Duval County School Board in Jacksonville, Florida

The Duval County School Board is the seven-member elected board that runs Duval County Public Schools, the public school district for the consolidated City of Jacksonville, Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach and Baldwin. Florida law gives the board the job outright: under section 1001.32 of the Florida Statutes, district school boards shall operate, control, and supervise all free public schools in their respective districts, while the superintendent serves as the board's secretary and executive officer and handles day to day administration.

The structure in Jacksonville has been stable for decades. In 2009 the Jacksonville Daily Record described the Duval County school system as split into seven districts with one representative each on the School Board, with the board setting policy and an appointed superintendent carrying it out. At the time the board and superintendent were responsible for more than 150 schools and over 124,000 students. By May 2024, the Daily Record reported, Duval had more than 129,000 students, which makes it one of the largest districts in Florida and far larger than Lee County, where the current superintendent came from.

Each member represents one of seven districts and serves a four-year term, and the terms are staggered so that three or four seats come up every two years. School board races in Florida are nonpartisan on the ballot. The News4JAX 2024 voters guide explained that a district's race appears on the ballot for all voters in this district, regardless of party affiliation, and described District 1 as covering parts of Arlington and the northeast corner of Jacksonville.

Because there is no party primary, most races are settled in August. Jacksonville Today explains the rule: if one of the candidates gets more than 50 percent of the vote, that candidate wins the seat; otherwise the two candidates with the most votes continue on to a runoff in November. The 2024 cycle tested the nonpartisan label, and according to the Jacksonville Public Education Fund, Florida voters turned down Amendment 1 that November, keeping school board races nonpartisan.

The lines themselves follow state rules and local politics. Section 1001.36 of the Florida Statutes allows a seven-member board to use seven residence areas of nearly equal population and bars boundary changes in the 270 days before a general election. Jacksonville Today reported in July 2026 that the board's district boundaries had changed since the last election for those seats, after civil rights groups successfully sued the City of Jacksonville over what they said was a racially gerrymandered district map. The new lines put District 6 on the far Westside, District 4 across the Northside and District 2 toward the Beaches.

As of October 2026, news coverage identifies the seven members as Tony Ricardo in District 1, April Carney in District 2 (vice chair), Cindy Pearson in District 3, Darryl Willie in District 4, Reginald Blount in District 5, Charlotte Joyce in District 6 (chair) and Melody Bolduc in District 7. The Jacksonville Public Education Fund records that in the August 2024 primary Tony Ricardo received the majority of votes to become the District 1 School Board member, and that Blount won his seat in the November 2024 runoff. Last verified: October 9, 2026, against Jacksonville Today and Jacksonville Public Education Fund reporting, because the Duval County Public Schools website returned no readable roster during this check.

Three of those seats change hands at the end of 2026. Jacksonville Today reported in July 2026 that District 6's Charlotte Joyce, the current board chair, and District 4's Darryl Willie are both term-limited, and that Vice Chair April Carney, who has represented District 2 since 2022, opted not to run for reelection. Twelve candidates qualified: three in District 2, four in District 4 and five in District 6. On primary night, August 18, 2026, Jacksonville Today's list of Duval contests decided outright included no School Board seat, and it noted that races not listed were headed to a runoff in November, which falls on November 3.

The politics of the board have shifted sharply. Jacksonville Today reported in August 2026 that six of the seven members are registered Republicans and that Willie is the board's sole registered Democrat. The District 6 race on the Westside drew more than $200,000 in contributions, the third most expensive of more than 200 school board races in Florida that year. The Florida Trib, in a story Jacksonville Today republished, described District 4 as covering many of Jacksonville's historically Black neighborhoods and schools across the Northside, a seat traditionally held by a Democrat.

The board hires the superintendent. The Jacksonville Daily Record reports that the Duval County School Board selected Christopher Bernier on May 23, 2024 as the next superintendent of Duval County Public Schools, and Action News Jax reported the vote as 7-0. Bernier had led Lee County Schools from 2022 and began in Jacksonville on July 1, 2024. In July 2025, Action News Jax reported, the board gave him an overall Highly Effective rating in his first evaluation, the same month the district earned its first-ever A grade from the state.

An elected superintendent has been floated more than once. In 2009 the city's Charter Revision Commission heard testimony on the question, and the Daily Record reported that the speakers favored keeping an elected board and appointed superintendent. In September 2019 State Rep. Jason Fischer, chair of the Duval Delegation and a former School Board member, proposed a referendum on electing the superintendent. Board chair Lori Hershey responded, in a statement reported by WOKV, that the last time Duval had an elected school superintendent, the district lost its accreditation. News4JAX reported that the Duval Delegation voted 6-2 on November 1, 2019 to advance the bill; Duval's superintendent remains an appointed position in 2026.

Florida law spells out a long list of powers. Section 1001.42 directs district school boards to adopt a school program for the entire district, establish schools and enrollment plans, provide for the elimination of school centers and the consolidation of schools, designate staff positions and set their qualifications and pay, and arrange the district school taxes needed to operate schools for a 180-day term. Section 1001.371 requires the board to organize each November by electing a chair, and makes the superintendent the board's secretary. The same statute requires the superintendent, as secretary, to keep minutes that show the vote of each member present on every matter, which is why every Duval closure or budget vote leaves a member-by-member record.

In Jacksonville those powers have been exercised most visibly on closures and budgets. Jacksonville Today reported that on November 4, 2024 the Duval County School Board approved six school closures, expected to save a little less than $3.3 million, while the district faced a shortfall of about $100 million as federal pandemic funding ended. Superintendent Bernier listed transportation to magnet programs, after-school programs and support staff among the possible cuts.

Taxes come back to the board every four years. According to the Jacksonville Public Education Fund, voters in 2022, when the district faced its worst teacher shortage in more than five years, approved a 1-mill property tax to supplement teacher pay and fund arts and athletic programs. Voters are asked to renew the tax every four years, and Duval County Public Schools asked the Jacksonville City Council to place the renewal on the November 3, 2026 General Election ballot, the same ballot as the three School Board runoffs.