Assembly nixes school districting

PALMER — By a 4-3 vote Tuesday, the Mat-Su Borough Assembly decided not to ask voters whether to change election rules for school board seats.

The school board currently elects its members at-large, meaning that each borough voter gets a voice in who holds each seat. The change, proposed by Assemblywoman Cindy Bettine, would have assigned school board seats to districts, meaning that only people in each district would get to vote and only residents there could run.

“I think it is important that neighborhoods see their school board representative at the post office, at the grocery store,” Bettine said. “This would help create more public interest in the local schools.”

Assemblyman Warren Keogh was also in support of the measure, saying he feels local representation would make school board races more relevant to locals, which would be a welcome change.

“I would be surprised if many people in my district even know who’s on the school board,” Keogh said.

Assemblyman Mark Ewing said he’d had a change of heart on the issue.

“I initially thought it was a great idea and then I realized that I don’t vote for myself, I work for the people,” he said.

Current school board member Lynn Gattis came to the meeting saying the ballot proposition’s timing confused her. She said she was given no explanation for why the change was being considered now or who thought it was a good idea.

She also gave an opinion the entire board had already expressed in a resolution.

“I find that limiting representation to individual voting districts causes more harm that good,” Gattis said.

The school district has said that voting by district would create a situation in which school board members are more focused on their local concerns than on the district as a whole. Neighborhood schools might benefit, but charter and alternative schools that draw their student populations from all over the district might lose out.

Bettine said she didn’t really buy that districted elections would lead to school board turf wars. Borough assembly races are districted, she pointed out, but assembly business is often — one might even argue, more often than not — centered around borough-wide issues.

Assemblyman Ron Arvin said he was not convinced that districting would lead to turf wars, but said he opposed the measure for other reasons; namely that the school district is not awash in people wanting to run for those seats.

“There are not enough candidates who run,” he said.

Bettine’s counter was that she believed districted elections would lead to more candidates filing, rather than less, mostly because the races would be cheaper. Lots of people, she said, would probably run if it didn’t mean campaigning from Talkeetna to Glacier View.

“I don’t think they could afford to run borough-wide,” she said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.

HOW THEY VOTED

Should the ballot contain a proposition assigning school board seats to districts?

Ron Arvin: No

Cindy Bettine: Yes

Jim Colver: No

Mark Ewing: No

Vern Halter: Yes

Warren Keogh: Yes

Noel Woods: No