Like a Bad Dream, the Bad Bill is Back

Like a bad dream, the disastrous school board bill first proposed last year is back as promised , this time with a interesting assortment of sponsors. Any bill whose key sponsors are Dels. Busch, Leopold and Dwyer is bound to be an amalgamation of bad ideas.

As I said in March:

Well, "something" has been done. But what does the bill accomplish? What the bill does is create a new level of government to suggest to the Governor candidates for School Board selection. The power is still in the Governor's hands. Nor is there anything to prevent the current School Board Nominating Convention from continuing to meet, screen potential members, and provide the Governor with a list of candidates of their own. The "competency election" is a farce. The election will be an yes/no vote on the existing board member in order to allow them to serve another five years. Does anybody truly think that a sitting board member will be turned out of office? Can anybody remember the last time a sitting District or Appellate court judge was voted out of office? These elections usually send the judges back with a total of 85-90 percent voting yes. One could argue that by passing the current bill, the Delegation has actually decided to give less power to the people than the current system.

I have stated my opposition to this idea since it first surfaced back in February. In fact, my first substantive post on this blog was in opposition to HB625, and I still believe that the purpose of this bill is for its sponsors and supporters to say that they have "done something" about the Board selection process.

What is unfortunate is the way Delegate Leopold proposes to frame his purpose in sponsoring this legislation:

"The public is justifiably interested in a direct voice in the selection of school board members, and this would provide that direct voice for the first time," said Mr. Leopold.

If Delegate Leopold were truly serious about providing for a direct election of board members, why any commission? Why not call for a direct election of all school board members as proposed by my fellow Republican Greg Kline?

Elections have their own problems, as I have stated here before. However, if we are going to make a change, let us have a directly elected school board, with one member elected from each of our County Council districts. If a bill passes the General Assembly, let it be a serious bill with a serious election setup. We cannot afford to settle for this farcical bill put forth in the name of "progress" and "doing something."