Edwin Ferguson

School Board — District 7

Won uncontested

Incumbent

★★★☆☆

106 / 165 points

Integrity & Legal Record

Professional & Business Transparency

Policy & Platform Consistency

Community Engagement & Character

Campaign Transparency

Issue-Based Positions

Incumbent — Won uncontested (elected Nov. 2022; attorney, The Ferguson Firm PLLC, Riviera Beach; former teacher at Suncoast and Palm Beach Lakes high schools)

Last updated: 2026-08-21

Every candidate is researched identically across six categories using only public records and candidate-submitted information. No candidate is endorsed. Read the full methodology.

Integrity & Legal Record 19 / 25

Criminal History

`[NOT FOUND — searched: PBC Clerk of Courts eCaseView (blocked, incomplete), nationwide Google/news search "Edwin Ferguson" Palm Beach School Board arrested OR convicted OR indicted — 2026-07-31]`. No adverse nationwide news coverage of a criminal nature was found, but the primary county-level court records check could not be completed.

Sources:

PBC Clerk of Courts eCaseView — attempted 2026-07-31, blocked by bot-detection before results could be obtained
Nationwide Google/news search: "Edwin Ferguson" Palm Beach School Board arrested OR convicted OR indicted — 2026-07-31 — no adverse matches

⚠️ REVIEW FLAG — PBC Clerk of Courts check incomplete due to tooling block; recommend manual follow-up before scorecard finalization.

Civil Court History

Same tooling limitation as above; a full PBC Clerk of Courts civil case check could not be completed. See Ethics Violations below for a directly relevant finding arising from his separate law practice.

Sources:

PBC Clerk of Courts eCaseView — attempted 2026-07-31, blocked by bot-detection before results could be obtained

⚠️ REVIEW FLAG — Same as above; PBC Clerk of Courts check incomplete.

Ethics Violations

A significant, documented finding: Ferguson — who practices law at The Ferguson Firm, PLLC in Riviera Beach — was suspended from the practice of law by the Florida Supreme Court for 10 days, effective 6/1/2023 (Florida Bar disciplinary reference #202350213), while he was a sitting School Board member (elected Nov. 2022). Per news reporting on the underlying Bar complaint, Ferguson had been representing a client in a personal injury matter on behalf of the client's disabled daughter; he failed to act on the case, which was ultimately dismissed for failure to prosecute after he did not appear at a hearing on that issue. He then falsely told the client that a settlement had been reached and that funds were forthcoming, when in fact no settlement negotiations had concluded and no settlement existed. Ferguson entered a conditional guilty plea before a formal Bar complaint was filed, stipulating to the 10-day suspension; he admitted to violating Florida Bar rules on communication, diligence, and misconduct. His Florida Bar profile currently lists him as a "Member in Good Standing" and "Eligible to Practice Law in Florida." No PBC Commission on Ethics complaint was found separately.

Sources:

Florida Bar Member Profile — https://www.floridabar.org/directories/find-mbr/profile/?num=15216 — 2026-07-31 — "Suspension, 06/01/2023, Reference 202350213"
ALABnews — "Florida Bar seeks Court's approval of Riviera Beach attorney Ferguson's conditional guilty plea on allegations of misconduct" — 2026-07-31
Florida Courts ACIS case portal — The Florida Bar v. Edwin Ferguson — 2026-07-31
Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics — https://palmbeachcountyethics.com/complaints.htm — 2026-07-31 — no separate complaint found

⚠️ PRIORITY REVIEW FLAG — This is a documented, adjudicated disciplinary finding (not merely an allegation) involving dishonesty toward a client — specifically, falsely claiming a settlement existed when it did not, in a case involving a disabled minor. This occurred while Ferguson was a sitting elected School Board official. Recommend the operator personally review this section before publication given its direct relevance to public trust in an elected official, and the fact that it involves an admitted finding of dishonesty (distinct from the more ambiguous or unadjudicated items flagged for other candidates this session).

Campaign Finance Violations

No Florida Elections Commission violation records found.

Sources:

Florida Elections Commission — https://www.fec.state.fl.us/FECWebFi.nsf/pages/Violations — 2026-07-31 (no name-search capability from landing page)

Residency Confirmed

A PBC Property Appraiser (PAPA) search could not be completed due to the recurring site rendering failure documented elsewhere this session. His Florida Bar-listed address is his law firm's business address in Riviera Beach, not necessarily confirmed as his personal residence. His service representing District 7 (elected 2022, encompassing eastern West Palm Beach and Riviera Beach) is treated as reasonable circumstantial confirmation of residency, consistent with this project's approach for other incumbents where a direct property record could not be obtained.

