Date of Election Change Idea? Who does it serve?

S.B. County supervisors hold off on Colton's request to move school board elections to odd numbered years
10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, August 4, 2009

By IMRAN GHORI
The Press-Enterprise \

A proposal to delay Colton school board elections for a year was put off Tuesday by San Bernardino County supervisors to give education officials an opportunity to consider rescinding the request.The Colton Joint Unified School District's Board of Education voted in June to move its 2010 election to 2011. Three years ago, the board switched its election cycle from odd years to even years.District officials said they wanted to move back to odd years to defer election costs.The change requires the approval of the Board of Supervisors, although it has limited leeway to do so, denying only if it would pose logistical problems, said Kari Verjil, county registrar of voters.

Supervisor Josie Gonzales said she had concerns about the request, which according to the registrar's office would result in cost increases to the district. At her request, the board delayed consideration of the request to Aug. 11.Moving to a 2011 election would cost the district $155,000, whereas holding the election in 2010 would cost $55,000, Verjil said. Elections are more costly in odd numbered years because there aren't as many jurisdictions to share costs, she said.In addition, the district would incur $8,800 to notify voters of the election date change.


School board trustee Robert Armenta Jr., who voted against the change, plans to ask his colleagues at a Thursday meeting to consider rescinding the request. If he is able to get support from two of his colleagues, it could come up for discussion at the Aug. 20 meeting."The entire argument to change the election back to odd is absurd now that we've learned there is no cost savings," Armenta said.

The election delay would lengthen the terms of school board trustees, a provision that also troubled supervisors. Combined with the previous change, trustees would have six years on the board instead of four before facing voters."It's a disturbing precedent if we allow that," Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt said.Colton isn't the only district considering a change in its election cycle. The county Board of Education and the Rialto Unified School District are also looking at changing their elections from 2010 to 2011.In March, the San Bernardino City Unified School District won approval from the supervisors to change its election from even to odd years.Reach Imran Ghori at 951-368-9558 or ighori@PE.com