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Escambia County’s Next School Superintendent Will Be Chosen By Voters
August 19, 2026
Escambia County voters will once again elect a school superintendent.
Voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot referendum on Tuesday:
“Shall the superintendent of schools of Escambia County, Florida, be elected by the majority of the qualified electors of Escambia County, Florida?”
- Yes: 38,244 (71.28%) ✅
- No: 15,411 (28.72%)
Escambia voters will elect a school superintendent during the November 2028 general election.
In November 2018, Escambia County citizens voted by a narrow margin to move from an elected to an 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.
“I feel very strongly about this,” Harrell, who campaigned on a return to an elected superintendent, said at a February board meeting. “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.”
Pictured: The polling place at the First Baptist Church of Bratt, where 87% voted for an elected school superintendent. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Comments
13 Responses to “Escambia County’s Next School Superintendent Will Be Chosen By Voters”
Glad the voters got right
Replying to Rob. We have already had a wholly incompetent and useless superintendent. His name was Tim Smith. The man was literally his own biggest supporter and biggest fan, and the man loved to hear himself talk. He was appointed and it was a disaster. I think we will stick with the voters deciding who leads our district. We will always have the students best interest in mind, while the school board will always have their own best interest in mind. Not to mention, when it comes to trusting someone to spend our tax money, we should always retain the power to vote in and vote out those individuals.
Now you will only have to be “popular”….. qualified, not so much.
Power to the people!
Unfortunately most of the people are idiots.
School districts with elected superintendents overall perform worse than school districts with appointed superintendents. That’s because they spend most of their time running for election and raising money for their campaign. As a result, there is nobody holding them accountable at any point in time other than voters at the ballot box once every for years.
They literally could choose to never show up to anything at any time and there is nothing that can be done to replace them
I hope someone woefully incompetent and unqualified wins in two years. Maybe that will put some sense into people to change things to the way they should be.
Replying to JASON, everything you said: PERFECT!
You got it right Jason.
@Jason. Preach it brother. Don’t stop there. Throw in the 1/2 cent LOST ( where’s it going?) dirt road tax. But once enacted. Taxes don’t disappear. Especially when those that cry at tax breaks, but get giddy at increases get their hands on it.
For those complaining about the wording on the referendum, if you couldnt comprehend what was being asked of you, maybe you shouldnt be voting…..
I, for one, am happy to see the return of an elected School Superintendent.
Next task is to get voters to repeal the half-mill slush fund tax being spent under the guise of Children Trust fund. And maybe one day, taxpayers will start firing the “tax and spend” officials who think its necessary to raise taxes every year. Just look at the proposed increases on this years tax estimates that were sent to property owners this past week. Despite the Legislature looking to rollback property taxes, our local Commissioners are pushing for higher taxes once again. Which proves, that “new growth” isnt paying for itself as Commissioners keep asking everyone to pay more in taxes.
Well– This should keep Studer quiet for now.
Until the next vote in 2 years…
I think the wording of the referendum made sure that it would pass.
It’s written like a statement and does not make it clear that one is deciding between an elected or appointed superintendent.
The average person who walked into the poll not knowing what was on the ballot would read the statement and say yea…sounds good…
The wording is why.