School Board candidates in St. Johns County spar over finances

See our full voter guide for more information about candidates running for office in St. Johns County. 

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Candidates for a School Board seat in northeast St. Johns County are sparring over campaign contributions and reflecting on the district’s multimillion-dollar budget shortfall.

Leif Jonassen III, Tammie McClafferty and Jillian Tozer are vying to represent the fourth district, an area that includes communities like Nocatee and Ponte Vedra Beach.

If one of the candidates receives more than 50% of the votes in the Aug. 18 primary election, they will win the seat. If not, the two candidates with the most votes will carry forward to the general election in November. 

Whoever wins the School Board race will gain a seat on the five-member board, which calls the shots on the school district’s budget and makes key decisions on topics like when and where to open schools.

Meet the School Board candidates

Each candidate for the District 4 seat cites similar priorities, but they differ in their approaches and their connection with the area. 

When Tozer moved to the area in 2020, she says, the quality of St. Johns County’s schools was a big factor. She wants to maintain the district’s top-of-the-state ranking.

Originally from Pennsylvania, Tozer got her start in the culinary world before going back to school for community and regional planning. Before moving to Florida, she was involved with and ran nonprofit organizations providing food for low-income individuals.

Seeing the district struggle with its finances, Tozer wanted to try to do something about it.

“We watched our principal … crying about how she was gonna have to lay off nine teachers due to budget constraints,” Tozer says. “I kind of looked around and said, ‘Okay, what can I do that I’m not already doing?’ And I looked into the two other candidates and [saw] some real social issues I disagreed with and I said, ‘Okay, well, I at least have to try.’”

School boards are nonpartisan bodies, but that doesn’t mean party politics aren’t a factor.

Neither Jonassen nor McClafferty tout specific social issues as priorities on their campaign websites or in their responses to a questionnaire from Jacksonville Today, but they are registered Republicans, and McClafferty has criticized Tozer as a “far-left activist.”

Tozer is a Democrat, which she acknowledges may represent a challenge in St. Johns County, where Republicans outnumber Democrats 3 to 1. Still, she believes she is the most qualified for the role.

McClafferty has lived in the area the longest, but she also has roots in Pennsylvania. She first moved to Northeast Florida in 2008 after selling the private preschool and childcare facility she ran with her husband.

McClafferty’s faith is a big part of her life. She works as an assistant professor of education at Trinity College Jacksonville and runs Lifework First Coast. Lifework offers faith-based leadership development courses to help people understand “how to take their faith into the workplace,” McClafferty says.

Graduates of her courses include congressman John Rutherford, Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters and St. Johns County School Board member Kelly Barrera, whose seat McClafferty is looking to fill. 

McClafferty says it was Barrera who encouraged her to run for office.

“This is, I feel, what I am most qualified to do in a way that I can continue to serve the community with the skills that God’s given me,” McClafferty says.

Even though her faith is a big part of her life, McClafferty says part of that expression is respecting all people.

“I believe that every single human being is created in the image of God,” McClafferty says, “and because I believe that, and I live that out — hopefully — I have to, just by saying what my faith is, respect everybody, treat everybody kindly, love everybody and exemplify that in my faith.”

The third candidate for the District 4 seat is Jonassen, a businessman and real estate agent who has lived in St. Johns County for five years. 

In response to Jacksonville Today’s questionnaire, Jonassen touts his 20 years as a CEO of a healthcare recruiting company, JPE Healthcare Staffing, and his “extensive experience managing budgets, hiring, and operations.”

“I am running for School Board to bring a parent’s perspective and practical business experience to our district,” Jonassen writes.

Tozer has children in the public school system. McClafferty says her kids are graduates of St. Johns County’s schools, and Jonassen says his fiancee has three children in local public schools.

Finances inside and outside the classroom

For all three candidates, a top priority is the district’s budget. 

With more families choosing to homeschool their children or send them to private schools, St. Johns County is seeing less funding from the state. The district says its deficit grows when some of those children return after state funding has already been doled out.

Tozer says the way to tackle it is to start with an independent audit. She also says expanding the district’s advance placement, International Baccalaureate and dual enrollment programs could bring in more students (and, along with them, revenue) and quality to the schools. 

In addition, Tozer says that, if elected, she will donate half of her School Board salary back to the community. School Board members earn an annual salary of $48,485.

McClafferty says a key strategy is to focus on Tallahassee, through lobbying and communication with lawmakers. She says that she supports school choice but that the expansion of the state’s voucher program has hurt public schools. 

“I don’t think everybody thinks through the ramifications of it long term,” she says.

Jonassen promotes what he calls “smart efficiencies,” like reducing “nonessential” spending at the administrative level, renegotiating vendor contracts and evaluating programs “not directly tied to core academics or essential student services.” 

Campaign finances

While discussing the budget deficit, the candidates also are raising money for their own campaigns — some far more than others. 

Tozer has raised the least money. As of July 24, she reported having raised $5,165, more than $2,000 of it from family members. She also received $500 donations from Reach Out Florida and the Jacksonville National Organization for Women PAC.

Jonassen, as of July 24, had raised $7,652. He contributed $3,760 of which that to himself. 

McClafferty has the most money by far — $28,853 as of July 24. Her donations included $250 from outgoing School Board member Kelly Barrera, $500 from local attorneys office Woolsey Morcom and $1,000 from Rutherford.

McClafferty also has received a number of $1,000 donations from individuals around Northeast Florida and $1,000 from JAX Good Government, a political action committee connected to Republican strategist William Stafford Jones. 

McClafferty’s campaign also has a PAC of its own, Friends of Tammie McClafferty, which received a $25,000 donation in July from Florida Courage, a PAC run by Jones.

The McClafferty PAC is run by Noreen Fenner, who works with Republican candidates across the state, including several in Northeast Florida during this election cycle. PACs connected to Fenner and Jones also contributed to the 2024 St. Johns County Commission campaigns that had all the hallmarks of so-called ghost candidates.

In a statement calling out the campaign’s “dark money,” Tozer tied McClafferty’s campaign funding to the recent criminal charges against two St. Johns County commissioners.

“Outside groups use hidden money to manipulate local voters,” Tozer writes. “But District 4 voters are tired of being manipulated, and they are too smart to fall for it again.”

When asked about Tozer’s comments, McClafferty said Tozer is a “far-left activist who would rather talk about campaign contributions than defend her own agenda.” 

“Every contribution to my campaign is fully disclosed and complies with Florida law, and I’m proud to have the support of those who believe in putting students, parents, and academic excellence first.

“The real choice in this election is between common-sense leadership for our schools or the radical ideology Ms. Tozer represents that has no place in St. Johns County classrooms.”

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Early voting begins Aug. 8 and runs through Aug. 15. Click here for the full list of early voting locations in St. Johns County.