One candidate for school superintendent sees the proposal as a bid to undermine her campaign for the post.
By REBECCA CATALANELLO
Published June 24, 2004
The superintendent of Pasco County public schools manages a $636-million annual budget and 7,000 employees, oversees $100-million worth of new construction and is responsible for ensuring that 57,000 schoolchildren meet ever-higher academic standards.
People seeking the job, one might think, would need an impressive resume. But here's a complete list of the qualifications to get on the ballot for the $141,000 a year job:
Be at least 18 years old.
Be registered to vote in Pasco County.
A majority of the School Board thinks that no longer is good enough.
And with the four-person race to replace retiring superintendent John Long getting increasingly contentious, four of five School Board members said they hope to ask voters to do away with electing the school superintendent in favor of one appointed by the board.
They might try to get the issue on the ballot this November.
"We're changing superintendents and some of our candidates don't have the basic qualifications a superintendent should have," School Board member Pam Coulter said Wednesday.
But state Rep. Heather Fiorentino, one of two Republicans heading off during the Aug. 31 primary election, said this new School Board talk is nothing but "obvious" political posturing targeted at undermining her campaign.
Fiorentino is a former teacher who has served three terms in the state Legislature.
Her leading opponent, Chuck Rushe, is Long's right hand man, chief financial officer for the district and a 29-year fixture at its headquarters in Land O'Lakes - a favorite among top school officials.
"I think people that are supporting Chuck are trying to give themselves a forum in which they can try and make it look as if I'm unqualified," Fiorentino said. "And they're running scared. Desperate people do desperate things."
On the contrary, School Board member Jean Larkin Weightman said.
Board members don't have to detract from Fiorentino's qualifications, Larkin Weightman said: "She does that all by herself. She's a well qualified person to run a classroom - a wonderful, compassionate, caring person, but it takes a lot more than that to run a school system."
Most of America's large school districts have appointed superintendents. In fact, according to district communications director Lori Yusko, 57,000-student Pasco is the largest district in the United States that still elects its superintendent.
Until March, 83,118-student Polk County was the largest of 44 Florida districts to still elect the post. But voters there did away with the old system effective this November. There are now 24 in the state that appoint including Polk, according to the Florida School Boards Association.
Still, getting Pasco voters to switch to the other side has been a hard sell.
They last rejected the move in 1986 with 51 percent voting against it. Fourteen years before that, the measure failed with 61 percent opposed.
Wayne Blanton, leader of the FSBA, said sometimes it takes visible friction in a school district for voters to agree to relinquish their votes to a School Board.
By contrast, Pasco has enjoyed 30 years of relatively harmonious School Board-superintendent relations. Former Superintendent Tom Weightman was elected time and time again until retiring in 1996 and throwing his support behind Long. (Weightman, a Rushe supporter, is married to Jean Larkin Weightman.)
Under both the Long and Weightman administrations, the School Board has had few dissenting votes and only rarely has it publicly aired disagreements with the superintendent.
"We've just been so fortunate here," Jean Larkin Weightman said.
But many of the old-guard school officials said they fear the current election threatens to unravel many of the accomplishments achieved over the past three decades.
Rushe might have the kind of administrative experience that more closely mirrors the job qualifications that other school boards seek when searching for an appointed superintendent. But Fiorentino, endorsed by leading Republicans in the county, has strong name recognition - a must-have in any election. Fiorentino herself said she anticipates making leadership changes if elected, though she hasn't been specific.
State Sen. Mike Fasano, a leading Pasco County Republican supporting Fiorentino, suggested the School Board is threatened by the chances of Fiorentino's success.
"It's almost an insult to the voters of Pasco County because the School Board members are saying they know better than the voters do," Fasano said.
Pasco County Supervisor of Elections Kurt Browning said the School Board would have to seek approval from county commissioners by Aug. 31 to get a measure on the Nov. 2 ballot. If approved, it would likely not go into effect until 2008, after the new superintendent has completed his or her four-year term.
