Race Analysis: Manatee School Board District 2

The Manatee County School Board District 2 race is one of the most interesting local races in recent cycles. It features an incumbent, a former board member, and three candidates who work or have worked in the district.

School board races are nonpartisan and appear on the August ballot. If no candidate earns a majority of the votes, the top two vote-getters advance to a November runoff.

Cindy Spray

Incumbent Cindy Spray is completing her first four-year term on the board. When Spray ran in 2022, she had been fairly well immersed in local partisan politics. Spray, 70, was endorsed by Moms for Liberty, whose rhetoric regarding inappropriate books in school libraries she echoed on the campaign trail. Spray was also endorsed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, which required signing a pledge to support the DeSantis Education Agenda.

As such, there was valid concern that her work on the board would be partisan and/or ideologically driven. However, during her first term, Spray proved to be focused on improving educational outcomes while avoiding the sort of ideological theater we have often seen from overtly partisan officials on this and other local boards. She has successfully used her corporate background to remain mindful of district spending initiatives and has worked well with other board members, regardless of ideological differences.

Spray was one of three board members who voted to terminate Superintendent Jason Wysong’s contract without cause just two years into his tenure. In a 3-2 vote, members on the prevailing side cited communication issues, a loss of confidence in his leadership style, and disagreements over how he handled a case involving teacher misconduct as reasons for the dismissal.

Given that Wysong had ushered in a period of relative calm after a tumultuous, scandal-plagued era that saw employee morale wither, there was justified concern that a district on the upswing might falter under new leadership. That said, the hiring of Dr. Laurie Breslin, who is closing in on her first year as superintendent, has led to continued improvements in both morale and performance.

This would usually be enough for an incumbent to easily earn a second term. But District 2, which was redrawn to align with the county commission’s second district (which itself had been redrawn by a Republican majority following the last census to make it easier for a conservative to win), is unique among the board’s five seats.

The district includes most of Palmetto and much of the urban corridor south of the bridge. It has the most Title 1 (poverty-metric) schools in the district, and third-grade reading readiness has remained stubbornly below goal. The district contains some of the oldest and tightest-knit communities in the county.

While Spray has lived in Manatee County since 2008, she is still seen as a District 2 outsider, and some voters say they want a representative who better understands the district, its schools, and its communities. In this regard, there are two candidates who best fit the bill.

Sharon Jefferson

Dr. Sharon Jefferson is a 27-year veteran educator and National Board-Certified Teacher who currently teaches social studies at W. D. Sugg Middle School. Her former role in the district was a Title 1 Instructional Specialist. Jefferson's platform emphasizes teacher retention, student mental health, and addressing Adverse Childhood Experiences in underserved schools.

Jefferson, 54, is District 2 born and raised. A Palmetto native who graduated from Palmetto High, she has worked at several District 2 schools, building relationships with the parents, students, and administrators she would serve.

Jefferson’s command of school district issues is excellent, and she brings decades of district employment experience that would provide a unique perspective. While the next board will already have three members with some experience teaching in our public schools, none of their classroom resumes compare to that of Jefferson, who would also bring the most hands-on experience with Title I schools to the board of any candidate or incumbent.

JT White

JT “Church” White is another candidate who can make the case that he understands the district and can connect with the community. Like Jefferson, White grew up in the district and attended its schools from elementary through high school before working for the district as an IT specialist at several schools.

Born in Georgia, White initially lived with his father, an accomplished member of the Georgia legislature, before moving to Manatee County as a child, where his mother was a teacher.

White’s mother spent over three decades in the district, eventually rising to the position of principal at Manatee Elementary, a District 2 Title 1 school. White’s reverence for his mother’s work as an educator and his father’s work as a legislator have clearly informed the sense of service to his community that is at the heart of his campaign.

Despite his IT background, White thinks the district is overly reliant on technology, especially when it comes to reading software. White advocates investing in more reading coaches, particularly in Title I schools, where grade-level reading by third grade (a crucial metric for future academic success) is lagging. At 40, White is the youngest candidate in the race.

White’s campaign has been somewhat hampered by reports that he entered a no-contest plea on a Domestic Battery charge stemming from a 2017 incident involving his child’s mother. The judge withheld adjudication, and White served six months of community control followed by 18 months of probation. When asked about the incident, White categorically denies the allegation. He points out that the accuser declined to press charges and that there has been nothing in his life before or since to suggest such behavior.

The State Attorney’s Office nevertheless brought a case, and White says he regrets using a public defender and agreeing to plead no contest in an effort to put the ordeal behind him as swiftly as possible. He said that had he understood the implications of that decision on his future endeavors, he would have spent the time and money to attempt to fully exonerate himself.

Margi Nanney

Margi Nanney is a longtime Oneco resident who has lived in Manatee County for 40 years. She has decades of experience working in multiple roles within the district, including serving as communications director and teaching in the classroom.

Nanney, 72, has invested much time as a volunteer in the district, most notably with the TSA program. Nanney has also served on the boards of the Manatee Chamber of Commerce and Manatee Economic Development Council, as well as United Way, Salvation Army, and Keep Manatee Beautiful.

James Golden

James Golden is a former Manatee County School Board member who has been something of a perennial candidate, having run for everything from Congress to Manatee County Commission over the past quarter century. He previously served on the Bradenton City Council from 1999 to 2007.

Golden represented District 5 on the school board from 2018 to 2022, during which time he was a stalwart supporter of superintendents Diana Greene and Cindy Saunders. During that term, Golden made many enemies in District 2 when he remained deaf to the pleas of students, parents, and teachers and voted to revoke  Lincoln Middle Academy's charter after it had successfully converted to a district charter school.

Golden was defeated by District 5 incumbent Richard Tatem in his reelection bid. Golden’s platform is somewhat generic, and he failed to meaningfully distinguish himself during his previous term on the board.

At 78, Golden is also the oldest candidate in the race. Given that he often seemed somewhat out of touch during his previous term, it is difficult to imagine making a case for Golden over other candidates in this competitive field, especially in a district that has understandably not moved past the LMA takeover.