Commissioners push for partisan school board elections without notice
After a surprise move by Commissioner John Smith at a meeting on Feb. 18, Jackson County is one step closer to partisan school board elections.
But the move, which was approved unanimously by the commission, was not on the agenda, which means the public, and members of the Board of Education, were left in the dark on the issue and the fact that commissioners were even considering the move.
“I was aware that commissioners had been talking about moving school board elections from the primaries to the General Election, but I had not been informed in advance that there would be an effort to change the race to be partisan,” said Board of Education Chairman Wes Jamison. “As far as I know, no one from the school board was consulted or asked for an opinion on this change.”
On the agenda for the Feb. 18 meeting was a resolution to “change the election schedule for municipal elections in Jackson County.” The resolution supported changing municipal elections from odd numbered years to even numbered years.
The original resolution on the agenda stated that only municipal elections are held during odd numbered years in Jackson County, which results in low voter turnout. It said that with all other elections held during even numbered years, moving municipal elections to even numbered years with other elections would reduce the cost of conducting municipal elections and increase the turnout for municipal elections.
The resolution requests that the North Carolina General Assembly establish the date of municipal elections to be held in even numbered years and that the change begin in the next election cycle for Jackson County municipal elections in 2026. The North Carolina General Assembly has to pass a local bill in order for the resolution to become law.
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However, the resolution that commissioners approved during the Feb. 18 meeting was vastly different from the one that appeared on the agenda.
When the item came up, Commissioner Smith said he wanted to make an amendment to the resolution.
“I’d like to seek an amendment to add, to make it a partisan election for the school board,” Smith said. “I’d like to amend it to include partisan, make it a partisan election so we have partisan primaries and then partisan election in the fall along with the general.”
Without any further discussion, Chairman Mark Letson asked for a motion to approve the resolution with the amendment. Commissioner Michael Jennings made the motion, which was seconded by Commissioner Jenny Hooper and approved unanimously. Commissioner Todd Bryson was absent from the meeting.
“I find it concerning that there was no discussion or reasoning provided by the county commissioners for making this move,” Jamison said. “This is a major shift in how this board is elected and should have been properly discussed with input from all stakeholders.”
This is not the first time the board has discussed changing the date of municipal elections or changing the race for school board from nonpartisan to partisan.
In December 2023, the county commission unanimously passed a resolution in support of changing the election schedule so that the race for Jackson County Board of Education could take place during the General Election. School board members have previously been up for election during the Primary Election, despite the fact that the board is elected in a nonpartisan race.
That resolution brought forth in 2023 stated that moving the election to November provided voters with more opportunity to research and gain knowledge of the candidates to be better informed before voting. It also points out that historically in Jackson County, voter turnout is significantly higher in the General Election than the Primary Election, so holding the election in November would allow for more representation from the public at large.
In the 2024 election cycle, 7,852 ballots were cast during the Primary Election in Jackson County, when school board members were elected, while 22,091 ballots were cast in the General Election.
That resolution passed in December of 2023, also requested that the Board of Education elections remained nonpartisan.
“I think keeping it non-partisan is probably the best thing because then you could get a better group [of candidates],” Letson said at the time.
But Letson had no qualms this time around with voting in support of Smith’s amendment to the resolution to make the school board a partisan race.
In 2015, out of 115 school districts in North Carolina, 17 of them had boards elected on a partisan basis. By the 2024 election cycle, that number had grown to 52.
“Education should not be driven by party platforms,” Jamison said. “A strong school board is one that brings together people with different perspectives, all working toward the shared goal of providing the best possible education for our students. We don’t need a public school system that appears to serve only one part of the community — we need one that represents and serves everyone. It is my hope that our General Assembly representatives, Sen. [Kevin] Corbin and Rep. [Mike] Clampitt, will recognize this and choose not to move forward with the request made by four of our county commissioners.”
School Board Member Gayle Woody, who previously served one term as a county commissioner and spent 25 years teaching in Jackson County, is also opposed to the move.
“It will not serve the interest of our students and teachers,” Woody said. “School board members, unlike other elected officials, must bear sole allegiance to the students and parents they serve and not leaders or platforms of specific political parties.”
Woody noted that school boards have the primary responsibility for setting school policy and hiring teachers and administrators and said that neither of these responsibilities “should be influenced by political party affiliation.”
“Education issues decided by school boards are nonpartisan issues, and the board’s judicial and personnel functions must be nonpartisan,” Woody said. “I believe that our board has functioned well over the past 64 years with nonpartisan elections, affording respectful interaction and appropriate focus on a school board’s singular mission, the education of the students of our county.”
In The Smoky Mountain News’ four-county coverage area, Haywood and Macon counties have nonpartisan election for Boards of Education; Swain County has a partisan race for school board.
The resolution approved by the Jackson County Commission still has to be passed in a local bill by the North Carolina General Assembly before it becomes law.
