Appointed vs. elected school board debated
Santiago pushes elected panel
It was only a matter of time: The perennial Boston political issue of whether to have an elected or appointed school committee is splashing its way into the mayoral race.
State Rep. Jon Santiago held a press conference Thursday morning in which he called to change the school committee to fully elected by residents, as opposed to the mayor-appointed board it is right now.
“The days of the appointed school committee are over,” Santiago said, also vowing to audit the district for wasted funds. “We must return Boston and the BPS families most impacted by school decisions to an elected school committee.”
This comes after a series of issues relating to the Boston School Committee, most recently culminating in the resignations of two members, including the chair, following the release of disparaging texts they sent each other about the “westie whites” of West Roxbury. And that comes on the heels of the former chair’s departure after a hot mic caught him appearing to mock Asian names.
Currently, the school committee is appointed by the mayor. It’s been like that following a ballot referendum in the late 1980s — and has circled round and round as a political issue here every few years since.
Santiago is the only candidate pushing for a fully elected school committee, though the other candidates each have their own brand of reform for the committee. Acting Mayor Kim Janey and City Councilors Andrea Campbell and Michelle Wu all support some variation of a hybrid, with some members appointed and others elected.
Campbell’s campaign said she supports a mixture of elected and appointed, with the student representative having a vote and stipend.
Wu’s campaign said she continues to support a school committee in which a majority of the members are elected, with other seats appointed “to ensure representation of Boston’s diversity and specific subject matter expertise.” She’d also give voting power to the student member.
Janey’s campaign said she supports a hybrid model, too, because pure elected committees in other cities “have given extra voice to outside spending by charter school advocates.”
City Councilor Annissa EssaibiGeorge wants a different form of a hybrid committee: hers with several members appointed by the mayor and the others appointed by the city council. The mayoral appointees would fill certain criteria, such as parents, teachers and various advocates, while the council appointees would come from applicants for whom public hearings would be held.
Former city economic development director John Barros’s campaign said he is “open” to hearing more about a hybrid model, but he didn’t call for any specific changes in that regard at this point. He’s the only candidate to sit on the school committee, appointed by thenMayor Thomas Menino. He said he’d add a second student seat and make them both voting members.