Sources:

News coverage describing District 7 and his election — 2026-07-31
PBC Property Appraiser (PAPA) — https://pbcpao.gov/AdvSearch/AdvanceSearch — attempted 2026-07-31, site rendering failure prevented search completion

⚠️ REVIEW FLAG — PAPA property search could not be completed due to a recurring tooling issue; recommend manual follow-up.

⚠️ PRIORITY REVIEW FLAG: Edwin Ferguson received a Florida Supreme Court-ordered 10-day law license suspension (effective 6/1/2023) after admitting he falsely told a client a settlement had been reached in her disabled daughter's personal injury case, when no settlement existed, following his own inaction that led to the case being dismissed for failure to prosecute. This is an adjudicated, admitted finding — not an unresolved allegation — and occurred during his current School Board term. Recommend the operator personally review this section, its sourcing, and the suggested Ethics score before scorecard publication.
⚠️ REVIEW FLAG: Both the PBC Clerk of Courts check and the PAPA property search could not be completed for this candidate due to tooling failures documented elsewhere this session. Recommend both be manually rechecked before scorecard finalization.
This candidate won re-election uncontested (no opponent filed), so this research exists for voter transparency purposes even though there is no head-to-head comparison for this seat this cycle.
Survey cross-reference could not be completed this pass — no survey response is on file for this candidate per the roster, and the CIVICS Disclosure Survey PDF answers have not yet been extracted/indexed per-candidate in general.

Professional & Business Transparency 18 / 25

Business Ownership

Ferguson founded The Ferguson Firm in Riviera Beach after graduating Barry University School of Law (2005). This is the same firm/practice in which the Category 1 Florida Bar disciplinary finding (10-day suspension, 2023, for falsely telling a client a settlement existed) arose. `[Sunbiz primary-source confirmation NOT COMPLETED — search.sunbiz.org unresponsive this session]`.

Sources:

fergusonforschools.com — "Meet Edwin" — 2026-08-21

🔴 Cross-reference to Category 1 PRIORITY finding — see below under Financial Conflicts of Interest and the existing Category 1 Ethics Violations section.

Financial Conflicts of Interest

No government-contract overlap identified for The Ferguson Firm itself. However, this category surfaced two additional government/quasi-judicial roles not previously documented: Ferguson currently serves as a Special Magistrate for the City of Riviera Beach (a quasi-judicial adjudicatory role), and previously held elected office on the Thousand Oaks Community Development District, Seat 3. Holding a Special Magistrate role — requiring impartial legal judgment and public trust — while also having an admitted Florida Bar disciplinary finding for dishonesty toward a client (Category 1) is a material fact worth operator awareness, though no specific impropriety in his Special Magistrate duties was found.

Sources:

Ballotpedia — "Edwin Ferguson" — 2026-08-21
Sun Sentinel (pressreader archive) — 2026-08-21

⚠️ REVIEW FLAG — Special Magistrate role for the City of Riviera Beach was not previously documented in Category 1; recommend cross-referencing this alongside the existing Bar-suspension finding when assessing overall fitness/trust considerations.

Bankruptcy History

`[NOT FOUND]`. No personal or business bankruptcy filings located under his confirmed identity.

Sources:

CourtListener (courtlistener.com) — search "Edwin Ferguson" Riviera Beach — 2026-08-21 — 3 results; the only substantive result (Marvin Williams v. State, Fla. 5th DCA 2016) is a criminal appeal in which Ferguson's name did not appear as a party in the excerpt reviewed — not clearly attributable and not treated as adverse or relevant

Tax Liens

`[NOT FOUND]`. No federal or state tax lien records located. Per this project's standing methodology, tax liens are inconsistently indexed online, so this absence of results is not presented as a confirmed clean record.

Sources:

CourtListener (courtlistener.com) — same search as above — 2026-08-21

Board Memberships

Beyond the Special Magistrate and Thousand Oaks CDD roles already documented above, no additional outside board membership was identified.

