George,

In speaking with fellow Democrats about an elected school board, I have encountered several concerns that I would like to address:

DIVERSITY

There is no reason that an elected school board would be any less racially diverse than an appointed one. The top vote getters in the 2000 and 2004 City Council elections were African-Americans. These results are testimony not only to the outstanding qualities of the candidates (Maurice Cox and Kendra Hamilton), but also to this community's commitment to racial diversity. There is no reason to expect that an elected school board would be any less racially diverse than City Council.

In fact, an elected school board would almost certainly be *more* racially diverse than City Council. This is because school board members would be elected by ward, and research shows that ward-elected school boards are more racially diverse than school boards chosen in citywide elections. Moreover, the Voting Rights Act requires us to have a racially diverse school board: if elections produce an all-white board, the Justice Department will require us to redraw ward boundaries to produce a different outcome.

As for socioeconomic diversity, there would be little change here as well. Only individuals who have substantial time on their hands can serve on an appointed school board. The same would be true for an elected school board. The fact of having to run for office would not make much of a difference.

As for financing of campaigns, school board races must by law be nonpartisan, but I am certain that the Democratic Party would mobilize its informal networks to fund the campaigns of preferred candidates, just as at present it fully funds the campaigns of its preferred City Council candidates. There is no reason to expect that strong Democratic school board candidates would have to fund their own campaigns.

TIMING

There is no good or bad time to switch over to an elected school board because the process was designed to be evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Every appointed school board member would fill his or her term to completion, at which point the seat would go up for election. If the referendum gets on the ballot and passes in November, two seats on the Charlottesville school board would go up for election in May 2006, two seats would be elected in 2007, and the remaining three seats would be elected in 2009. Given this gradual transition calendar, there is no reason to anticipate even the slightest disruption to the school system during implementation of the elected school board model.

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY

Charlottesville is an overwhelmingly Democratic town that almost always elects Democrats to City Council. As long as the political profile of Charlottesville remains progressive, Democrats will be a majority on an elected school board. Unless we experience an unprecedented shift in local political sentiment, creationists (if there are any in Charlottesville) won't stand a chance in local school board elections.

I would even go so far as to argue that an elected school board will be good for Charlottesville's Democratic Party. As long as a Democratic Party-controlled City Council appoints the school board, the failures of that board are going to get blamed on the City Council's Democrats. By letting the voters choose their own representatives to the Board, the Board's failures -- and yes, an elected school board will make mistakes -- will be blamed on the Board and won't "spill over" onto City Council. This can only be a good thing for the functioning of city government and the health of the Democratic Party.

POLITICIZATION

By law, School Board elections are nonpartisan, but of course politics will play a role. But this is nothing new. Anyone who thinks that an appointed school board is "apolitical" has not been to a Charlottesville School Board meeting this year. More broadly, public education is always political because it is the sphere in which values, identities, and aspirations are expressed. This is sometimes a good thing, sometimes not. But it's going to be that way whether our school board is appointed or elected.

PRECEDENT

Since the enabling legislation was passed by the General Assembly in 1992, 105 of Virginia's 134 school districts (78 percent) have voted to switch from the appointed to the elected school board model. Charlottesville is one of only a handful of school districts in Virginia that still appoints its school board.

In conclusion, I have no illusions that an elected school board is a panacea. There will be challenges and frustrations, just as there are under the current system. But a democratically elected board is likely to be more responsive to the concerns of the community, to operate more transparently, and to enact policies and programs that have support in the community. Democracy is far from perfect, but there's a good reason we've chosen to organize all levels of government on the democratic model. It beats the alternatives.

Jeffrey Rossman (electronic mail, May 4, 2005)