The toughest question asked at Tuesday night’s Civitan Political Forum was whether there should be a unified school system in Covington County.

And there was only one man there to answer the question.

Former SHS principal Sonny Thomasson, candidate for the county school board, said, “Florida has already combined all school systems. It’s good and bad. It probably would be more economic, but it will never happen.”

Thomasson’s opponent, John Clark, was sick and unable to participate in the forum.

Thomasson said he believes the county’s schools could be improved if the board took a less conservative approach to managing money.

School systems are required to keep at lest one month’s operating funds in reserve. The Covington County School system, he said, has eight or nine months.

“I’ve talked to a couple of principals lately,” he said. “ Textbooks are in such bad shape they don’t send them home anymore. Library books are in bad shape because funding is not coming down from the state.”

Thomasson said he believes the county system should spend some of its reserves to improve those conditions.