Newspaper: Change law to eliminate lame-duck school boards

If you've been following the circus involving the Owen J. Roberts School Board in Chester County firing its superintendent shortly after several board members were ousted by voters in the May primary, then you'll understand why there's a need to prevent lame-duck school board members from causing mischief after they lose an election.

While state Sen. Andy Dinniman came up with a pandering proposal to address the OJR situtation, what's needed is a different way of electing school boards, argues The Pottstown Mercury.

From an editorial in today's edition:

Voter laws in Pennsylvania allow for the cross-filing of school board and judicial candidates in primary elections, following a misguided assumption that those offices are not as politically charged as other seats.

But the opposite effect has occurred. Over the years, school board elections have become the most polarizing among local races. Pennsylvania's system of funding education with local property taxes has given school boards authority over residents' greatest tax burden, as well as authority over their children's future.

The combination makes school board elections the most hotly contested of all local races. The notion that political factions can be set aside has become as outdated as the property tax in Pennsylvania.

And, it has created seven-month time bombs throughout the Commonwealth.

Read the full editorial, "School election cross-filing is an outdated practice," at the newspaper's Web site.