Souza school board bill created

Sen. Mary Souza, R-Coeur d’Alene, had a bill written to increase voter turnout in school board trustee elections.

Souza said she wants to schedule Senate Bill 1103 to be heard by the Senate and House Education Committees late next week.

The legislation, according to Souza, would do three things:

1. Let each school board decide whether they want to keep trustee voting within the respective trustee zones, or open trustee voting district-wide.

2. Change the May trustee election dates on even years to the November election.

3. “Compel school boards to work with county clerks to align trustee zones with voter precincts.”

Souza said she has scheduled meetings with people “in the education community” to talk about the bill before she presents it to the Legislature.

“We need to increase voter attention to school board elections because they are very important,” she said.