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The Collier County School Board race is a stark contrast to those of years past: Discussions at forums are civil, the candidates are in agreement on nearly every issue and there have been no accusations as to who is a “real Republican” — a topic that dominated the 2016 race.
All six contenders, except for Kathy Ryan, are registered Republicans. However, no one has expressed the ultra-conservative views held by 2016’s unsuccessful candidates Lee Dixon and Louise Penta or by outgoing board members Erika Donalds and Kelly Lichter.
Where did the conservative candidates go?
More:In North Naples school board district, party matters
Members of the far right said they have given up on the Collier County School Board and instead are focusing on implementing changes at the state level.
Donalds and Lichter have, throughout their 4-year terms, consistently been on the losing side of 3-2 votes and said they have felt like they have been under constant attack for their beliefs.
Divisive issues have included the extent to which evolution, climate change and Islam should be featured in textbooks, and whether the district should share capital funding with charter schools.
More:Evolution? Climate change? Debate over science textbooks renewed in Collier County
Donalds said she attempted to recruit conservative candidates for the 2018 race and was also approached by several like-minded potential contenders, but no one ultimately followed through.
“Look at what we went through — why would they waste their time?” Donalds said. “Nobody on my side of the aisle wants to sign up for that.”
“A lot of people care and want to see more conservative ideas implemented in the school district but don’t see this as a path to doing so — at least not right now,” she said.
Instead, the focus has shifted toward supporting school boards in Florida counties that stand a chance of seeing a conservative majority and toward influencing policy at the state level.
Donalds already has taken steps to see these efforts through. As a member of the Constitution Revision Commission, she successfully pushed to get Amendment 8 on the November ballot. If passed, the measure would allow the state or a state-designated entity to operate and supervise charter schools — a power now held by local school boards.
More:Lawsuit: Amendment 8 summary 'misleading' about control of charter schools
While serving as president of the Florida Coalition of School Board Members, Donalds successfully advocated for legislation that expanded school voucher and tax credit scholarship programs and created Schools of Hope.
At the local level, Donalds helped found a charter school that’s set to open in Martin County in 2019 and serves on the school’s board. And in December 2017, she established the Optima Foundation, which she said is intended to provide financial and operational support for new charter schools.
More:Charter school advocated by Collier School Board's Donalds OK'd in Martin County
Over the last two legislative sessions, Donalds’ husband, state Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Naples, helped pass bills that expanded the tax credit scholarship program and created an official venue for the public to dispute textbook content in front of a school board. Erika Donalds said she was not involved in her husband's efforts.
More:Teaching of evolution, climate change at stake in Naples legislator Donalds' bill
More:FL House OKs bill that includes Naples legislator's school bullying measure
Keith Flaugh is a self-described constitutionalist and president of the Florida Citizens Alliance, which offers voter guides and hosted a recent School Board race forum.
Flaugh, who describes the Collier school district as “a progressive-oriented monopoly, more interested in political indoctrination and power than teaching our children objective, balanced and accurate materials,” said he was not surprised to see a lack of like-minded candidates in the running.
“The establishment (Collier schools) has lost its way and it's discouraged people who have invested as much energy,” he said. “Both (Lichter and Donalds) felt they could do a lot more to fix education in Florida being outside the establishment than inside.”
Flaugh also has refocused his efforts on the state and has helped write the language for some of Byron Donalds’ conservative education bills.
Mike Lyster, former chairman of Collier’s Republican Executive Committee and current chairman of the group’s campaign activities committee, agreed that Donalds’ and Lichters’ experience on the board dissuaded potential candidates from running. He said he supports the Alliance’s decision to focus on Tallahassee.
Lyster's group voted to endorse School Board candidates in the 2016 race, but the decision drew significant backlash among members who thought the committee had no right to intervene, particularly in a race in which all candidates were registered Republicans, Lyster said. Many 2016 candidates were accused of being Republican in name only and some recently had changed their affiliation to Republican.
As a result of the criticism and because the committee-backed candidates lost, Lyster said this year the decision on whether to endorse was not even put to a vote.
“I’m disappointed we don’t have better candidates, but I’m happy we have some parents running,” Lyster said.
One candidate — Mary Ellen Cash — appears to have garnered some support among the group, Lyster said, as her husband, Randy Cash, is a member.
Cash was cited for multiple performance and behavior issues during her 17-year tenure as a teacher and program coordinator at the school district and ultimately was fired, a recent Daily News investigation found.
More:Collier School Board candidate Cash was fired from district in 2012; job performance, behavior cited
Collier School Board Chairman Roy Terry, who is running for a third term, said although Cash appears to be the most conservative candidate, he initially was surprised there weren’t more far-right contenders in the running and acknowledged that conservatives had redirected their efforts to the state.
“When Kelly and Erika started four years ago, they were very strong proponents of local control,” he said. “Now they’ve kind of switched to the idea that maybe the state government knows better than local communities — or at least they see that that’s where they can get things passed more easily.”
Terry attributed the divisive nature of the 2016 race to the committee’s decision to endorse and said this year’s candidates have been far more civil to one another.
“I think the new board is going to be able to work together much better than we have over the last years,” he said. “That doesn’t mean everybody will agree on everything, but when we have discussions and make decisions, board members will accept and support those decisions.”
School Board seats are nonpartisan and will be voted on countywide in the Aug. 28 primary. Winners must receive at least 50 percent of the vote; otherwise, the top two finishers will advance to the Nov. 6 general election.
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