November 18, 2021
By: Dwayne Page
Should the local political parties allow partisan elections for the school board in DeKalb County?
Party leaders have until December 10 to notify the election commission of their decision in time for the 2022 elections.
Under a new state law, candidates for local school boards in Tennessee can now run in partisan races. The legislation was signed into law by Governor Bill Lee last Friday.
Lawmakers passed the bill during a late-October special legislative session.
Backers of the bill hope it will increase transparency and accountability for school board members.
For many years local school board elections have been nonpartisan in Tennessee and candidates were barred from campaigning as a nominee or representative of a political party when running for school board.
Now, local political parties are allowed to direct county election officials to hold a party primary for the seats.
In a letter to chairs of both the DeKalb County Democratic and Republican Parties, Administrator of Elections Dennis Stanley explained that the district offices for school board up for election in 2022 can be added to local party primary ballots in May 2022.
“The General Assembly passed legislation during their recent special session that allows parties to nominate candidates for any school board office. Because you have called a primary in May, you have the option to add school board offices that will appear on the August ballot to the primary. This includes county school districts 1, 2, 3, 4, 7,” said Stanley.
“If you would like to supplement your existing call for a primary to add school board offices, you must file an original written notice with our office no later than the close of business on Friday, December 10, 2021. Like any call for a primary, we request that it be signed by two members of the county executive committee,” Stanley said.
State lawmakers originally sought to require school board elections be conducted on a partisan basis but with several Republican lawmakers speaking out against it, the bill was amended to take a softer position making partisan elections optional instead.
The bill passed the House in a 52-39 vote and the Senate approved the measure 20-10, just over the 17 needed to pass in the upper chamber. All Democratic state lawmakers in both the House and Senate opposed the legislation.
The election commission will begin issuing candidate petitions for the May 3, 2022 primaries on December 20, 2021.