There will be no election for Monroe County schools superintendent this year, according to Gov. Charlie Crist.

"We have reviewed state statutes and laws, and until the suspended superintendent exhausts all appeals in his case, there would be no change in the status of his suspension," said Sterling Ivey, the governor's press officer. "The interim appointment will remain in place."

In a related development, the Monroe County Commission approved a referendum Wednesday that will ask county voters whether school superintendents should be hired by the School Board or continue to be elected. That question is scheduled to appear on the Aug. 24 countywide primary ballot.

Wednesday's announcement from the governor's office ends debate over whether the superintendent's job goes on the ballot this fall or in 2012, the official end of ousted Superintendent Randy Acevedo's term in office. Acevedo was convicted in August on three felony counts of official misconduct.

It also means interim Superintendent Joe Burke, who was appointed by Crist to fill the remainder of Acevedo's term, will not be launching an election campaign.

"It's the governor's decision to make and he's made it," said Joyce Griffin, assistant Monroe County supervisor of elections. "That's it."

There had been uncertainty about when to schedule the election since December, when Griffin contacted the state Elections Division saying she believed the superintendent's race should be on this year's ballot.

The governor's decision, in conjunction with the County Commission's vote to place a referendum on the ballot, mean that before the superintendent's job again comes up for grabs, Keys voters will have an opportunity to determine how that selection is made.

"It was nice to see the County Commission approve the ballot measure," said School Board member John Dick. "I told them the School Board was unanimous in wanting to put it on the ballot for referendum," he said.

Though voters have rejected the idea of a superintendent hired by the School Board at least three times in the past 20 years, one board member said revelations of financial mismanagement and allegations that former Adult Education Coordinator Monique Acevedo stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in school money could change voters' minds this time.

"I suspect more people agree with me on this position than those who did in 1994," said Debra Walker, who added that she's backed the idea of a hired superintendent since then. "It can pass, and the voters will speak on this issue and have their say."

jguerra@keysnews.com