Legislature should try helping school boards, not harassing them
When will the Legislature try to help Florida school districts?
No time soon, apparently.
The latest political harassment comes from a predictable source: Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota. For the session that begins Jan. 11, Gruters filed a proposed constitutional amendment to make all school board races partisan. He’s back with another bad idea.
Under Senate Bill 1300, Tallahassee would dictate how school boards conduct meetings. Gruters’ bill would require at least 30 minutes of public comment at the beginning of meetings. Speakers would have at least three minutes to speak on any topic, regardless of the agenda. Speakers also would get three minutes to comment on agenda items.
In addition, the entire meeting would have to be recorded and livestreamed. Speakers could criticize individual board members “provided that the speaker maintains orderly conduct and proper decorum.” The bill leaves it to board members to define those terms.
If you wonder why a state senator cares so much about school board meeting formats, the answer is simple: politics.
Gruters chairs the Republican Party of Florida. From Gov. Ron DeSantis on down, the GOP wants to politicize public education next year and in 2024.
Republicans remain angry that nearly a dozen school boards defied DeSantis and followed the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control in approving mask mandates. Some of those mandates came in reliably Republican counties, including Gruters’ home of Sarasota.
Perhaps Gruters took that personally. During November’s special session, Gruters and his GOP colleagues banned school mask mandates. They approved COVID19 quarantine rules for schools that came from Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, who claims, wrongly, that masks don’t reduce virus spread. He implies, wrongly, that COVID-19 vaccines aren’t effective, and in Fort Lauderdale Monday, he said people without symptoms should not get tested.
During those debates over masks, opponents packed the chambers to rant at board members. In Palm Beach County, they complained about being assigned to a separate room because they wouldn’t wear masks. Their repetitive rants dragged out meetings and distracted from normal issues about education.
In response, some boards changed rules for public comment. In Brevard County, where mask opposition was especially hostile, the board imposed time limits. Sarasota County moved non-agenda comments to the end of the meeting, so as not to distract from important business.
Palm Beach County is considering several changes. One would set the time for individual agenda item comments based on how many people wanted to speak. If there were 20 or fewer speakers, each would get up to three minutes. If there were between 21 and 30, the limit would be two minutes.
Speakers also could not direct “personal insults” at board members or the superintendent. Speakers would have to stay on topic and could not use the meeting as a campaign platform.
To understand the motivation, consider that a second-grade girl told Palm Beach School Superintendent Mike Burke that he “sucks” and has told board members that she hopes they “go to jail.” Her mother, who’s running for the school board, accompanies the child and promotes herself.
Some of those ideas seem like excessive micromanaging. If a proposal gets to the board for a vote, we will comment.
The important point, though, is that each school board should decide how to run its meetings. The state sets standards for educating children but lets individual districts decide how to meet those standards.
Gruters’ bill is its own form of micromanaging. If a change is controversial, opponents can run against any board member who approved it. That’s local accountability.
Gruters’ sudden embrace of public comment also smacks of hypocrisy. The Legislature is notorious for mismanaging the clock so that individual citizens — some of whom may have driven hundreds of miles — get shut out or are limited to as little as 30 seconds. Gruters has made no move to enhance public participation in the Capitol.
Florida’s traditional public schools face many challenges, from pandemic learning losses to teacher shortages to growing concerns over potential violence and mental health.
The Legislature could consider those priorities and offer help. Instead, Republicans pelt school districts with legislative snowballs. As districts also deal with bus driver shortages, one bill would shorten the minimum distance for required bus rides from two miles to one mile. Another bill would establish a commission to essentially prohibit local boards from denying applications for charter schools, no matter how lacking the proposal.
Another bill would eliminate pay for school board members. (Don’t expect legislators to cut their own salaries and benefits.) Yet another would require a camera in every classroom and microphone on every teacher. Then there’s Gruters’ bill to politicize school board elections — another solution in search of a problem.
Republicans in Tallahassee want to empower uninformed ideologues. That’s no way to improve public schools.
The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney, and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Editorials are the opinion of the Board and written by one of its members or a designee. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.