New law shakes up school board elections

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Kelly Hall Record-Eagle/Jan-Michael Stump
Mike Murray Record-Eagle/Jan-Michael Stump

January 8, 2012

Goal was to save money, but it has unintended impact

BY JAMES RUSSELL jrussell@record-eagle The Record Eagle Tue Jan 31, 2012, 01:52 PM EST

TRAVERSE CITY — Katherine

Ross received an unusual

Christmas gift this winter: a

year added to her school board

term without any votes cast.

Her term as Benzie County

Central Schools’ board president

was set to expire in 2013,

but a new law requires districts

to hold elections in Novembers

of even-numbered years only.

Now she’s literally on board for

an extra year of service.

“They’ve given me an extra

year, and I’m trying to think of

it as a gift,” Ross said. “Three

of us on the board will have our

terms extended by a year.”

School districts throughout

the state are grappling with the

new law, signed by Gov. Rick

Snyder last fall. It was introduced

as a cost-saving measure;

districts previously could hold

elections at three other times of

the year, but they had to foot the

cost if board elections were the

only items on the ballot.

An analysis by the Senate Fiscal

Agency estimated districts

statewide will save an average

of $2,000 per precinct by eliminating

standalone elections.

But the law realigns school

election cycles and a majority

of school board members could

turn over in a single year — a

concern for some administrators.

In Traverse City Area

Public Schools, for example,

two board members’ terms will

be extended to 2014, when four

of the seven slots will be up for

election.

“In the short term, it gives

us more stability ... we have

longer to do our

thing,” said Kelly

Hall, whose term

originally was

set to expire in

2013. Now she

and Julie Puckett

will serve an

extra year. “The

counter-argument

is: Do you want

the potential turnover of more

than half your board? That is

the cost.”

TCAPS may consider switching

to six-year terms to stagger

the cycle again, but in the past,

that option was not popular

among board members.

“Six years is a really long time

to ask a person to serve. That discussion didn’t go far,” Hall said.

Suttons Bay Superintendent Mike Murray said having more than half of a board turn over is risky.

“That leads to the possibility that one issue can totally change the direction that the board is going,” Murray said. “If you keep changing directions, you really have no direction.”

Suttons Bay’s school elections previously were held in May, and Murray said they expect to save around $6,000 every other year as they piggy back with November’s general election.

The board now has to decide how it wants to handle the changes to the election cycle. Murray said they are considering six-year terms to stagger the cycle or two-year terms for all seven members. A decision is expected in February.

“The stability of the board is important to the district,” Murray said.

In Benzie County, Ross said the board also is considering adding six-year terms, but few members are happy about the prospect.

“I don’t even buy green bananas. It’s hard for me to look that far ahead. It’s difficult to look six years ahead and say, ‘I can finish this,’” she said. “It’s a frustrating thing for boards. We’ve been dealing with enough debilitating legislation from state, and then to have this handed down, it just makes me shake my head.”