School board elections touch off legal wrangling
Questions about how voters select their school directors touched off legal wrangling in three local school districts, leaving some to wonder if others could be next. It took a couple years in court but Connellsville Area School District went from electing directors out of what was ruled unfairly divided regions to an at-large voting system in which everyone chooses from among all candidates. Brownsville Area School District followed, with a judge ditching the regional voting for an at-large system that kicks in next year.
The most recent issue of whether Albert Gallatin Area School District’s voting regions are unbalanced was decided recently.
Cases resolved
The change in Connellsville came in 2000 after a federal lawsuit alleged violations in the district of “one man, one vote” representation by the school board’s failing to realign its three voting regions, which were disproportionate in population. Two years in court resulted in U.S. District Court Judge Donald J. Lee ordering Connellsville to enact an at-large voting system.
The Brownsville case surfaced from a federal lawsuit that claimed a violation of the Constitution.
Fayette County Court of Common Pleas ultimately decided the issue when Judge John F. Wagner Jr. ruled April 12, 2001, to move the Allison 1 area (precinct 1) of the Redstone Township voting region to the Brownsville voting region for the May and November 2001 elections. In May 2001, just before the primary election, the judge reversed his ruling and ordered that the election for the year be held under the old regional system and at the same time granted a petition seeking at-large elections.
The 2003 election will be done at-large.
In Albert Gallatin, a group of residents last fall sued the district in federal court over disproportionate population in the voting regions, also saying they were being denied their constitutional rights to the “one man, one vote” provision. The lawsuit asked for fair representation.
Judge Donetta W. Ambrose, in a one-page order issued last month, wrote that the matter was “administratively closed because of similar proceedings pending in the Court of Common Pleas of Fayette County.”
She said the case would be reopened “only by petition of a party.”
In the meantime, in a separate action that was decided last week, the school board petitioned the county court for reapportionment of the voting regions. Their proposal was to move Smithfield Borough from one region to another in an effort to even out the population among three regions. A hearing was held before Fayette County Judge Gerald R. Solomon who granted the school board’s request.
No active challenges
Laurel Highlands School District is the only Fayette County district using a regional system that has been left unchallenged. Nearby Bethlehem-Center and California Area school districts in Washington County and Central Greene School District in Greene County also are among the few with regions.
A sampling of directors from those school districts reported little, if any, discussion of changing their voting systems.
“There has been talk from time to time over the years but nothing recently with the lawsuits,” said Laurel Highlands school director Angelo Giachetti.
Nor has there been much inquiry on the legal front.
“Not that I’m aware of,” Laurel Highlands solicitor Gary Frankhouser said.
“I’ve really never heard it mentioned, except what I was reading in the paper about Brownsville and Connellsville,” Beth-Center board member John Sloan said.
“When I saw stories about A.G. and Brownsville doing things, I thought it would come here, but no one has started anything. No talk on the street either,” said California’s board president, J. Budd Grebb.
His colleague, Barry Niccolai, concurred.
“No, it has never come up that I know of,” he said.
Central Greene President George Scott said, “There’s no serious talk of changes.”
“I have read about the Fayette County issues but haven’t heard too much here,” said Scott’s fellow board member Joe Ayersman.
All four of those school districts have three directors each representing three voting regions within the districts.
Opinions vary
Change may not be an issue the school board is actively considering, but Edward S. George, Laurel Highlands board president, has given it some thought.
He said he is convinced that regional voting is the best method for his district.
“School districts are set up to be governed by their local community, and I think that’s agreeable. It’s not a perfect system, but it is good,” George said. “I think regional voting gives each region a guaranteed voice.”
If he were to accept a change, George said it would be only to reconfigure the regions.
Determining any population imbalance in the district is difficult because the regions are split among precincts of North Union and South Union townships. North Union, according to the 2000 U.S. census has 14,140 people, as compared to South Union’s 11,337 population. The U.S. Census Bureau does not break down population by precinct or ward within a municipality.
“When North Union and South Union came together, the new setup was beautiful with three members from North Union solely in Region 1 – that is my region – three from South Union and the other three in the middle part of North and South Union. So you can get an extra person from South Union and an extra person from North Union,” George said.
“Right now, L.H. has good representation. For us to change would be a huge mistake. I think it keeps our voters in touch. They can talk to the other members, too. We all represent the entire district.”
George ran for public office for the first time three years ago, when he won election to the school board. He said it made a difference to campaign in a small region where he could meet people in person and save on the cost of signs and advertisements.
“I didn’t use the media except to put out a mailer. I went door to door specifically,” he said.
He said it also can be hard for someone from a region to campaign at large when there is a hot topic at election time that may affect people in one area that may get all the voter interest.
Conversely, Giachetti said he could favor at-large voting.
“I’m a Laurel Highlands School Board member, not a Region 1 director. I represent the whole Laurel Highlands School District and not just a certain region or an area, and I have no problem with at-large,” he said.
Giachetti, on the school board 15 years and immediate past president, was a senior in high school in 1967, the first year the two townships joined their school districts to form Laurel Highlands. He said the district always has had regions.
