We’re supposed to vote for School Board candidates based on their backgrounds, qualifications, ideas about education and visions for the future of our public schools – not their political affiliations.
So now, only days before we go to the polls, we’re presented with a wonderful opportunity to learn something more, something that should matter most, especially in these unsettling times.
We have a chance to test the character of the candidates.
For those of you who don’t know: Florida law mandates that School Board elections be nonpartisan, which means candidates are prohibited from running as representatives of a political party.
They can’t legally campaign as Republicans or Democrats. Their political mailings may not contain any word or symbol that suggests a party affiliation. There’s no “R” or “D” next to their names on the ballots.
The law, though, places no such restrictions on the political parties, which are allowed to publicly express their support for candidates, even those running in non-partisan races.
As Indian River County Supervisor of Elections Leslie Swan put it: “The parties can endorse whomever they want.”
Until this year, however, those endorsements didn’t happen in School Board races.
Our non-partisan elections might not have been free of party influence, given that we live in a relatively small community in which most people running for local office don’t hide their political leanings, but there was at least the appearance of propriety.
Not anymore.
Over the past three years, politics as usual has become politics of the unusual – and, apparently, our community hasn’t been spared the political polarization and tribalism we’re seeing across America.
“I don’t know what the norm is these days,” said Tom Lockwood, longtime president of the county’s Republican Executive Committee. “It’s not politics as we knew it just a few years ago. Things are changing.
“There are so many different factions, even within the parties,” he added. “It’s not just Republicans and Democrats anymore.”
Perhaps not, but that fracturing hasn’t prevented the local Republicans and Democrats from breaking with protocol and setting a disappointing precedent by introducing party politics into non-partisan School Board races.
First, the Democrats of Indian River openly supported Mara Schiff in her School Board District 1 primary, then celebrated her August triumph over Eugene Wolff. Now, the group is recommending Merchon Green and Stacey Klim in the District 2 and 4 races.
Likewise, the Republican Executive Committee is backing Jackie Rosario in District 2 and Teri Barenborg in District 4. In fact, the local GOP is running paid ads and social-media posts and videos, urging voters to cast ballots for its School Board candidates.
One such video, which can be found on Facebook, endorses Rosario and Barenborg – as well as state Rep. Erin Grall, who is running for re-election against Democrat Nicole Haagenson – and closes with the phrase: “Your voice of reason will stop extremism.”
For what it’s worth, Lockwood said the Democrats prompted his party to act when they publicly supported Schiff, who received 51 percent of the vote and rode to victory on the largest Democratic turnout for a primary election in this county in more than 25 years.
Lockwood cited his party’s low turnout – 37.5 percent, down from 43 percent in 2016 – and referred to Schiff’s success as a “wake-up call” for local Republicans, who currently enjoy a 46 percent to 26 percent advantage in registered voters in the county.
“This is the first time we’ve done this,” Lockwood said of his party’s endorsement of School Board candidates. “But after what happened in August, we felt a change of attitude was needed. There was a concern about getting our people out to vote.
“Also, when you look at the total impact, the School Board might be more important than the County Commission,” he added. “Coming out in support of these candidates helps people understand who they’re voting for.”
Adriana de Kanter, vice chairman of the Democrats of Indian River, also saw nothing wrong with supporting candidates in the nonpartisan School Board races.
She said the local Democratic leaders believe Klim and Merchon are strong candidates who possess the qualifications, background and passion needed to improve our schools, and they share the party’s positions on educational issues.
“These are candidates who have been active in the community and bring a perspective we feel is best for the school district, and we believe it helps to let our voters know who we support,” de Kanter said. “What political party people belong to is no great secret, anyway.”
Neither of the School Board candidates endorsed by the local Republicans tried hard to hide their ties to the party.
While there’s no mention of the Republican Executive Committee’s support on Barenborg’s “Barenborg 4 Schools” Facebook page, her personal Facebook page contains an ad and two videos – all posted on the social-media site by the committee – endorsing her candidacy.
Rosario, meanwhile, posted on her Facebook page a photograph of the committee’s advertisement endorsing her and Barenborg, along with Republican candidates in other races.
Similar posts could not be found on the Facebook pages of their opponents, but it would be naïve to think Klim and Merchon are unaware of the support they’re receiving from the local Democrats.
Besides, even when the parties didn’t endorse candidates in non-partisan races, some voters still wanted to know.
“We’d get calls from people asking about the non-partisan races and wanting to know what a candidate’s political affiliation was,” Swan said. “We still do.”
The reason is: Those callers don’t care which candidate is more qualified or has the better ideas, and there’s no reason to find out. All that matters is that they vote for their team, even when the races are supposed to be nonpartisan.
That’s not only the lazy way to vote, but it also violates the spirit of what non-partisan races are supposed to be, especially in a community where one party has dominated local elections for more than 20 years.
So let’s put a stop to it.
Let’s rise above the polarization and tribalism that divides too many of us, embrace our better angels and prove that this community is as special as we believe it is.
Let’s test the character of these School Board candidates – all four of them – by demanding that they say publicly the party endorsements they’ve received are wrong and flatly reject them.
And if they choose to say nothing and allow the parties to crash what’s supposed to be a nonpartisan election?
That’s up to them.
Then it’s up to you.