Hanover Citizens for an Elected School Board is collecting signatures
HANOVER COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — A group in Hanover County wants residents to have the chance to vote on how school board members are selected.
Hanover Citizens for an Elected School Board, a local advocacy group, set up at the Fourth of July parades in Beaverdam and Ashland to collect signatures for a petition.
The goal of the petition is to get a referendum on Hanover County’s November ballot asking residents if they would rather elect school board members, or continue having the county’s Board of Supervisors appoint members.
Yero Rudzinskas, who’s a part of the nonpartisan group, said voting for representation is a right.
“Since the school board gets to allocate resources and make decisions that concern my child’s education, I, as a voter, would like to have a say in that,” he said. “Critically, this is more important on July 4th than any other day. We’re Americans — we vote for things here. We don’t do appointed school boards, that’s not an American construct. We’re a democracy and we should vote.”
Hanover County and Hopewell Public Schools are two of the few school divisions left in the state with appointed board members.
According to Virginia State Code, 10% of a locality’s registered voters can petition the circuit court to order a ballot referendum.
Rudzinskas said that 10% would mean obtaining between 8,000 and 9,000 signatures by this month’s deadline. They only need a few hundred signatures left to reach their goal.
The group has until mid-July to collect all the signatures they need. So far, they have reached nearly 90% of their goal.
“It’s sort of like getting into college,” he said. “Getting in is the hardest part, then you study hard and graduate. So, we’re pretty sure that we’ll be able to get this ballot measure approved by voters as long as we can get the question put to them.”
Russell Martin signed the petition at the Ashland parade.
“Like every other political office, it should be voted on by the members of the community rather than appointed,” Martin said. “I think everybody should have a voice and this is one way to do it,” he said.
Supathorn Phongikaroon also signed the petition on Tuesday, because he believes it ensures inclusivity.
“This way we’ll provide options for everyone, so that means that we’ll actually listen to people and we’re more inclusive of the decision-making,” Phongikaroon said.
On the other side of the debate, those against voting in board members said they want to keep the current process because the board doesn’t have the authority to raise or levy taxes.
