Opinion ID: 386196
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The School Board

Text: 29 An at-large system for electing School Board members was established by state law in 1947. Fla.Stat. §§ 230.08, .10 (1975). The district court discussed the enactment of that law, and, applying the Arlington Heights criteria, found it to have been born from a desire to exclude blacks. 30 From 1907, 1907 Fla.Laws, ch. 5697, § 1, until 1945 there was clear support for single-member district elections for School Board members. During this period the primary elections for School Board members were conducted as single-member district elections, while the general elections were at-large. Because the all-white Democratic primary was tantamount to the election, from 1907 through 1945 the School Board was a de facto, if not de jure, single-member district body. Thus, in 1945 the clear policy of the citizenry of Escambia County was to favor single-member district elections for School Board members. 31 The 1945 decision in Davis v. State ex rel. Cromwell, 156 Fla. 181, 23 So.2d 85 (1945) (en banc), changed that, however, by declaring unconstitutional the white primary. In the very first legislative session following Davis, the legislature enacted statutes requiring at-large elections in both the primary, 1947 Fla.Laws, ch. 23726, § 7, and the general election, 1947 Fla.Laws, ch. 23726, § 9. 32 Looking at the change from single-member districts to at-large districts through Arlington Heights glasses, the conclusion that the change had an invidious purpose is inescapable. The specific sequence of events leading up to the decision mandates the conclusion that the citizens of Escambia County in 1945, with the demise of the white primary, were not going to take any chances on blacks gaining power and thus purposefully sought to dilute black voting strength through the use of an at-large system. Furthermore, the history of the county suggests a substantive policy which favored single-member districts for the election of School Board members. The abrupt, unexplained departure from that forty-year policy upon the heels of the white primary's demise justifies the district court's conclusion that the change was racially motivated. Accordingly, we concur in the statement of the district court that (t)he evidence of discriminatory motives behind the at-large requirements of the 1947 system is compelling. 33 There is recent evidence of community awareness that the effect of the at-large system is to dilute the voting strength of blacks, and evidence that the dilutive effect will be capitalized on by the white majority to keep the School Board responsive to them. In 1975 the School Board took a position favorable to black interests on the question of whether the nickname Rebel should continue to be used at Escambia County High School. 13 34 The district court found that, in at least partial retaliation against the Board for its decision on the issue, the legislative delegation introduced a bill to increase the size of the Board to seven members, to change from an elective to an appointive school superintendent, and to reduce the salaries of Board members. The bill as introduced had the unanimous support of the local delegation. 14 As is required by state law, a referendum election was held to present the bill to the Escambia County electorate for approval. The proposals to increase the size of the Board and to reduce members' salaries passed overwhelmingly, but the provision to change to an appointed superintendent was defeated. 15 35 It is impossible to know unequivocally what motivated the electorate to vote to increase the size of the School Board. However, the fact that an earlier referendum for such an increase failed by a two-to-one margin, in conjunction with the racially charged atmosphere at the time of the second referendum, strongly suggests the vote was racially motivated. The district court described the situation as follows: 36 The 1976 change in the school board's election system was avowedly to pack the board to make it more responsive to the white majority on a particular racially polarized issue.... This is a telling indication of the legislators' and community's recognition and use of the at-large system as a method of rendering black voters politically impotent to the desires of the white majority. 37 Dist.Ct.Order, p. 31. 38 The district court correctly held that the at-large system of electing School Board members was developed with a discriminatory purpose and is being utilized by the majority population for such a purpose. Accordingly, the district court was correct in holding the at-large system for electing School Board members unconstitutional. 16