Sources:

Nationwide Google/news search: "Edwin Ferguson" board member nonprofit director — 2026-08-21 — no additional matches

🔴 This category surfaced a previously-undocumented government role — Special Magistrate for the City of Riviera Beach — that should be read alongside the existing Category 1 PRIORITY finding (Florida Bar 10-day suspension, 2023, for falsely telling a client a settlement existed). Recommend operator review of both together.
⚠️ TOOLING BLOCK: Sunbiz unresponsive this session (2 attempts); recommend a manual recheck of The Ferguson Firm's corporate registration.
A CourtListener hit (Marvin Williams v. State, Fla. 5th DCA 2016) was reviewed but Ferguson's name did not appear as a party in the excerpt available; not attributed or treated as relevant without further confirmation.
Survey cross-reference could not be completed this pass — no survey response is on file for this candidate.

Policy & Platform Consistency 17 / 20

Voting Record

Ferguson is an incumbent (since 11/22/2022), re-elected uncontested in 2026 — one of only two uncontested PBC School Board races this cycle. He has stated he is "ready to push back in his second term on state laws that weaken traditional public education." In 2022, his campaign focused on low teacher pay, excessive testing, and legislative policies favoring charter schools over traditional public schools. As reported by the Palm Beach Post, Ferguson has publicly stated that "teachers should be respected" in the context of school district labor relations. `[A detailed vote-by-vote Board record was NOT independently compiled this pass, given his uncontested status.]`

Sources:

Stet News — "2026 midterms: Contested seats in all but two School Board races for Palm Beach County voters" — 2026-08-21
Palm Beach Post (via Facebook excerpt) — "Palm Beach County School Board Member Edwin Ferguson said teachers should be respected..." — 2026-08-21

Position Consistency

`[No documented position shifts were identified across his tenure — searched: nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-21]`. His 2026 stated priority (pushing back on state laws weakening traditional public education) is consistent with his 2022 platform (opposing charter-favoring policies, low teacher pay, excessive testing).

Sources:

Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-21 — no adverse matches

Flip-Flops

`[NOT FOUND — searched: nationwide Google/news search "Edwin Ferguson" School Board flip-flop reversed position controversy — 2026-08-21]`. No documented policy reversal was identified.

Sources:

Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-21 — no matches

Endorsements

Received: The Palm Beach teachers' union endorsed Ferguson in his original 2022 campaign. `[A 2026 endorsements-received list was NOT FOUND, consistent with his uncontested status; Endorsements given — NOT FOUND — 2026-08-21]`. Reporting notes that no opponent filed against him in the "predominantly Black District 7," which one source characterized as reflecting "support for the job he's doing."

Sources:

Sun Sentinel (pressreader archive, 2022) — 2026-08-21
Stet News — "2026 midterms: Contested seats in all but two School Board races for Palm Beach County voters" — 2026-08-21

None new this pass. See Category 1/2 for the existing PRIORITY finding (2023 Bar suspension; Special Magistrate role), not re-litigated here.
Survey cross-reference could not be completed this pass — no survey response is on file for this candidate.

Community Engagement & Character 11 / 25

Community Involvement

Beyond the Special Magistrate (City of Riviera Beach) and former Thousand Oaks Community Development District roles already documented in Category 2, `[no additional independent community organization or volunteer role found — searched: nationwide Google/news search "Edwin Ferguson" Riviera Beach volunteer community organization — 2026-08-24]`.

Sources:

Cross-referenced from Category 2 — 2026-08-24
Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-24 — no additional matches

Veteran / First Responder Service

`[NOT FOUND]`. No veteran or first-responder service identified.

Sources:

Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-24 — no matches

Faith-Based Involvement (scored on character consistency)

Ferguson is documented as a member of Greater Bethel Primitive Baptist Church. ⚠️ CROSS-REFERENCE: per this metric's character-consistency standard, this documented faith affiliation is weighed alongside the existing Category 1 PRIORITY finding — a 2023 Florida Bar-adjudicated, admitted finding that he falsely told a client a settlement existed in her disabled daughter's case when it did not. That finding is not re-litigated here, but its direct relevance to a character-consistency assessment is why this metric is not scored at the top tier despite the documented church membership itself being unremarkable.

Sources:

iVoterGuide — Edwin Ferguson profile — 2026-08-24

⚠️ PRIORITY CROSS-REFERENCE — see Category 1 Ethics Violations finding.

