Candidate Profile 2024: Heather Felton For Manatee County School Board

MANATEE COUNTY, FL — Heather Felton is running for the Manatee County Commission District 1 seat. She faces two opponents in the race.

Patch sent a questionnaire to all District 1 candidates.

Find Felton’s responses below:

Name:

Heather Felton

Age:

49

Occupation:

Former teacher, currently biologics coordinator and patient advocate for a local private practice.

Why are you running for office?

The parents, teachers, and school staff have very little voice when it comes to the school board. Most of the current board members have not worked in our schools or had children in our district. It is important to me that there is representation on the board for these groups.

What do you think are the top three issues the school district is currently facing?

1 - Fair and equitable pay for teachers and paras. Florida is ranked 50th for average teacher salary. The board needs to work with the bargaining units to raise teacher pay for those who are already working here. The compression of the pay scale that has teachers with ten years of experience earning the same as a starting teachers provides no incentive for experienced teachers to stay or develop in their careers. We need to retain - not just hire - teachers.
2 - Ensuring parents have access to the services they need for their children. It is too difficult to get access to the the needed services for learning disabilities or mental health care. Parents do not know how to navigate the system or what steps they need to take to help their kids succeed.
3 - Advocating for and prioritizing the needs of our students. The priority should be making decisions and voting in favor of policies that benefit the kids foremost – not playing politics or appeasing specific groups. If a policy will hurt kids, vote against it. If we can fund it and it will help kids, then vote for it. The kids - and by extension the staff and parents - should always be the focus.

Learn more about Felton at her campaign website, on her Facebook page and on Instagram.