Giachetti pointed out a good thing about the regions and a drawback to at-large voting.
Regionally speaking, he said, the elementary and secondary schools are fairly well-situated throughout both townships. Otherwise, he said, candidates could congregate toward the larger voting areas and leave residents of the smaller sections of the township with less of an opportunity to win election.
“As far as getting people from the different regions, you would be pot-lucking it. That’s the negative,” Giachetti said.
Also, with an at-large system comes the potential question of “taxation without representation,” whereby one area has higher population but another more of a tax base.
Laurel Highlands could be such an example, because North Union Township has a higher total population but South Union Township has a thriving commercial base.
George said this issue is difficult to assess because South Union Township also has generally higher appraisals of homes, so the tax base could sway a bit, even if the businesses are disregarded.
“It is hard to match the population compared to taxes, so again the issue is sort of with regions you get fairer representation,” George said.
Equal representation
In Beth-Center, Sloan said the district has no need to explore at-large voting, but he did not dismiss the idea.
“I don’t think it would bother me, but I don’t see any reason for it,” he said.
Sloan is on the board for the ninth year, having served in the past as president for three years. Retired, he was a teacher 35 years and now represents Region 2 in the district.
Region 1 covers five of the six Centerville precincts, Region 2 has the Vestaburg/Mexico section of Centerville and East Bethlehem Township and Region 3 includes Beallsville, Deemston, and Marianna boroughs and West Bethlehem Township. According to the 2000 census, before adjusting for the Centerville precincts, Region 1 has a population of 3,390, Region 2 has 2,524 and Region 3 has 3,378.
Sloan acknowledged Region 1, with most of Centerville Borough, has the largest population, but that the three areas are relatively close in size. He said the population differences do not seem to matter.
“Each region has three representatives, and it’s worked pretty well. I think the people at the grassroots get the better representation because they have three board members who are local and more accountable to the smaller townships,” he said.
Having gone through two jointures, the Beth-Center district came about around 1955-56.
Sloan said the district had so many small communities that the regions apparently were set up to divide the representation on the board.
“The school boards were joined by region to represent each equally,” he said.
California’s school district also went through a jointure of small community schools.
Region 1 covers California Borough, where the population is 5,274, although one small precinct of California that covers the Daisytown/Granville Hollow area is included in Region 2. Region 2 includes West Pike Run Township, with a population of 1,925, and what is known as West Brownsville Annex and more commonly as Blainsburg. That community has no official count in the census, but Niccolai estimated about 500 people live there. The Region 3 total population is 2,432, including the boroughs of Coal Center, Elco, Roscoe, Long Branch and Allenport.
Grebb said the small schools started joining around 1949, and at one time, because of jointures, more than 30 members were on the school board.
This is his third year on the board after teaching 30 years in the district. He represents Region 1 where the population is notably higher than in the other two regions.
“It does not make a substantial difference. I think there is a lot of harmony in our district. We don’t have factions of people upset and wanting change. I think it’s good,” he said.
Grebb said every once in a while someone may claim Region 1 has more of a tax base than the rest of the district.
“I question that because so much is untaxed property (of California University of Pennsylvania),” he said.
Niccolai, who also represents California Borough, said he was unaware of the population differences, but he had no concerns.
“California has such a broad geographic base, and I think the regional concept assures that we have representation,” he said. “I never really thought about the numbers of the population in the years I’ve been around.”
Niccolai has been on and off the school board a total of 17 years and at one time represented Region 2.
“Just because of the numbers it stands to reason you could get twice as many candidates from California with the population. I see a chance where the board could be made up of all from California,” Niccolai said.
Noting the high number of board members from the jointures, Niccolai said the regions were set up to make sure the communities are represented.
“I noticed the last couple elections before this recent one, there were times when it was difficult to make sure there were enough people to run. Getting people interested on serving on the school board is a consideration,” he said.
The status quo
In Central Greene, Ayersman also said that when few people run for the school board seats, all directors in a region could come from one area, but no one has come forth with a complaint.
“Sometimes you do not get that many running, so maybe all three might be from Perry Township or one from Whiteley Township. I haven’t heard anybody complaining about not being represented,” he said.
Central Greene is divided into three areas: Franklin and Washington townships in one with 8,800 people; Perry, Wayne and Whiteley townships in another with 3,697; and Waynesburg Borough in the last with 4,184.
“I do like the way it is set up. There is even representation,” Scott said. “I know the population is different. I don’t think that makes a difference.”
In his 11th year on the board, Scott said the superintendent has brought the population to the board’s attention in the past and school officials look at the number “every so many years” but have given no serious consideration to change. He attributed gains in Franklin Township to the state prison opening in 1993.
“The reason why Franklin Township is so much larger than the others is that we have SCI-Greene, and they count towards population,” he said.
Ayersman, like Scott, represents Franklin and Washington townships. This is his third year on the board, but his involvement in the district dates back further. He is a retired teacher and coach and his wife, Lila, served on the school board 22 years before him.
“Everybody seems to be pretty happy with the way things are,” Ayersman said. “We are satisfied. There have been no complaints, so status quo.”