Flying a little under the radar, a bill I was excited about passed the house today. Details:
A bill that would make state school board elections more direct passed Monday in the House, after heavy debate.
HB150 would allow state school board candidates to run in regular, direct elections. Now, a governor-appointed committee recruits candidates, narrows the field to three for each seat and then forwards those names to the governor who selects two candidates to appear on the ballot for each seat.
“It’s not a true democratic process,” said bill sponsor Rep. Carol Spackman Moss, D-Holladay. “These kinds of nominating committees are more manipulative than they are democratic.” The bill follows a recent state school board election in which several incumbents’ names didn’t make it onto the ballot.
It’s not something many of us have reason to think about often, but for any concerned about the future of education in this state, this is a step forward. Not only does this do away with the “appointment by committee” process conducted entirely inside the governor office with zero public input, it also ads a layer of protection against temporal political agendas influencing long term make-up of school board membership.
I agree, and was very excited to see this pass the house. However, I think this one will be a hard sale in the senate. Everyone that cares should contact their senator today and let them know that you support direct, non-partisan elections of state school board members.
I also support this bill. Thanks for the update, Jason. I hadn’t heard anything thus far…
i am in favor of the legislation only if the remove the non-partisan part, otherwise it will be like the election of judges. no one knows anything about them or their philosophy.
That’s a good point, Lyall.
Shorter Lyall: “I want to know which candidates promote abstinence only sex education.”
I think removing party identification from the position would allow people to judge who will best lead on the board, instead of mindlessly looking for the R or the D on the ballot.
School boards should absolutely be non-partisan. There is absolutely no reason to have candidates for an EDUCATION position run as Republicans or Democrats. People mindlessly vote for candidates with “R” next to their name in this state, and there’s no need for that nonsense in school board elections.