Hillsborough County voters have decided that the person running their public schools should answer to them at the ballot box rather than to the school board.

County Referendum 1 passed, making the superintendent an elected position instead of an appointed one. The superintendent leads the operations of the county’s school system, the seventh-largest in the country, with more than 220,000 students. Current Superintendent Van Ayres was appointed to the post in November 2023.

Supporters argued that parents and the public should have a direct say in who leads their children’s education. State Representative Michael Owen, who introduced the bill behind the referendum, said the idea has circulated in Hillsborough County for years. Owen, a former county commissioner, said residents have long wanted more say in choosing the “CEO of their child’s education.”

The school board opposed the change. Members introduced a resolution opposing the measure in early October, and the board voted unanimously against it. Vice Chair Nadia Combs said, “We have to keep politics out of schools.” She also questioned how an elected superintendent could run a district of this size while campaigning for office, and she raised concerns about PAC money, saying donors could give without the public knowing.

Those objections did not carry the day. The result means the full electorate will now decide what a small group of board members had long decided, and the person in the job will face voters rather than a board vote. Opponents warned about the influence of campaign money, but supporters counter that an elected superintendent is directly accountable to the parents and taxpayers he or she serves.

With the vote, Hillsborough joins 39 other Florida school districts that elect their superintendents.

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