Scott should fill Seminole school seat

Last week a Florida Constitution Revision Commission committee turned down a proposal to eliminate salaries for school board members across the state. The argument made by the proposal’s sponsor, Collier County School Board member Ericka Donalds — that school districts should be directing their limited dollars to more important priorities — looks ironic next to what’s been playing out on the Seminole County School Board for almost a year.

There, member Jeffrey Bauer is paid $41,040 a year — the same salary paid to others on the five-member elected body — to fill the board’s District 1 seat, but hasn’t attended a meeting in 10 months or taken part in any board business since last February. Bauer, who was elected District 1 member to a four-year term in 2014, Jeffrey Bauer has been a suffered a stroke in June 2016. no-show from the He continued to attend board School Board for almost meetings by telephone or in a year. person, in a wheelchair, until his last meeting on Feb. 28, For taxpayers’ sake, 2017. the governor should use

It’s not even clear Bauer still his authority to name a resides in the district he represents, replacement. which is a requirement for school board members under state law. His former home in District 1 was badly damaged by a fire in August, and he didn’t respond to multiple messages left by Sentinel education reporter Leslie Postal.

Gov. Rick Scott has the authority under the Florida Constitution to remove from office and appoint a replacement for local elected officials, including school board members. There can be multiple reasons, including “malfeasance,” “neglect of duty” and “permanent inability to perform official duties.” The governor’s office said in an email that it would review Bauer’s status and would “welcome any input from the school board on this issue.”

But board members, beyond expressing sympathy for Bauer, wouldn’t discuss his situation with Postal or comment on whether he should resign. Personal feelings aside, the board has a responsibility to Seminole County taxpayers, who simply aren’t getting the representation they are owed in District 1.

Members insisted to Postal that the board has been running fine in Bauer’s absence. Chairman Amy Lockhart redid committee assignments in April so that other members could cover Bauer’s duties, and told Postal there had been no 2-2 deadlocks on votes since he stopped attending meetings.

But as the familiar disclaimer in the investment business goes, past performance is no guarantee of future results. Seminole and other districts have odd-numbered school boards to prevent evenly divided votes. There could be an issue looming ahead that will split Seminole’s board without a fifth vote to break the tie.

Or a new issue might arise in District 1 that calls for the attention and advocacy that only a representative elected to serve in that jurisdiction can truly provide.

We understand why board members would be reluctant to appeal to the governor to replace Bauer after the two tragic blows he has suffered to his health and his home. Compounding the sensitivity, he’s the son of Diane Bauer, who served as a school board member for 15 years before she died in office in 2013 following a series of strokes.

But a school district with more than 67,000 students, 10,000 employees and an annual operating budget of about half a billion dollars needs all hands on deck. The next election to fill Bauer’s seat isn’t until August. Depending on the number of candidates and the results, the winner might not be determined until a runoff in November. That’s too long to keep the seat open — it’s already been kept open too long.

Scott hasn’t hesitated to exercise his authority to remove other local officials around the state when circumstances dictate. If he’s the advocate for education and taxpayers that he says he is, he’ll fill the vacancy quickly on Seminole County’s School Board.