A local school district is asking the state to change the
education code to ensure that a broader range of voices have a say
on appointments for a countywide committee focused on district
organization.
A local school district is asking the state to change the education code to ensure that a broader range of voices have a say on appointments for a countywide committee focused on district organization.
The North County Joint Union Board of Trustees voted last week to petition the state Board of Education to change the education code, believing that its needs were not being fulfilled under the current code.
If the petition is approved, vacancies in the San Benito County Committee on School District Organization – which the county’s school officials are attempting to reinstate after a long hiatus – would be entirely chosen by a group of trustees from the county’s school districts.
School officials are hoping to re-form in anticipation of future growth associated with the lifting of the building moratorium. The committee addresses school district boundary changes or reorganization.
Because the panel has been dissolved for so long, education code stipulates that school district board members can select only three of the committee members, with the remaining eight selected by the county superintendent, Tim Foley.
Traditionally, the committee is made up of 11 members – five from each county supervisorial district and one at-large member. They are elected by school district trustees, with four-year terms on a staggered schedule.
North County’s trustees decided to petition the state out of concern their district’s needs might not be met by the committee if the majority is selected by the county superintendent.
“Out here in North County, with all this potential activity that’s going to happen in our neck of the woods, we need to protect our territory,” Trustee Rob Bernosky said.
Although North County is leading the petition, their trustees are asking other school districts for their support. The San Benito High School District Board of Trustees agreed at an earlier meeting to support the petition, but other school districts have not yet been officially contacted, Bernosky said.
The San Benito County Board of Trustees could also take over the duties of the County Committee on School District Organization.
