Wake elections officials say no to 4-year, staggered terms for school board members
Wake County elections officials say they won’t approve the school board’s request to let them run for four-year terms of office instead of just two-year terms.
Earlier this week, the school board passed a resolution adopting new redistricting maps that will be used by voters to elect board members starting in November. The resolution included “suggestions” for how the Wake County Board of Elections could return the school board to four-year, staggered terms instead of everyone running on two-year, non-staggered terms.
Gary Sims, director of the Wake County Board of Elections, said the new maps will be used.
But Sims said the elections board will still list the school board seats for two-year terms because it can’t implement the election “suggestions.”
“The Board of Elections has nothing to do with redistricting and the method of election,” Sims said in an interview Friday. “Our job is to apply the statute, not to interpret it.”
School board chairwoman Lindsay Mahaffey said Friday that the board will need to consult with its attorneys to decide how to proceed.
School board used to have four-year terms
For decades, Wake school board members were elected to staggered, four-year terms.
Typically, elected bodies adopt their own redistricting maps. But in 2013, the General Assembly redrew the school board’s election districts and later adopted those maps as well for the Wake County Board of Commissioners.
The legislature’s plan still allowed, though, for four-year, staggered terms.
In 2016, the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals declared the legislature’s maps for Wake to be unconstitutional while leaving the rest of the law in place. This led to a federal judge issuing an interim court order that switched the board seats to two-year, non-staggered terms until either state lawmakers approved a new plan or the 2020 Census took place.
Lawmakers haven’t adopted new election plans for Wake or approved a request from the school board to return to four-year, staggered terms.
Question of school board’s authority
In November, the Wake County Board of Commissioners voted to return to four-year, staggered terms. Unlike the school board’s suggestions, the commissioners adopted a resolution directing elections officials to make the change to their terms.
The reason for the different approach is that the school board was told by its attorney that it doesn’t have the legal authority for determining how to elect its members. The school board was advised to suggest a plan to the Wake County Board of Elections for returning to four-year, staggered terms.
Under the suggested plan, Districts 1, 2, 7 and 9 would be elected to four-year terms this fall. The board also suggested that Districts 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 stay on two-year terms this election cycle before switching to four-year terms in 2024.
“They (school board) were very clear about the districts in their resolution,” Sims said. “The other part they weren’t giving direction. We will follow the direction we’re told. And if there’s any question about that, their attorney needs to work it out.”
This story was originally published March 18, 2022 at 3:33 PM.
