Democrats Jimmy Glover and Beth Mayberry captured the most votes in the primary election for Sarasota County school board races Districts 1 and 5 respectively, signaling an imminent shift in the conservative majority board that once was a battleground for culture issues championed by Moms for Liberty.
Megan Tennimon, a former teacher, also won the most votes in District 4 against her opponent Frank Dicicco, meaning she will be the sole candidate on the general election ballot.
Districts 1, 4 and 5 school board seats are currently held by conservative incumbents Bridget Ziegler, a Moms for Liberty co-founder, Robyn Marinelli and Karen Rose, who all decided to not run for re-election this year. Although school board elections are nonpartisan by law, the political leaning of the board can significantly change as current members leave office.
Their open seats come during a steady decline of the influence of Moms for Liberty, a conservative parental rights organization, in its home state of Florida. During the pandemic, Moms for Liberty galvanized support through taking over school board meetings, arguing about mask mandates and book bans and endorsing conservative candidates across the state.
But by 2023, internal conflict within the organization led to the dissolution of Florida chapters and the group’s Florida Legislative Committee. By 2024, the majority of Moms for Liberty-backed candidates lost their elections.
“I think Moms for Liberty has faded into the background because being associated with Moms for Liberty started to harm school board candidates’ chances of winning elections more than it helped them. School board elections tend to have low turnout, so a small number of votes can be decisive,” Jon Valant said, director of the Brown Center on Education Policy.
Still, experts say school board members will have to balance the most pressing issues of Sarasota County Schools and the salience of culture war issues.
“Their platform was very limited to culture wars issues, and in some places, they’ve already succeeded. In others there just might be a limit to how much the general public is willing to engage with these issues anymore,” Huriya Jabbar said, a professor and researcher of education policy at the University of Southern California.
Former school board member for District 5 from 2010 to 2022, Jane Goodwin, watched the Sarasota County school board transform from generally amicable to hostile and politically divided over her 12-year tenure, splitting across party lines on most policies.
“I am concerned that we get candidates on the school board that care first and foremost about public education because it is the bedrock of our community,” Goodwin said.
Goodwin even changed her party affiliation from Republican to Democrat during the end of her time while serving on the board, and she said she hopes that new faces bring change in the dynamic of the board.
All candidates pledge to remain focused on the needs of students, teachers and parents rather than politics.
“Our children shouldn’t have been caught in the middle of these political fights…The first question I’ll ask is what does it mean for the children in every decision that we make,” Glover said.
While funding is allocated to school districts by the Florida legislature, candidates plan to mitigate budgetary concerns and be forthcoming with information about the financial state of public schools if elected to their seats.
“We can push back on Tallahassee, and up to now, we have not been pushing back in any way on any of the policies that Tallahassee is mandating, that’s the first thing. But the second thing is being very transparent to our community about what may happen in the future.” Mayberry said.
Trinity Webster-Bass covers education for The Florida Trib. You can reach her at trinity.webster-bass@floridatrib.org.
