Candidate Profile: Gordon Porter, Walton County School Board District 3

Christian Foundations and Other Faiths

Porter argues that:

• The United States was founded on Christian principles, with Christian ideas woven into founding documents and private correspondence between the Founders.
• For roughly 200 years prior to the 1960s, there was little dispute over prayer or the role of Christianity in public education.

When asked whether his approach would also allow for, for example, a Muslim imam to lead prayer, or a Catholic rosary to be broadcast over the PA system, Porter draws a clear distinction:

• He says he does not want to “split hairs” among Christian denominations (e.g., Baptist, Methodist, Catholic).
• But he argues that Islam “does not align with American values” and is “antithesis to what America was founded on.”

He acknowledges First Amendment constraints but maintains that schools should orient students toward the values he believes the country was founded upon.

Teaching the Bible

Porter says that in his “perfect world,” theology or Bible-based classes would have a place in the school system, with some caveats:

• He points to earlier periods of American education, including as late as the 1930s, when the Bible, Isaac Watts’s hymnals, and McGuffey’s Readers were commonly used in classrooms and were infused with Christian principles.
• He says he does not support using schools to push students toward a particular denomination or overtly proselytizing.
• Instead, he favors teaching the Bible as a core cultural and educational text — “interwoven” into education, including literacy — rather than as a purely religious or theological course aimed at conversion.

Porter links the removal of school prayer (in the early 1960s) and the withdrawal of the Bible from classrooms to what he describes as alarming trends:

• Rising teen and even pre-teen suicide rates
• Increased depression
• Greater drug abuse

He characterizes these social problems as evidence of the consequences of omitting God and Biblical influence from education.

Anticipating Legal Challenges

Porter acknowledges that efforts to expand or formalize religious expression in schools could become litigious. He says he has considered this and points to Mississippi’s role in the overturning of Roe v. Wade as an example of how challenges to case law can be structured.

He argues:

• Many current restrictions are rooted in case law, not explicit statutory bans.
• In his view, the First Amendment protects religious expression but does not prohibit the Bible from being present in classrooms.
• He characterizes some existing legal interpretations as “bad case law” that has been extended too far in a progressive direction.

Porter also notes he would be only one of five board members, and any such policy would have to win majority support. He believes that, given the current composition of the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court, the legal environment is more favorable to his First Amendment interpretation than in the past.

Operations

While Mid Bay News Publisher and Candidate Gordon Porter spoke at length about Porter’s philosophy over school policy governance – they also spoke with some depth regarding the operations and budgeting side of Walton County School District’s School Board responsibilities. 

Budgeting, Fuel Costs, and “Proactive Not Reactive” Governance

Porter’s professional background as a project manager shapes his views on district finances, particularly amid rising fuel costs linked to international crises, such as the ongoing war in Iran, which drives up diesel and gasoline prices.

He says that for a large organization like a school district, which uses “tens of thousands of gallons” of fuel annually:

• The district cannot realistically “raise taxes and solve” every cost spike.
• Instead, it should rely on historical data (20–30 years of fuel prices) to establish likely ranges and plan for worst-case scenarios.
• The key is to build contingency into the budget and avoid a strictly reactive posture.

Porter says government entities often respond late to such pressures, and he hopes to bring a more proactive mindset to budgeting and long-range planning.

School Construction and Design Oversight

Walton County is experiencing rapid growth, and the school district has been building and expanding facilities to keep pace. Porter describes the district as being on a kind of building boom — if not “a building spree,” then something close.

From his vantage point in commercial construction, he highlights several concerns:

• He says current school construction in Walton County runs between $350 and $450 per square foot, which he calls a “really big price tag,” though he acknowledges schools are built like “fortresses,” with heavy concrete and extensive security systems. For reference, building another South Walton High School, using those numbers, would cost somewhere between $51 and $66 million. 
• His main focus is on the design phase, which he calls the “quarterback” of a large project.
  • If design is poor or incomplete, he says, it will cost the district either during construction or after occupancy.
• He criticizes the tendency to set public political deadlines for project completion based on preliminary contractor schedules and then announce opening dates too early.
  • Once that happens, he says, everyone is under pressure to meet the public date, which can result in corners being cut, missed details, and defects.

According to Porter, this pattern can lead to:

• Change orders that drive up costs
• Post-occupancy issues such as leaks or air intrusion problems
• The need to shift students into portable classrooms — problems he says Walton County has dealt with “for decades”

Porter argues that having a board member fluent in construction and design would allow the school board to:

• Ask sharper questions about design quality and scope
• Better evaluate change orders and claims from architects and contractors
• Distinguish between necessary features and “lavish” or poorly planned elements

He says he does not accuse current contractors or architects of bad faith, but believes the board should have internal expertise, rather than relying solely on external consultants whose role is advisory, not decisive.

In his view, informed decision-making at the board level is essential to protect taxpayers, support teachers and students, and avoid expensive, long-term mistakes.

Transparency: Pushing for Live-Streamed School Board Meetings

He calls the current lack of live streaming “a little bit archaic” in the modern era and notes that neighboring counties — and even other boards within Walton County — already broadcast their public meetings.

Porter says that if elected, he would move quickly to change that:

He argues that the district already has the IT capacity to stream meetings and suggests that students in district IT classes could help run these broadcasts, turning a transparency measure into a learning opportunity.