Voters Face School District Charter Ballot Questions

On Tuesday, Concord voters will receive a ballot concerning two questions. Voters should vote “yes” to both questions. Although, in the case of , it is with that I advocate in favor of passage.

Beginning with the more straight-forward choice: Question 2 asks for a yes/no vote to Establish a school board of 3 at-large members and 6 members elected 2 each from three Voting Districts.

Currently all nine school board member are elected at-large — which favors well-to-do candidates. As someone who has campaigned in Concord for both an at-large seat (I ran unsuccessfully for school board) and for a district (I am a two-term state representative for Merrimack District 12 — Concord wards 5, 6, and 7), I can testify that the running at-large favors wealthier candidates who can afford ads and mailings that reach the whole city, since going door to door is impractical in a city of 42,000 people spread out over 65 square miles. By contrast, campaigning in wards or a district is doable for anyone who wants to spend their time going door-to-door meeting their neighbors and constituents.

What the ballot question proposes is a similar arrangement to what works for our city council — and in the Manchester school district — which provides voters with better representation with a mix of at-large and local representation. The way the school board is now elected, it’s entirely possible for rich people living in a few better off neighborhoods to control the school district which affects all of our children, and our tax dollars. One wonders if we would still have our neighborhood schools if we had had the more direct representation as provided in Question #2.  The main opposition to Question 2 is coming from past and current school board members. 

Perceptive readers may notice that a 60% majority vote is required to pass Question 2. This requirement illustrates the main problem with the proposed charter: It goes against established state law by requiring a supermajority to pass charter amendments. This effectively means a minority has control and any change will be harder to achieve (To see how well a 60 percent majority vote requirement works, look at the U.S. Senate).

As someone who has been trying for several years to get the school district charter back into the hands of Concord citizens, I can tell you it has been an uphill struggle against the efforts of the school district superintendent and the school board. By their actions to prevent or forestall more citizen control, it’s obvious they prefer the way it has been for the last 50 years, with the school board having complete autonomy and the charter out of the hands of the citizens. The school district directly, and illegally, created the charter study commission which led to the current commission, dominated by school board insiders. 

The proposed charter that the commission came up stacks the deck in favor of the status quo by demanding a supermajority vote to pass any proposed amendments (like Question 2) to the charter. This is in spite of concerns of the Attorney General, the Secretary of State and the Department of Revenue Services that the proposed charter represents “poor public policy.” Provisions of the proposed charter could be challenged in court if adopted.

But only if we pass Question 1 approving the charter, will Question 2 even apply.  Indeed, if we do not approve this seriously flawed charter, the charter continues to be wholly under state legislative control, effectively out of citizens’ hands. It’s a heck of a choice.

Do you want some control over a flawed charter, or no control at all? This is the predicament that Concord voters have been placed in.

As a state representative, I’ve sponsored bills the past three years to return control of the school district to Concord voters. The bills have passed the House only to be killed or substantially amended by allies of the school district administration in the state Senate. If the proposed charter is voted down because of its deficiencies, I will again introduce legislation and continue the battle to return the school district charter to the citizens. 

Concord voters deserve the same control over their charter that every other municipal resident enjoys.

For a link to the school district charter ballot questions, go to:

http://concord.schoolfusion.us/modules/groups/homepagefiles/cms/498203/File/2010%20Charter%20Commission/Ballot%20questions%20Nov%202011.pdf?sessionid=73052ca35a4b4d2dfb510e68bdb4ee76