Levy County School Board member Chris Cowart said approval of a constitutional amendment limiting the terms of board members could have unintended consequences.

By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

                A move is underway by Republicans in the Florida House of Representatives to limit school board members to eight years in office by asking for voter approval of a constitutional amendment in November.

            Levy County School Board members aren’t on board with the term limit proposal and would prefer to let voters make the ultimate decision in local elections on whether they should remain in office.

            Adding term limits would require voter approval because the structure and duties of school boards are included in the Florida Constitution.

            Some lawmakers believe incumbent board members occupy a position of strength and power and are often entrenched and difficult to remove even when they don’t represent the interests of the voters.

            Other lawmakers in Tallahassee don’t think the constitutional amendment should apply to every county. They believe the amendment should empower local voters to decide if term limits should be imposed.

             House Joint Resolution 157, sponsored by Anthony Sabatini, R-Howey-in-Hills would prohibit a school board member who has served for eight years from seeking re-election. Three bills are pending in the Legislature.

             The subject of term limits was raised at the Levy County School Board meeting on Jan. 28 by board members Brad Etheridge and Chris Cowart who view term limits as an intrusion into home rule.

            Board members Paige Brookins and Ashley Clemenzi were absent from the school board meeting. Brookins and Cowart are up for re-election this year.

            Etheridge said, “It doesn’t matter to me about the job, if we had rotations.” He said he is relatively certain school board members who served in his district didn’t draw election opponents for decades.

            “I’m pretty sure it’s been 60 years in the seat I’m in, there’s been no opposition,” Etheridge said.

            Etheridge’s father, Frank Etheridge, served for many years on the school board. When he retired, educator Robert Philpot qualified for the position and was elected without opposition. When Philpot died in office unexpectedly, Brad Etheridge was appointed to serve him. Etheridge served the remainder of Philpot’s term and was later elected without opposition to his first full term.

            “I have no problem if the people of Levy County said we want to put term limits on the school board, then so be it,” Etheridge said. “But someone from Miami should not have the political power to say we don’t care about rural districts, they don’t matter.”

            The resolution filed by Sabatini would permit the entire state to vote on whether school board members in all 67 Florida counties should be term limited to eight years. Cowart said the constitutional amendment could have unintended consequences.

            Cowart said the counties of Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Orange and Hillsborough have enough votes to determine in a statewide election whether school board term limits are approved.

            “In a four-year cycle you wipe out a district; all the leaders on the board that led to this being an A-district; so the idea is when our legislators look at this; this is one of the unintended consequences; it’s going to pass the House; it will overwhelmingly pass the House,” Cowart said. “The battle is going to be in the Senate.”

            Cowart said he loves his job on the school board. He said he ran against seven other people and won the seat. He was unopposed the last time he ran “because the people of Levy County have faith in me and my decisions.”

            “This is just the tip of the iceberg. The county commission, constitutional officers, they’re on the radar; they are next,” Cowart said. “If they don’t think that they are, they won’t come out and say it, but I can tell you right now, privately, Representative Sabatini has said he’s coming for the other constitutional officers.”

            A similar measure was approved by voters years ago limiting the terms of Florida House and Senate members to eight years. The current legislators representing Levy County, Sen. Rob Bradley and State Rep. Charlie Stone will retire this year due to term limits. Bradley’s wife is running for his seat.

            Cowart said the exact language of the constitutional amendment could change before final passage.

            “It could mean that they say if you’ve been on the board for eight years, you’re done,” he said. “It could mean we’re going to start the clock and anyone that went into office in 2018, your clock is ticking, so you have two years plus another term there’s all kinds of things, it just depends on how it all shakes out.”

            Cowart, who serves as the Levy County School Board’s legislative representative, said a proposal to limit school board terms failed to get ballot approval for the last state election because the Florida Constitutional Revision Commission included charter schools and appointed school superintendents in the same amendment. The Florida Supreme Court rejected the amendment saying it had too many subjects.

            “So now the House is mad; they want to do away with the CRC because the CRC didn’t get it done,” he said.

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School Board of Levy County Regular Meeting January 28, 2020; Posted January 31, 2020