As Escambia County prepares for what could be its seventh or eighth referendum on whether to elect or appoint its school superintendent, Walker Wilson is ready to defend the appointed system he helped establish in 2018.
Background: Wilson, who serves as DIB Executive Director and was instrumental in the 2018 referendum that changed the superintendent’s position from elected to appointed, believes the current system has proven its worth.
- “We thought having an appointed superintendent was the better move for our county and for the students and the schools and the teachers,” Wilson explained during a recent podcast.
Better Candidate Pool
The appointed system has allowed the county to expand its candidate pool beyond local politics. “You get to kind of open up the pool of candidates that the community and the school board would get to choose from,” Wilson noted. “You certainly can have someone that’s homegrown, like we see now with Superintendent Leonard, or you can have somebody that comes from outside the area, like we had with Superintendent Dr. Tim Smith.”
- Wilson emphasizes that the appointed system provides greater accountability and flexibility. “If things aren’t going the way the school board or the electorate wants to see, you’re able to change course a lot quicker than you would be if it was an elected superintendent.”
Community Divided
The geographic divide from the 2018 vote remains stark. “You saw folks that lived in the city of Pensacola overwhelmingly vote for appointed,” Wilson recalled. “You saw a lot of folks on the west side… vote overwhelmingly for an appointed superintendent. And then folks at what was the time district one up towards Beulah and District 5 vote for elected.” The two school board members that opposed putting the issue back on the ballot were District 3’s David Williams and District 4’s Carissa Bergosh, whose districts cover the City of Pensacola.
- Wilson worries that continually revisiting this issue creates uncertainty that could harm public education at a critical time. “We’re seeing now public schools are in competition big time with private schools that are taking vouchers,” he said. “Is it leaving more uncertainty in parents that have been choosing public schools to send their kids to?”
Despite concerns about political partisanship in education, Wilson remains committed to the appointed system. “I always struggle with the school board being a partisan. The superintendent would be a partisan elected position,” he explained. “Most people, I think, in the community would rather have somebody that’s more in the middle one way or the other leading our school district.”
When asked if he’s ready for another campaign, Wilson was resolute: “Yeah, I guess so. Let’s buckle up and get after it.”
