Wichita school board votes for resolution opposing moving local elections to fall

The Wichita school board voiced its opposition Monday to a legislative proposal that would move local elections to the fall.

But that opposition was not unanimous.

Board member Joy Eakins voted against the resolution, which calls upon the Kansas Legislature to “pass no law changing the election cycle” for local school boards. It also opposes any move to make local elections partisan.

The resolution passed 4-1. Board members Jeff Davis and Lynn Rogers were absent.

“I think many people think of elections as a November time frame, and the turnout in a spring election is pretty dismal,” said Eakins, who was elected to the board in April 2013.

“There were less than 8,000 people that voted in my race, and I think that’s detrimental to our community when that kind of thing happens.”

Other board members said they think moving local elections to the fall would cause several problems. Among them: local offices getting lost on lengthy ballots, diminished media coverage and board members starting terms in January instead of July.

Under the current system, school board members elected in April take office July 1, shortly before the board approves its budget.

“We’re constantly being given information, step by step,” board member Betty Arnold said. “If board members were to change in the middle of the stream, there would be a lot of (budget) information that they wouldn’t have.

“To take away that foundation, I think, would be really detrimental to the functioning of school boards.”

Eakins said she opposes making local elections partisan, but “I don’t share your concern” about moving them to November, particularly in odd years, when they wouldn’t compete against presidential and other major federal elections.

Most budget discussions happen at the board table before July, she said.

“In the first three or four weeks of coming on the board, we were asked to pass a budget, approve a teacher contract and a superintendent contract, but all the work for that was done in the spring,” Eakins said.

“Really, there’s probably no good time for a board member to come in and know everything. … So I don’t have a problem with that.”

The resolution approved Monday was based on a sample resolution suggested by the Kansas Association of School Boards, which opposes changing election dates.

Under Senate Bill 171, introduced Monday by the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee, city and school board candidates would run in partisan primaries in August and then in general elections in November.

The bill also requires districts to provide buildings for polling places at the request of a county election officer and schedule an in-service day for teachers when school is in session on the date of a primary or general election.

In other business Monday, board members heard from finance director Jim Freeman about impending budget cuts and school finance proposals being considered in Topeka.

Freeman said there would be no layoffs this fiscal year. But “We will evaluate vacancies and decide whether those are filled,” he said.

Cuts to the district budget could range from $3 million to $8 million or more, said superintendent John Allison.

The district’s outlook differs “depending how the Legislature goes down the path,” Allison said. “We don’t know where they’re going to go.”

This story was originally published February 9, 2015 at 9:08 PM with the headline "Wichita school board votes for resolution opposing moving local elections to fall."