A change may be on the way concerning how Missouri residents elect members of their school boards, and a group that represents those boards doesn’t believe it’s a good change.
The Missouri School Boards Association (MSBA) sent an advisory survey to school districts around the state asking for their opinions on a proposal to change elections for members of boards of education from April to November.
“The bill has not yet been filed for the upcoming legislative session, but we’ve been told by our lobbyists in Jefferson City that it will,” said Susan Goldammer, an attorney for the MSBA.
She said similar legislation had been proposed in the Missouri General Assembly in the past.
Most recently, a bill proposed by the late state Rep. Rebecca Roeber (R-Lee’s Summit) failed to make it out of committee in the 2019 legislative session.
“We are noticing a push to have this issue revived for this session,” Goldammer said. “This is a trend nationally, to try to politicize school board elections.”
In Missouri, the April election is reserved for seats on city councils, boards of aldermen, school boards and other nonpartisan governing groups for fire, ambulance and road districts.
The August primary and November general elections generally center around races that carry party affiliations.
“There was a very good reason why the framers of Missouri election laws made it that way,” Goldammer said.
She said the idea of modifying the election calendar focuses on school board elections only.
“The people who are behind this say the reason to do so is that the turnout for November elections is so much greater,” Goldammer said. “While that is certainly true, that doesn’t mean the voters are more educated on school board issues. They may be motivated to turn out every four years to vote for president, but I think many of those voters may not be educated on what’s down the ballot, including what may make a good school board candidate.”
Goldammer said the MSBA believes the advocates for changing school board elections to November have an agenda that’s being clouded by claims of better turnout.
“Politicizing school board elections mean they would be able to seat candidates who are for charter schools, school vouchers, virtual charter schools and other issues that are detrimental to public education,” she said.
Goldammer said proponents also claim that by moving the elections to November, school districts could save money because they would share the costs of holding the election with the state and county governments, rather than splitting the costs of April elections with municipalities and fire and ambulance districts.
“There may be some savings to the cost of the election,” Goldammer said, “but it wouldn’t benefit the candidates themselves. Remember that school board members are not paid, so the people who are running for these seats are running for them typically with little to no money. Maybe they’ve put a couple of hundred dollars out of their own pocket to pay for some signs.
“In November, they’re going to be competing against county and state candidates – and the presidential campaign every four years – for attention, and with higher rates charged for radio ads, signs and newspaper advertising.”
Most boards of education in Missouri have seven members, each elected to three-year terms. The terms are staggered so that, barring a vacancy, two members are elected in one April election, two the next April and three the third.
Because November elections are held only in even-numbered years, proposals to change the election cycle also would change the terms to four years.
“So one year, four members would stand election and two years after that, the other three,” Goldammer said. “That means those people who are pushing this agenda can concentrate their efforts in one election and seat a majority of board members who agree with them.”
Even without the political ramifications, she said, the implications of being able to replace a majority of board members in a single year are not good.
“School board issues are so different, and some of them are very intricate, so it takes some time for a new member to get acclimated. Having four new board members at a single time could create an atmosphere of instability and uncertainty until they are able to get up to speed.”
Josh Isaacson, president of the Jefferson County Superintendents Association, said the November election presents timing issues as well.
“When new members are seated in April, that’s near the end of the school year (of June 30), so they can learn and start new with the new year. If they’re elected in November, they’re coming in during the middle of the school year, which is not as advisable,” he said.
Isaacson, superintendent of the
De Soto School District, said county school leaders are not prone to support a switch.
“April works,” he said. “It continues to work. There’s not a reason to change to November. So why do it?”
County Clerk Ken Waller said he would abide by election laws, adding that changing the schedule would not affect his office much.
“It doesn’t matter to us which election the school boards are in,” he said. “But as an election authority and a citizen, I can see where it would be advisable and more representative to have 45 percent or more people vote on school board candidates in November rather than 10 percent to 15 percent in April. The biggest factor to me is to get more people to vote.”
Waller said if school districts have to share November election costs, they likely would have to pay less. However, that would leave the cities and service districts on the hook to pay more in April because the school districts wouldn’t help share those costs.