Incumbent defends St. Johns School Board seat from newcomer’s challenge

Voters in northwest St. Johns County will decide in the upcoming primary election whether the longest-serving member on the St. Johns County School Board will serve for another term.

Longtime St. Johns County School Board member Beverly Slough faces a challenge from Kevin Allen, whose background is in sales and management. 

Slough and Allen are running to represent District 1, which includes communities like RiverTown and Fruit Cove.

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

Slough has lived in St. Johns County for nearly 50 years and was first elected to the School Board in 2002. Aside from a failed congressional bid in 2012 — the victor in that Republican primary election was now-Gov. Ron DeSantis — she has been a constant on the board for more than two decades. 

Her opponent is a relative newcomer to St. Johns County. He moved here just three years ago. 

Slough promotes her experience on the board and knowledge of the inner workings of the highly-rated school district, and Allen says his experience with money would be a much-needed voice in a district that is navigating multimillion-dollar financial challenges. 

According to his profile on the social media platform LinkedIn, Allen currently works as a sales manager for the CONMED Corp., a company that manufactures medical equipment. Before that, his profile says he spent three years as a manager for Amazon, with various sales jobs in the finance world before that.

School board priorities

Both candidates have stressed the importance of tackling the district’s funding challenges, but from different perspectives. 

In response to a questionnaire from Jacksonville Today, Slough pointed out that the school district is already hard at work balancing its budget. The School Board supported a measure to cut administrative positions and increase class sizes. Slough also says small changes “like reduced travel for staff” will help keep expenses down. 

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Allen suggests more dramatic changes. In addition to cutting administrative jobs, his proposal to slow or outright pause future residential development through the school concurrency review process echoes the slow-the-growth stances of several candidates for St. Johns County Commission. 

Before seeking an OK to build new homes in a community, a developer must first get the green light from entities like the school district to ensure the new homes will not overload schools. In an already crowded school district, Allen wants to “stop the developers from controlling the School Board,” he said in one social media post.

Money talks

Aside from each candidate’s rhetoric, their endorsements and donations highlight other notable differences.

Slough has been endorsed by Republican congressman John Rutherford, the St. Johns Education Association teacher’s union and the St. Augustine Board of Realtors. 

As of the end of July, Slough has raised nearly $44,000 in campaign contributions, including thousands in donations from individuals connected to residential development. 

Slough received $6,000 in donations from members of the Hutson family — including former state lawmaker turned county employee Travis Hutson — whose Hutson Cos. built the Silverleaf community. She also received thousands of dollars in donations from companies connected to Donald Hinson, the Hutson Cos.’ former president.

Other sizable donations to her campaign include $3,000 from PARC Group founder Roger O’Steen, his wife and the company itself. PARC Group is the development company responsible for building out the Nocatee community in northeast St. Johns County.

In addition to direct donations to Slough’s campaign, the political action committee Florida Courage donated $25,000 to the Friends of Bev Slough PAC. Both PACs are run by William Stafford Jones, a Republican strategist who runs hundreds of committees and supports campaigns across the state.

Florida Courage also donated $25,000 to District 4 School Board candidate Tammie McClafferty.

Allen has raised comparatively little — roughly $18,000 as of the end of July. A third of that came from his own contributions to his campaign. He has also received a number of $1,000 donations from individuals across the area.

In posts on social media, Allen has touted himself as the only candidate in the race not accepting donations from developers.

Allen has picked up endorsements from the St. Johns County Republican Assembly — a separate organization from the local Republican Party — as well as several other Republican groups. He has also been endorsed by St. Johns County Commissioner Ann Taylor.

With just two candidates running for the School Board seat, the race will be decided next week. No November runoff is required.

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Early voting is already underway, and Election Day is Tuesday. Polls open at 7 a.m. Tuesday and will remain open until 7 p.m. Information about candidates and voting precincts is available at the St. Johns County Supervisor of Elections Office website.