District 5 Runoff
Voters in District 5 will be voting in the Nov. 5 General Election to determine if Reggie Blunt or Hank Rogers will represent them on the Duval County School Board. JPEF encourages voters to learn more about the candidates by reading their responses to our questions or viewing the District 5 Candidate Forum.
Important Dates:
Oct. 7 - Deadline to register to vote
Oct. 21-Nov. 3 - Early voting, see here for early voting locations
Oct. 24 - Deadline to request vote by mail ballot
See the Duval County Elections website for more information on voting and the Nov. 5 General Election.
2024 Election Results
Three of the four Duval County School Board seats on the ballot were decided in the Aug. 20 primary election. Two candidates, Reggie Blount and Hank Rogers, will be in a runoff on Nov. 5 for the District 5 seat.
The winners of the primary election were:
District 1 - Tony Ricardo
District 3 - Cindy Pearson
District 7 - Melody Buldoc
They, and the winner of the District 5 runoff election, will be sworn in mid-November.
Am I Eligible to Vote?
Find out which school board district you reside in by using the link below.
Candidates
Qualifying for the 2024 School Board Elections ended on June 14 with contested races in all four districts. Voters are encouraged to learn more about the candidates in their district and attend JPEF's upcoming candidate forums.
Learn More About the Candidates
Candidate Forums
JPEF and several partner organizations will be hosting Candidate Forums in July and August to give voters the opportunity to learn more about the individuals seeking to represent them on the school board. Attendance to the forums is free; however, we do ask you to register for our planning purposes. The schedule for the forums is:
District 1
Thursday, July 25
District 3
Tuesday, July 23
District 5
Tuesday, July 30
Edward Waters University – Milne Auditorium
District 7
Thursday, August 1
The Hopewell Church
Important Dates for August 20 Primary:
Voter Registration Deadline: July 22
Early Voting: August 5- August 18
Deadline to Request Vote-by-Mail Ballot: August 8 by 5 p.m.
Deadline to Return Vote-by-Mail Ballot: August 20 by 7 p.m.
Election Day: Tuesday, August 20, 7 a.m. - 7 p.m.
What does the Duval County School Board do?
Duval County has seven school board districts. The citizens living within each district elect an individual to represent them and to look out for all public school students in Duval County. School Board members are elected for a term of four years, and are limited to two terms. School board members are paid an annual salary of $47,072, as determined by state law.
Board members are required to attend meetings, thoughtfully consider issues before them and set the policies for the school district. The board is policy-setting body; it is the role of the school superintendent to oversee the implementation of the policies and the day-to-day operations of the school district.
What are some of the areas that the school board addresses?
- Curriculum. The school board approves curriculums for all schools. They are directly responsible for how our future accountants learn math, how our future surgeons start out in science, and how our future writers learn nuances of language.
- Developing and adopting policies. The school board sets policies that govern our schools, such as the district’s code of conduct. These policies outline the board’s duties in areas that range from approving collective bargaining agreements that govern teacher and staff contracts, the opening or closing of some schools and much more. The school board is also tasked with adopting policies to comply with education-related legislation like those that may come down the pipeline from the federal and state governments.
- Setting the budget. Public schools are funded by tax dollars (both property, state sales tax and federal taxes). Although the state of Florida has a big say in how school districts spend their money, the school board determines how a lot of these education dollars are allocated within the school district. You can learn more about how the budget works in a 2012 Jacksonville Public Education Fund policy brief.
- Overseeing facilities issues. It is the responsibility of the school board to approve or deny changes in school academic programs (like magnet programs) and which schools should remain open or should be closed down.
These are only a few of the many important decisions Duval’s school board is tasked with. Because education-related issues affect everyone, it is imperative that everyone in a community is represented.
So how do you get involved?
Empower yourself and get educated. The Duval County School Board meets at least once per month and the meetings are open to the public. Don’t want to sit in? You can watch the meetings online through streamed webcast or on local cable.
Know who your school board member is and how to contact him or her. You can find the district maps here and find bios and contact information for school board members here.
