Staggered Elections in School Board’s Future?

Proposed by Del. Thomas “Tag” Greason (R-eastern Loudoun), House Bill 704 won overwhelming support in both bodies, and now awaits Gov. Robert McDonnell’s signature to become law.

Currently, the School Board’s nine members are elected at the same time every four years. But if approved by McDonnell and if the School Board then votes to implement staggered elections, Greason’s legislation would permit the change to go into effect as early as November 2011.

To get the School Board on staggered terms, four of the School Board seats that represent a district and the board’s lone at-large seat—currently occupied by Thomas Reed—would run for four-year terms, while the remaining members would run for two-year terms. The county’s electoral board would determine by random drawing which candidates would run for which length of term. The following election, all members would again run for four years.

Greason, who once ran for a spot of the School Board, said the goal of staggered terms is to create “consistency” on the board by limiting the amount of turnover.

“That’s helpful if the School Board is working on a big, long-term project,” he said.

Earlier this winter, the Board of Supervisors also addressed the subject of staggered terms for its seats. Right now, state law requires that members of both elected bodies who represent the same district run for office concurrently. Greason’s bill would do away with that “coupling” of elections, as he put it.

Like Greason, School Board Chairman John Stevens said staggered terms would help keep experience and consistency on the board. Still, he said, he’s not entirely on board with such a change.

As Stevens pointed out, School Board elections are not currently held the same years at presidential and Virginia gubernatorial elections. If that changes, Stevens said, it might be difficult for School Board candidates to get noticed among loftier races on the ballot.

“I’m concerned the elections would get lost when there are key headline races” also occurring, he said.

The current session of the General Assembly is scheduled to adjourn on March 13.