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Elected Or Appointed School Superintendent? Escambia Commission To Consider Ballot Referendum
March 3, 2026
The Escambia County Commission will take the next step this week to potentially place a referendum on the ballot in 2026 to again ask voters if they want an elected or appointed superintendent.
The Escambia County School board voted 3-2 on February 18, 2025, to place a referendum on the general election ballot to send the question back to voters. The referendum was introduced by District 5 member Tom Harrell, with Harrell, Kevin Adams, and Paul Fesko voting in favor. Board members Carissa Bergosh and David Williams were opposed. The school board then sent the referendum to the county commission for approval.
The county commission will vote Thursday on scheduling a public hearing for 5:32 p.m. on April 1 to consider an ordinance authorizing the countywide referendum to determine if the Superintendent of Schools of Escambia County, should be an elected position to be placed on the statewide primary election ballot on August 18, 2026, as requested by the school board.
“I feel very strongly about this,” Harrell, who campaigned on a return to an elected superintendent, said last February. “The county, I think, feels very strongly. There’s never anything wrong with letting the people decide. When you have a democracy, it’s all about people making decisions.”
“Deep down in my heart, having been here in this district for 60 years, that’s what the people of this district want,” Harrell added. “It’s the right time; it’s the right thing to do.”
A final vote from the commission will come at a later date.
Comments
9 Responses to “Elected Or Appointed School Superintendent? Escambia Commission To Consider Ballot Referendum”
As retired Civics teacher, I’ve always encouraged my students to study the issues, and candidates and vote your convictions..I am for an elected school superinte. ndent and would like to have the election scheduled for the general election in November so
more ballets will be cast. I have talked to other school districts in Florida who have an appointed superintendent and weren’t satisfied so they hired another person but had to for 2 salaries..a waste of taxpayers money.
NEVER GIVE UP YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE…
AI robots would serve the citizens better than some of these out of touch board members ( “i want more to do less” ) . Some of them have no logic .
I think the people of Escambia county should vote for school superintendent ,we have seen what an appointed superintendent caused,the person voted in by the people should be from our area and familiar with our school system.
The school board need to be voted out in its entirety . They all voted for millage (Politico piggy bank ) increased . Also the Superintendent should be elected by the people for the people .
As long as the general public (i.e. tax payers) pay school taxes then the public should vote for the school board superintendent!
Sounds good on paper but just take one look at all the major cities in the US and see how incompetent unexperienced politicians have ran education into the ground. This will be the beginning of the end of Escambia County Schools.
We should always vote for our school superintendent.
ANYONE holding ANY public office should be elected.
Full stop.