Former SC senator Phil Leventis files for Sumter school board seat

On the first day of filing for Sumter school board elections, a former longtime Sumter senator became a candidate for the new District 8 seat.

Phil Leventis, who served as a state senator for 32 years, was one of 13 candidates to file Monday with the Sumter County Voter Registration and Elections Office. He said he looks to re-enter public service, citing the need “to restore confidence and stability in the schools.”

He did not specifically point out Sumter School District’s nine-member Board of Trustees as the biggest challenge for the district, but Leventis did say if he wins that “he hopes to join a school board where people are willing to try to set a vision, set a course and make things better.”

Sumter has had success stories in public education through the years, but Leventis said there is a public fear with the local schools as “insecurities tend to become front and center.”

“There is nothing that ought to be a higher priority for Sumter City Council, Sumter County Council and the delegation than the schools because so many people make their decision about moving to Sumter based on the schools,” Leventis said. “So, we have got to restore confidence and stability in the schools.”

A state senator from 1980 to 2012, Leventis cited how the district let a technical high school fall through the cracks a few years ago after guaranteed funding and investment from the state as regrettable.

A graduate of the University of Virginia, Leventis served as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force and was a pilot. He then served in the S.C. Air National Guard and retired as assistant adjutant general in 1999 after 30 years of combined military service.

Two other candidates filed for District 8 on the first day of the filing period. They were Paul Robbins and Jeff Zell. The incumbent for the District 8 seat is Sherril Ray. At the July 18 board of trustees meeting, Ray told The Sumter Item she was undecided on whether she would run for re-election in November.

Three board incumbents did file Monday and include Vice Chairman Frank Baker (District 2), Clerk the Rev. Daryl McGhaney (District 4), and Gloria Lee (District 7).

A summary of all candidates filing on the first day is the following: Daniel Palumbo (District 1); Baker, Nicole Smyth and John Wrenn Jr. (District 2); McGhaney and Tarah Cousar Johnson (District 4); Venitia Reebel and Robby Robinson (District 6); Lee (District 7); Leventis, Robbins and Zell (District 8); and Bonnie Disney (District 9).

There are nine single-member districts for the first time this election after a redrawing of electoral boundaries following the 2020 U.S. Census and legislation passed a few years ago by Sumter County's state lawmakers in response to a financial crisis revealed in 2016. That legislation created two at-large, countywide districts that were first appointed then became elected. Now, the electoral map was redrawn to make nine districts, meaning there is not a seat for which everyone in the county can vote.

One result of redistricting was that two current board members, Gloria Lee and Barbara Jackson, now live in the same district, and no incumbents live in District 9.

Voters will see on their ballot candidates running for the school board district in which they live. The school board is nonpartisan.

The final day of the filing period is Monday, Aug. 15.

The November midterm general election is Tuesday, Nov. 8.

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