Government Of, By and For the Mayor?

One of the proposals from the Jacksonville Charter Review Commission is to allow the Mayor to appoint our School Board. I can think of a whole lot of reasons we shouldn't:

1) The Florida Constitution says "In each school district there shall be a school board composed of five or more members chosen by vote of the electors."

2) An appointed School Board would be insulated from the influence of the voters, giving it less legitimacy in the eyes of parents.

3) Currently, the nonpartisan nature of School Board elections keeps partisan bickering from interfering with the education of our children. Each School Board member brings their personal philosophy to every vote, to be sure, but every vote isn't seen as a test of Party loyalty. If the School Board comes to be seen as an extension of the Mayor's administration, would the power brokers in the Mayor's party expect the School Board to abide by the Party line?

4) School Board appointments could devolve into a form of political patronage, a reward for campaign donors, staff people who for some reason need to be removed from the Mayor's Office, and other assorted cronies. Are those the people we want running our schools? (Don't count on the City Council to demand that appointees are qualified - the Mayor usually gets what (and who) he or she asks for.)

5) Do we really want the Mayor to have even more power? He or she is merely the candidate who received slightly more than half the votes, after all. To a great extent, elections are determined by luck, especially when there is no clear front runner early in the race. (At last count, I think there were seven declared candidates, more than a year before the election.) We could end up with a Mayor whose appointees are consistently incompetent, or worse.

6) Running for public office is not easy. That someone is willing to do so proves a certain amount of dedication. I've met many elected officials with whom I have disagreed vehemently; I've met very few who weren't doing the best they could.

7) In the past the School Board has been an exceptionally diverse body. Diversity is a strength, especially when there is no clear-cut correct answer to a question, when the choices are all bad or, worse yet, when they each impact a different group. Appointed bodies tend to be much less diverse.

8) Lastly but certainly not least important, why should we, as voters, give up power to anyone? I for one cherish our democratic form of government, as imperfect as it is. Both of our major political parties espouse our right to vote, to directly influence our government. Would you vote away your right to vote for Congress? Of course not! We shouldn't give up our right to vote for our School Board members, either.

What do you think?