Debates / Town Halls

`[NOT FOUND]`. No specific debate or town hall record located this session; he is running uncontested.

Sources:

Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-24 — no matches

Social Media Presence & Consistency

Active Facebook presence, both a campaign page ("Edwin Ferguson for Palm Beach County School Board, District 7") and an officeholder page ("Edwin Ferguson, Palm Beach County School Board Member District 7"), plus a campaign website (fergusonforschools.com). No controversial or inconsistent posts identified.

Sources:

facebook.com/EdwinFergusonCampaign — 2026-08-24
fergusonforschools.com — 2026-08-24

🔴 PRIORITY CROSS-REFERENCE: The Faith-Based Involvement metric's character-consistency score is directly informed by the existing Category 1 PRIORITY finding (2023 Florida Bar 10-day suspension for admitted dishonesty toward a client). Not re-litigated here; see Category 1 for the underlying finding.
Survey cross-reference could not be completed this pass — no survey response is on file for this candidate.

Campaign Transparency 16 / 25

Top Donors / Donor Composition

`[NOT FOUND — no dollar-figure fundraising totals or donor composition located — searched: VoterFocus, Palm Beach County campaign finance records — 2026-08-26]`. He is running uncontested in 2026.

Sources:

VoterFocus campaign finance database — 2026-08-26 (no candidate-specific detail returned)

None — data gap, not adverse.

PAC / LLC / Funneling Structures

`[NOT FOUND — searched: VoterFocus — 2026-08-26]`.

Sources:

Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26 — no matches

Advertising Spend

`[NOT FOUND — searched: Palm Beach County campaign finance records — 2026-08-26]`. Given his uncontested status, spending needs would be minimal.

Sources:

Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26 — no matches

Grassroots Engagement

`[No documented door-knocking, phone-banking, or in-person voter-contact ground game located — searched: nationwide Google/news search "Edwin Ferguson" School Board campaign volunteer 2026 — 2026-08-26]`. Consistent with his uncontested status.

Sources:

Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26 — no matches

Donations to Political Figures

`[NOT FOUND — searched: VoterFocus, nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26]`.

Sources:

Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26 — no matches

No campaign-finance data was locatable this session, consistent with an uncontested race.
Survey cross-reference could not be completed this pass — no survey response is on file for this candidate.

Issue-Based Positions 25 / 40

2A Rights Score

`[NO STATED POSITION FOUND — outside School Board jurisdiction — scored 3 per protocol — sources searched: campaign website, nationwide news search — 2026-08-26]`.

Sources:

Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26 — no matches

Pro-Life / Pro-Family Score

`[NO STATED POSITION FOUND — outside School Board jurisdiction — scored 3 per protocol — sources searched: campaign website, nationwide news search — 2026-08-26]`.

Sources:

Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26 — no matches

Fiscal Conservatism Score

`[NO STATED POSITION FOUND — scored 3 per protocol — sources searched: AFP, Club for Growth, campaign website — 2026-08-26]`.

Sources:

Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26 — no matches

Parental Rights Score

As a parent of four PBC public-school students, has stated he "fully supports parental involvement in children's education."

Sources:

iHeart — "Edwin Ferguson - Candidate for PBC School Board, District 7" — 2026-08-26

Election Integrity Position

`[NO STATED POSITION FOUND — outside School Board jurisdiction — scored 3 per protocol — sources searched: campaign website, nationwide news search — 2026-08-26]`.

Sources:

Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26 — no matches

Housing / Insurance Position

`[NO STATED POSITION FOUND — outside School Board jurisdiction — scored 3 per protocol — sources searched: campaign website, nationwide news search — 2026-08-26]`.

Sources:

Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26 — no matches

Education / School Choice Position

Campaign has emphasized academic-achievement concerns (nearly 42% of District 7 elementary schools below county proficiency standards), without an explicit ESA/voucher/charter-school position located.

Sources:

iHeart — as above — 2026-08-26

Environment / Everglades Position

`[NO STATED POSITION FOUND — outside School Board jurisdiction — scored 3 per protocol — sources searched: campaign website, nationwide news search — 2026-08-26]`.

Sources:

Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26 — no matches

Scored independently of the existing Cat1 PRIORITY 2023 Bar-suspension finding, which remains a separate, unresolved concern documented in that category.
Survey cross-reference could not be completed this pass — no survey response is on file for this candidate.

This race — School Board — District 7

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