Listmembers,
I believe that if the school board members were voted in by wards much like
council members, that the voter turnout would be much greater than in any of
the other races. Education is a big issue, and parents want someone to be
accountable to them, which is not how a lot of them view school board members
currently. The way it stands now, you can be from anywhere, and that is a part
of the problem.
Well, that's my two posts for the day.
Pamela Taylor
(Lyndale)
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Thanks to Derek for a very thoughtful response to my email and, even
better, one that brought some new facts to the discussion. He's gone
a long way to convincing me...
>>>>> "DBR" == Derek Burrows Reise writes:
[...snip...]
Derek points out that it would be hard to get the bad outcome that
worried me:
DBR> With the restructuring proposal for the school board,
DBR> we're talking about Minneapolis being carved into 6
DBR> districts. That's over 60,000 people per district.
DBR> Compare that to the 13 city wards, 10.5 state house
DBR> districts, and 6 park board districts. That's a
DBR> pretty sizeable plot of land for a single interest to
DBR> control due to political non-participation.
DBR> While there is a disparity in voter turnout in
DBR> Minneapolis (in 2004 Ward 6 had a 58% turnout (the
DBR> lowest) and Ward 13 had an 81% turnout (the highest)),
DBR> I don't think that's at the level that gives a citizen
DBR> in one district a significant amount of more power
DBR> than in another district.
[...snip...]
DBR> One of the current board members responded to me that
DBR> the board exists for all Minneapolis school children
DBR> and therefore it is important to be elected citywide,
DBR> versus a neighborhood. But I think in practice that
DBR> means we elect folks to 4 year terms, and the office
DBR> is far enough down-ballot, and the power of party
DBR> endorsement and incumbancy is strong enough, that they
DBR> are accountable to no one.
This is a very good point, that the terms might be too long to keep
the board members accountable. I'm not so convinced that endorsement
is huge, but incumbency would be a big one. Does anyone know the
typical number of terms school board members serve, historically?
Best,
R
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