Though school board seats in Florida are nonpartisan in name, they\u2019ve become increasingly political in practice in recent years, making the biennial slate of school board candidates a high-stakes game.<\/p>\n
The previous two election cycles, in 2022 and 2024, changed the ideological makeup of school boards across the state \u2014\u00a0and especially in Jacksonville. Duval County is one of Florida\u2019s best examples of how a post-COVID strategic focus from Republicans on small, local elections has yielded big results<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Today, Duval\u2019s School Board has a clear conservative majority: 5-2, even without counting District 3 rep Cindy Pearson, a registered Republican who lost the backing of her party when she ran for reelection in 2024. But the seats that are up for reelection belong to two of the board\u2019s most staunchly conservative influencers and its lone Democrat \u2014\u00a0so the outcome of the election could change the tone of the board that\u2019s responsible for making policy decisions for one of the state\u2019s largest school districts.<\/p>\n Whether Duval\u2019s new members will shift the board\u2019s political persuasions as it votes on everything from school closures<\/a> to challenged books<\/a> remains to be seen. District 6\u2019s Charlotte Joyce, the current board chair, and District 4\u2019s Darryl Willie are both term-limited, and Vice Chair April Carney, who has represented District 2 since 2022, opted not to run for reelection.<\/p>\n In 2024, the Duval GOP endorsed a candidate<\/a> in each of the four School Board elections. Party leaders at the time told Jacksonville Today that they\u2019d made a strategic decision to treat the nonpartisan School Board races as they would any other partisan election. This year, Duval GOP Chair Charles Barr tells Jacksonville Today they\u2019re going to \u201cwait and see who wins the primary.\u201d<\/p>\n One Republican-registered candidate is running in the District 2 race, and three are running in District 6. No Republicans are running in District 4.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very important to have some good School Board candidates,\u201d Barr says. \u201cAlmost the entire School Board is our candidates, and they do a really great job.\u201d<\/p>\n The Duval Dems did not return Jacksonville Today\u2019s request for comment before this story\u2019s deadline. In the last election, they did not officially endorse candidates\u00a0but did publish a list of their preferred picks.<\/p>\n First look<\/p>\n Many of Florida\u2019s school districts had trouble attracting candidates to run for open seats. In Miami-Dade, for example, three of four incumbents will run unopposed<\/a>. That\u2019s not the case in Jacksonville, though. Twelve candidates qualified: three in District 2, four in District 4 and five in District 6.<\/p>\n \u2018Education is public policy\u2019<\/p>\n Last month, the Jacksonville Policy Engagement Group<\/a> \u2014\u00a0a relatively new civic engagement group run by a team of public policy young professionals \u2014\u00a0hosted a candidate forum.\u00a0<\/p>\n The well-attended event drew dozens of people to Brentwood for a few rounds of a moderated Q&A with groups of candidates and small-group breakout sessions with candidates.<\/p>\n Rhianna Scyster, co-founder of the organization, tells Jacksonville Today the group chose to host an event focused on School Board elections because \u201ceducation is a public policy\u201d that \u201coverflows into every part of our local government, our state, and our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEducation impacts everybody, right?\u201d says Scyster, who has a master\u2019s degree in public policy from Jacksonville University. \u201cEducation is really the great equalizer, truly.\u201d<\/p>\n The engagement group prepared a detailed data analysis of the three districts up for election, and then distributed a thick packet of the numbers<\/a> to attendees as they arrived. It detailed each district\u2019s enrollment, academic performance and staffing, and it compared each of the three districts to Duval Schools as a whole and to the state.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we understand the importance of stories, numbers also hit people a certain way,\u201d Scyster says.<\/p>\n Get out the vote<\/p>\n The School Board\u2019s district boundaries have changed since these districts\u2019 last election, after civil rights groups successfully sued the city of Jacksonville<\/a> for what they said was a racially gerrymandered district map.<\/p>\n Outgoing District 4 rep Willie was questioned in May about whether he lives within his district<\/a>.<\/p>\n Because they are nonpartisan elections, School Board races are often decided in the primary election. All registered voters in a district are able to vote for a candidate, and if one of the candidates gets more than 50% of the vote, they win the seat. Otherwise, the two candidates with the most votes continue on to a runoff election.<\/p>\n![\"cards](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/thumbnail.jpeg\")
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