Voters won't elect an Ann Arbor school board member again until November 2010 instead of May following a vote tonight to change the school district's election cycle.
The move will save the district more than $150,000 every two years, a fact noted by board Trustee Adam Hollier. He said the move aligns nicely with the board’s desire to make budget cuts as far from the classroom as possible.
“You couldn’t argue that there was a cut that comes further (from the classroom),” he said.
The board had also considered going to every even November or every odd November.
But board members opted for annual November elections, saying the community is used to voting each year on at least some school board candidates.
Trustee Glenn Nelson said the move will also help the board with another goal - improving communication with district constituents.
“I think this it’s consistent with the theme we’ve talked about on the board … that we need to work on communication with the larger community, and the November election, with a much larger turnout than the May election, will provide us an opportunity to do that,” he said.
In the November 2010 election, seats currently held by Simone Lightfoot, Susan Baskett and Deb Mexicotte will be up for election.
The deadline for filing for a board seat will be Aug. 10.
Several other area districts are considering the same move.
David Jesse covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at davidjesse@annarbor.com or at 734-623-2534.
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