Some town leaders in Wake County want to change the way the Board of Education is elected.
RALEIGH -- Some town leaders in Wake County want to change the way the Board of Education is elected. Town officials in Garner, Holly Springs and Apex want voters to be able to vote for every school board member. Currently they can only vote for the school board member who represents their district.
"The meat of the resolution makes the statement we can be better served by at-large elections as opposed to the current system of being elected by district only," explained Garner Mayor Ronnie Williams.
Officials in Garner, Apex and Holly Springs recently passed non-binding resolutions calling for state lawmakers to make the change. They said it's a way to hold school board members accountable for the impact their decisions make in the classroom. And they believe it will ensure every voter has a voice on the board.
"Well, we're looking at accountability, and I think, at least for Garner, there have been some assignment issues where everybody would have been better served if everybody was elected countywide," Williams said.
Williams hopes more town officials will follow Garner's lead. Rolesville town leaders have postponed making any decision about school board elections, but earlier this week the Wake Forest Board of Commissioners considered joining the call for change. Ultimately they voted 3-to-2 against the idea.
"It occurred to me on reflection that Wake County is not at all homogenous," said Frank Drake, who serves on the Wake Forest Board of Commissioners. "If you look at the eastern and western districts of the county, they're distinctly different in character and population, and in my opinion, in interest.
"It seemed to me that the citizens have an opportunity to have a more representative voice on the school board if they enjoyed district rather than countywide elections."
But Wake Forest Mayor Vivian Jones disagrees.
"The concept of having [elections] countywide would make a big difference," she said. "I think you see that when you look at county commissioners and how responsive they are to the citizens."
Williams said he's not optimistic the idea of changing school board elections will get much traction in the state legislature.
"I don't believe there's enough support from the Wake County delegation right now because some of them have come out publicly and spoke out against it in light of the [1965] Voting Rights Act," he said, noting that some critics worry countywide elections could disenfranchise some voters.
"The concern is that if there are at-large elections, it will prohibit minorities from running countywide elections and they would be better able to win if they run in a district-only [election]," Williams said. "I take issue with that in light of the fact that [Wake County Commissioner] Lindy Brown is a black female and [Wake County Commissioner] Harold Webb is a black male, and the county commissioners are elected in the way we're requesting and they seem to be serving the citizens well."
Two bills that would change school board elections have already been introduced in the state legislature, but both bills sit in committee, according to state Sen. Neal Hunt, R-Wake, who sponsored one of the bills.
"The House bill has all at-large elections," Hunt explained, but his bill "stipulates that the Wake County school board be elected with four at-large members."
"The idea behind that being that every person would be in a position to vote for the majority of the school board," he said. "I really would prefer that we would have all of them be elected at large, but recognizing that would have difficulty getting passed, I compromised and said, 'All right, if we have four elected at-large, then each person in effect would be voting for five board members.'"
Whether his compromise will work remains to be seen. Williams hopes so.
"That may be the better compromise right now," he said.
Currently, the school board's nine members each represent a separate district. They serve staggered four-year terms.