against having the referendum on the ballot for the 2018 election.

“Proponents of this seem to believe it would stop special interest money from coming into the campaigns of those running for the school board,” said Messenger. “I don’t believe single districts will stop those things from happening. But the people have spoken, so I’m moving forward to accept it.”

Golden wonders whether his district will have its lines redrawn as the population continues to increase faster than the rest of the county.

“Our district is so big and expanding even farther out east,” he said. “The largest population growth is District 5. I wonder whether or not our district might get smaller.”

A district with the smallest population will have the same power on the board as the district with the highest population.

Golden said, philosophically, he does not agree with only having one district vote on each school board member because all the members make decisions on the school district as a whole. However, he said the people have spoken.

Kennedy said the new system will help in future elections.

“There will more grassroots campaigns for candidates to run,” he said.

Candidates can concentrate on campaigns in their own districts, as opposed to trying to impress voters on the far side of the county, which can be more expensive.

Kennedy disagrees with the argument voters should be allowed to vote for all board members who make decisions that affect their children.

“Schools are funded based on need,” he said. “This is more about campaigns. The school board members races won’t be decided on who has the most money in their campaigns.”

Miner said he is glad it passed.

“Countywide elections discourage good candidates because it’s very difficult and expensive for a candidate to have a credible campaign without taking a good deal of money from their own pocket or having a developer fund them,” Miner said. “That’s a political advantage that I have because I am known throughout the whole county.”