Republicans move to make Florida school boards partisan

Why it matters: Partisan elections would raise the cost of competing for a board seat, and Florida’s closed primary system would shut unaffiliated voters out.

Supporters say voters want and deserve to know the political party affiliations of board candidates.

• "The biggest sham in politics are nonpartisan races on the ballot, especially for school boards, as we’ve seen in the last year or two now," Christian Ziegler, the Vice-Chair of the Republican Party of Florida, told Bay News 9.

The other side: Critics say partisan races would polarize boards that handle arcane matters like bus routes and budgets.