Incumbent Chris Hodgson and challenger Cal Peterson addressed voters at the Lake Butler Women’s Club, laying out competing approaches to a district facing declining enrollment and a depleted reserve fund.
Hodgson, the current school board chairman, is seeking a second term. A 1990 Union County High School graduate whose wife, in-laws and children also attended local schools, he has spent 34 years with the Florida Department of Corrections, starting as a Union County corrections deputy and rising through FDC to assistant regional director overseeing 12 wardens. He officiated high school football for 25 years.
Hodgson named three priorities: the budget, construction of a new school, and improved communication with parents and staff. He said the district’s fund balance had fallen to roughly 2.7 percent of revenues, below the board’s 4 percent policy and under the state’s 3 percent floor but projected a recovery to 6 or 7 percent next year. The district cut $4.4 million in expenditures over two years, largely through positions, he said, after losing 350 students in four years to Florida’s parent-choice vouchers. He pointed to a $79 million new Lake Butler Elementary School project with a $1.9 million legislative placeholder this year, and a half-cent sales tax referendum headed to the November ballot to fund infrastructure.
Peterson, a retired educator and part-time emergency health provider, moved to the county about seven years ago after a hunting trip. He described a career spanning elementary through college classrooms, a Christian school superintendency in Maryland, and service on a community college board of trustees.
He said the district’s finances hinge on understanding why families are leaving, and pledged to visit classrooms, review lesson plans and textbooks, and speak with principals and staff. He also questioned how many teachers hold education degrees versus online certifications, and pledged to donate 10 percent of his board salary back to the district.
Both candidates declined to criticize the other.
