On behalf of elected school board members from across the state, the Michigan Association of School Boards strongly opposes House Bill 4588, which would require partisan affiliations for school board elections. 

The reasons for our opposition include:

School board members do not believe that they are political but act as advocates for their community's local education.

• While they may lean toward one party or another, when they are at the board table, that designation is replaced with the drive to do the right thing for their students, staff and community.

Partisan elections of school boards will narrow the already small pool of potential talent. HB4588 would also require school board candidates to go through a primary election. This adds yet another election and barrier for potential candidates.

• Some districts already struggle to get enough people to run for open seats. There are seats that go without a candidate every year. Requiring a partisan designation will only exacerbate this problem. Potential candidates would also have to raise more money and fight for more campaign attention than they already do. Most candidates file the campaign finance waiver to not spend more than $1000. Creating a more expensive process will also limit those able to serve their district.

School boards are first and foremost tasked with hiring and overseeing the district superintendent; partisan politics should not play into this decision.

• Superintendent candidates want to come into a district where the board and administration can work together and not have to worry about partisan divides. 

Partisan school board members may find themselves in tough situations when party priorities are different than district needs.

• A school board member should be fully focused on what is best for the district and not worried about a party removing their support over a vote. Parties may want to vet the candidates as well, leading to the best party candidate being chosen to run over who is best for the students of the district.

Employees of the federal government, positions funded by federal dollars, and the military are not allowed to run for partisan office. Not only does this change take away specific people’s ability to serve their district, but it will require current dedicated members to have to end their service. Just a few examples of current boards that would be affected by this change:

• Battle Creek Public Schools would lose its current board president, who is also a member of MASB’s Board of Directors. He is a seven-year member of the board and works for the U.S. Department of Defense. 
• Comstock Public Schools would its board president who is also a member of MASB’s Board of Directors. She is a 12-year member of the board and works for the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
• Okemos Public Schools would lose a member who was just elected last year and works for HeadStart.