Escambia School Board wants to put elected vs. appointed superintendent back on the ballot
By Mary Lett
The people may decide the next Escambia County school district superintendent.
The Escambia County School Board voted 3-2 Tuesday to approve a resolution to put a referendum on the August 2026 midterm primary election giving voters the option of choosing to elect or appoint the Escambia County Schools superintendent.
If the referendum passes in 2026, Escambia County residents will elect a superintendent during the November 2028 general election.
District 5 Board Member Tom Harrell introduced the measure at the board’s workshop on Feb. 13. Harrell, Kevin Adams and Paul Fetsko voted in favor of the resolution while Carissa Bergosh and David Williams opposed it.
“This resolution says at the midterm primary election which is Aug. 18, (2026) I believe, that we’re asking the board of county commissioners to put this on the ballot, and for it to take effect with the general election which is Nov. 3 in (20)28,” Harrell said.
The school board vote is just the first step in the process. The Escambia County Board of County Commissioners must also approve adding the referendum to the ballot.
In 2018, Escambia County voters supported a referendum for an appointed superintendent. After a nationwide search, the board hired Tim Smith, but he was terminated in a surprise 3-2 vote in 2023.
Since that time, Keith Leonard has been leading the school district. Leonard, however, is set to retire in 2027 or 2028.
Harrell said, while campaigning for school board, many of his constituents expressed a desire for an elected superintendent.
“This is happening all over the state. Fifty-seven percent of school boards in state have elected superintendents,” Harrell noted. “We have to look the future and listen very attentively to what our community is telling us. … The people really want this. Let’s give them what they really want.”
Harrell stressed that his resolution has nothing to do with Leonard’s performance but did say appointed superintendents do not have ideologies that match up with Escambia County’s conservative communities.
“From my observations and my reading about a search, we’re going to get the very best that we can get. …One thing that comes to my mind is that we’re saying that we can’t bring a person along in our district who is homegrown. We’ve got to bring someone else in. I don’t think that’s true at all. Many, many of our superintendents came from the homegrown situation,” Harrell said the board workshop.
Adams and Fetsko also voiced support at last week’s board’s workshop.
Adams said he’s always supported referendums and allowing the residents to vote on issues. He did, however, express concern about changeover on the school board.
A new state law limits school board members to two consecutive four-year terms.
“I am worried about the continuity of the district, so I am going to support your measure,” he said.
Fetsko suggested changing the timeline on the resolution. The initial resolution called for the matter to be voted on in August 2026, and if passed, placed on the 2028 general election.
“Timing is everything - the last time this was voted on, and it changed from elected to appointed, it was done during a midterm year, in 2018. The turnout was not what you would expect, or you would want to be making this big of decision. You have a very small sliver of the county’s population that made this decision, and it was easily influenced with a lot of donations and a lot of information that went out,” he said.
“If I’m going to vote for it, I would want it to go to the next presidential election in 2028.”
Bergosh and Williams did not support the resolution.
At the workshop, Bergosh said the community decided in 2018 and the matter failed to gain traction when it was reintroduced in 2023. She noted that many community leaders – among them entrepreneur and philanthropist Quint Studer, former mayor and county commissioner Grover Robinson IV, and current mayor D.C. Reeves – also participated in the initial superintendent appointment process.
“Appointment is the way to go. We’re talking about various states – 99% of school districts across the country have superintendents who are appointed,” she said Tuesday night. “What is best for the voters is not best for our children. I have to go with what is best for our children.”
Williams said he was conflicted because his constituents like the appointed superintendent choice.
“I will respect wishes of the board,” he said at the board meeting.
Williams described himself as an “educator trying to be a politician but always an educator first” at the workshop. He noted that while there had been successes under the elected system, he was also very pleased with the district's improvement under the appointed system.
“I don’t understand why we’re moving to system that has worked in the past - but as you can tell by looking at these numbers - the growth that our district has made. I want to continue that growth,” he said.
“I want to continue to improve. … As a principal, we have a school improvement plan every year. We have a plan in place right now for the superintendent if he’s not doing well, we can remove him. So, I will not be supporting going back to an elected superintendent.”
Several community members voiced support for an elected superintendent during the public comment period of the Tuesday’s meeting.
“In 2018, if you all remember, we were encouraged here in Escambia County to switch from an elected superintendent to an appointed one because the new system would allow school board members to search nationwide for the most qualified candidate,” community member Neil McDonald said.
“On the surface, that sounds reasonable but a resume with a list of qualifications doesn’t necessarily reflect the person’s values. As most of us know, our first ‘selected’ superintendent came from out of town. He did not know our people. And he certainly did not know or share our values. So, in less than three years, he was terminated and no longer our superintendent.”
McDonald added appointed superintendents serve an average of three years. He noted that most Florida school districts with appointed superintendents are in south Florida and are in larger, metropolitan areas with more liberal views and voting histories.
“Our views are very conservative, and I trust that the voters in Escambia County will make the correct decision on who the superintendent will be. We have a fantastic superintendent in place right now with Mr. Leonard,” McDonald said.