(Chuck Muth) – There’s been a lot of discussion recently about Assemblyman Toby Yurek’s bill (AB195) to change certain appointed school board members in Clark County from non-voting members to voting members.
Put me down as a no.
The original bill in the 2023 session added non-voting appointed members. It was, as Assemblyman Yurek points out, a bipartisan bill which was signed by Gov. Lombardo.
But that’s not what we’re talking about now.
It was one thing to put appointed members on the board without giving them the same voting rights as the elected members on the board.
But giving UNELECTED appointed members that same voting status as the elected members is no bueno, as former Assemblywoman Annie Black has pointed out.
“AB195 does not add any new members to the Clark County School Board,” wrote Assemblyman Yurek to a constituent on Monday. “AB195 only makes sure these appointed trustees have the same rights as the elected ones.”
First, that’s misleading. People aren’t objecting to the bill because it increases the size of the board. They’re objecting to changing the voting status of the appointees.
And no, appointed board members are NOT entitled to the same voting rights as board members who were elected.
Assemblyman Yurek hosted a Zoom town hall meeting trying to gin up support for the bill on Monday. Conservative activists on the call were not persuaded. Among their objections…
- There should be a fiscal note on this bill as appointed trustees will expect to be compensated for their time and work, not to mention the additional administrative cost of expanding the school boards.
- Appointed trustees will dilute the vote of the trustees who were actually elected – and went through the time, money and energy to be vetted and transparent with the electorate.
- There is an insufficient transparency and vetting process of the appointed trustees.
- Voters want to have direct control over their representatives as demonstrated by their rejection of Question 1 regarding appointment vs. election of the regents in the Nevada System of Higher Education.
“These are great reasons to reject this bill,” remarked one conservative activist on the call. “Toby has not demonstrated the will to listen to reason and is not representing his constituents.”
“We fought so hard to give parents a voice on that board,” wrote another of the participants who was on the call. “No on AB 195. I can’t believe this is sponsored by a Republican.”
Our communities deserve to have representatives who are directly elected by us — not by various governing bodies who may or may not have any experience with school boards.
Can you name even ONE of the current appointed school board members? I can’t.
I’d prefer to see the original bill repealed. Absent that, the least we should do is stop AB195 from making it even worse.
Better would be for Assemblyman Yurek to just withdraw it before doing any further damage to his political future among Republican primary voters. Conservatives have long memories.
A hearing on the bill is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, February 20.
