TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Legislation passed Thursday by the Florida House Education Committee would create a proposed constitutional amendment to ask voters to place eight-year term limits on county school board members.
Similar term limits are already in place for members of the legislature and other offices, and politicians could run for office again once they sit out for an election cycle. Bill sponsor Anthony Sabatini feels term limits bring fresh ideas, whenever they are implemented.
“Term limits have actually made us, according to many academic studies, younger and more diverse. There’s just a wider and a different spectrum of new folks coming into the system," said Sabatini.
However, critics of the measure, including Rich Templin with the Florida AFL-CIO, say local communities should be allowed to decide how long their school board members serve.
“This legislation doesn’t give people the freedom to decide whether or not they want term limits in their communities. It imposes term limits on those communities that may not want them," said Templin.
The bill is now ready for consideration by the full House of Representatives. If approved by the full legislature, the proposal would go on the 2020 ballot, where 60 percent voter support would be required for passage.
