At-large school board elections for Wake are back before the General Assembly.
State Sen. Neal Hunt filed S-72 on Wednesday calling for four of the nine Wake school board seats to be elected on an at-large, countywide basis. The other five seats would continue to be elected on a district basis.
Hunt, who introduced a similar bill in 2007, said the purpose of his legislation is to allow voters to have a say on a majority of the school board seats.
Hunt, the Deputy Republican Leader, admits that it will be an uphill battle even getting the bill heard in the Democratic-controlled Senate. He said voters need to call legislators, especially in the Wake delegation, to ask for a hearing.
Since we're not in the short session, Hunt said it won't require unanimous support of the Wake delegation for the bill to be heard in committee.
"I want to at least have public debate on the bill," Hunt said.
Back in 2007, the bill died in committee without a hearing.
Comments
The Status Quo Legislators
Thu, 02/05/2009 - 13:09 — CaryCurmudgeonThese are the legislators who refuse to support at-large and should be contacted:
Dan Blue, House District 33 Dan.Blue@ncleg.net
Ty Harrell, House District 41 Ty.Harrell@ncleg.net
Darren Jackson, House 39 Darren.Jackson@ncleg.net
Grier Martin, House District 34 Grier.Martin@ncleg.net
Deborah Ross, House Dist 38 Deborah.Ross@ncleg.net
Jennifer Weiss, House Dist 35 Jennifer.Weiss@ncleg.net
Vernon Malone, Senate 14 Vernonm@ncleg.net
Josh Stein, Senate 16 Josh.Stein@ncleg.net
Notes:
1. Darren Jackson was just appointed to replace Linda Coleman, do not know whether he is following party line on this.
2. If you live in Cary or Western Wake, Ty Harrell or Jenniffer Weiss are probably YOUR representative in the house, and Josh Stein may be in the senate
Nelson Dollar will also be introducing a bill on at-large in the house, so contact all reps.
Thanks!
Thu, 02/05/2009 - 13:27 — Eric_BThanks!
Who needs to be contacted? I
Thu, 02/05/2009 - 10:55 — Eric_BWho needs to be contacted?
I contacted the 2 Democratic state senators from Wake County, Vernon Malone and Josh Stein. I'm assuming I don't need to call Neal Hunt and Richard Stevens, since they sponsored and co-sponsored the 2007 bill.
There may be more
Thu, 02/05/2009 - 11:25 — g88ky07or these may not all be correct, but as I understand it
Ty Harrell, Darren G. Jackson, Grier Martin, Deborah K. Ross, Jennifer Weiss all in the house
Vernon Malone and Josh Stein in the Senate.
Go to www.ncga.state.nc.us and you can locate all the contact info you want on them.
Share this info and spread the word that IF we want to vote at large we're going to have to fight these people for that right and it HAS to be done now! The session won't last forever!
Don't know if it will be welcomed, AGAIN
Thu, 02/05/2009 - 10:08 — g88ky07Paul Stam told me Tuesday that he is for it, but the democrats won't support it.
It's good that this is not a short session, that is in our favor.
THE MOST IMPORTANT thing everyone in Wake County can do is contact those against the bill 2 DAY!
Ask them HOW they can be against our being able to do so, and why not all 9, when they reassign many of our kids to schools out of our home districts.
There is NO excuse for our not being able to elect ALL NINE at large! Those that do not support it need every ounce of grief you can dish out!