Sarasota School Board candidates field questions at public forum in Venice

All five candidates for two Sarasota School Board seats in Aug. 20's primary election participated in a public forum in Venice on Friday afternoon.

Incumbent District 3 school board member Tom Edwards and challengers Greg Wood and Thomas Babicz sat beside one another while incumbent District 2 school board chairwoman Karen Rose sat beside her challenger, Liz Barker. The five candidates fielded questions from a moderator and audience members during the 90-minute forum.

Voters in Sarasota County elect their candidates district-wide, regardless of where they live, and candidate's districts only indicate where they live. So, voters in both north and south Sarasota County will see each school board candidate on their ballot.

The panel addressed issues ranging from charter schools, the upcoming referendum vote in November, political fights at school board meetings and the candidates' goals for Sarasota County public schools.

Rose and Wood were notably absent from a recent July 11 Tiger Bay candidate forum in north Sarasota County but did participate in Friday's South County Tiger Bay forum. Rose also refused to speak with the Herald-Tribune for a candidate profile.

Sarasota School Board candidates answer questions from the public

In one of her first public candidate forums of the election cycle, Rose was critical of local media's coverage of the school board. When asked about divisive politics in Sarasota's School board, she pointed to outside organizations such as Equality Florida and the SEE Alliance as groups that organize at meetings and give prepared talking points to speakers.

"That chaos isn't being generated by the board," Rose said. "Sarasota is better than this."

Edwards, the other incumbent school board member participating in Friday's forum, disagreed with Rose and said "The memory is short-lived." He said groups such as Moms for Liberty organized in 2020 against mask mandates and critical race theory in schools, which kicked off much of the division seen in the board room now.

"What you have is a public that has been trained that if they come into the boardroom and scream loud enough to the board members, then bills get passed," he said. "So we've trained the public to think that that's how they come through the door and solve their problems, which is wrong."

He also responded to a question about calling himself "woke" and a past social media post where he called all Trump voters Nazis. Edwards said he made the post when he was an "angry, private citizen" but has since shifted to stop posting divisive content, instead wanting to "do something positive for the community."

"I'm in there. I have your backs. I'm listening to both sides of the community. And I'm not embarrassed to be 'woke'," Edwards said.

Another person asked Wood why he chose not to send his children to the district's public schools. Bridget Ziegler, another Sarasota School Board member, also elects not to send her kids to Sarasota public schools, a fact that many activists asked her about during her 2022 re-election.

Wood said he and his wife tried Sarasota's public schools but found his daughter was falling behind in literacy in math despite coming in above grade level.

"That's not okay for my family, and I'm not going to put my kids or anyone else's kids in that situation where they're not getting the best," he said.

Candidates field questions from moderator

Here is what the candidates had to say for each of the moderator's questions.

What is the role of a school board member?

Babicz: To not waste money.

Edwards: To be a voice of reason in a political storm, and create a safe, high-achieving academic environment for all students.

Wood: To oversee the superintendent of schools and the district's budget.

Rose: To ensure the district complies with state law and Florida Department of Education policy.

Barker: To take politics out of the equation and put a parent in.

What is the cause of the politics at school board meetings?

Babicz: Was shocked at my first meeting, it was a total circus. Happy to see democracy at work, but wants to meet with groups advocating for change and see where he can find a middle ground — such as a third bathroom for transgender students.

Edwards: Moms for Liberty came into school board meetings with talking points in 2020. Much of the chaos at board meetings is self-induced with things such as removing Superintendent Brennan Asplen, proposing a resolution to reject Title IX protections for gender identity discrimination, and proposing a Hillsdale-College-tied firm called Vermilion to come and overhaul the district.

Wood: 2+2=4 regardless of your political party, and people come into school board meetings with talking points they were handed. We want community feedback, but we need to focus on education.

Rose: Said she doesn't let politics distract her. She pointed to what happens when the district focuses on academics and not politics, adding that the district saw seven percentage point growth in third-grade reading and that the state graded 95% of the district's schools an "A" or "B" this year.

Barker: Politics has no place in our schools. The people who come to board meetings to speak are parents and teachers. She emphasized that parents, such as herself, don't feel like they're being heard by the school board.

First approved in 2002, the referendum will determine whether the district can continue to levy a 1 mill per year tax on property, equal to $1 per $1,000 of taxable value. The tax generates upwards of $100 million per year, Superintendent Terry Connor said, revenue that is beyond what the district is authorized to collect under a formula approved each year through the state budget.

The taxes collected from the local option levy would provide ongoing financial support for safety, teacher recruitment and retention, arts and charter schools. The tax was last approved by voters in March of 2022 by an overwhelming margin: 85% in favor and 14.5% opposed.

"This money is foundational to the critical aspects of our School District and without that, we would be in some dire trouble," Connor said.

What is the referendum for? Sarasota School Board approves resolution for November vote on property tax extension

How can the referendum be more effective?

Babicz: He said he wants to lean on the superintendent to see where the money is best spent, and also said he wants to increase teacher salary.

Edwards: He said the referendum has to pass. He doesn't necessarily think its as simple as saying reading scores would drop without the referendum. He pointed to students in impoverished households in Sarasota County, and how providing family resources is key.

Wood: Referendum dollars need to be a net positive for students, and the district needs to think critically and reflectively about how the money is spent.

Rose: Referendum dollars are key to faculty recruitment and retention. With the increasing cost of living in Sarasota County, improving teacher pay — in part through referendum dollars — is crucial.

Barker: Not passing the referendum would be catastrophic. It is not an option to not approve the referendum. Said it goes towards closing the achievement gap.

Do you support making school board elections partisan?

Rose and Wood raised their hands. No other candidate answered "yes".

Charter schools

Babicz: Said he was pro-charter schools and pro-vouchers. But if charter schools expect help from public school districts, they need to deliver on achievement.

Edwards: He pointed out that, if charter schools were removed from the statewide grade calculation, Sarasota's ranking in the state would increase. St. Johns County, a school district Sarasota has chased in the statewide rankings for years, only has one charter school, he said. He said he was against for-profit charter schools, and that the district needs to stand up to Tallahassee and the Florida Legislature more on charters.

Wood: He is pro-charter schools, he said. No one forces students to go there, and if the school isn't good then no one will go to it. He said he wants to make public schools the best, obvious option for parents to send their kids to.

Rose: She supports universal school choice and said competition was key to getting the best out of schools. As a board member, she said she's not in the business of protecting the public school system. Instead, she wants to protect a quality education.

Barker: School board members are elected to the public school board, and should promote public schools. That's your job, she said.

Follow Herald-Tribune Education Reporter Steven Walker on Twitter at @swalker_7. He can be reached at sbwalker@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota School Board candidates take stage at public forum in Venice