Spring Election

For some reason it isn't enough that we have an election each Fall, we also have one each Spring. At least this time there are not any tax bills on the ballot. A while ago we got a double majority rule for these odd ball elections: more than half of the registered voters had to vote, and more than half of them had to vote in favor of the bill for it to be passed. Problem was most people ignored the spring election and so you could get a new tax bill passed with relatively few people in favor of it. When those people who hadn't been paying attention found out what happened, they weren't too happy, and eventually we got the double majority rule. I think it's a good rule. One election a year is enough. If you are running a government agency that depends on tax revenue, then eliminating the chance of getting a tax bill passed in the Spring means you need to: A) plan ahead more than six months, and B) make a good case for your tax bill.

So there are no tax bills on this Spring's ballot. What we do have is people running for School Boards. The voters pamphlet contains a blurb supplied by each candidate extolling their virtues for the specified position. What the pamphlet does NOT include is a description of the duties, responsibilities and compensation that go with the position. I looked on the specified web site, but a quick look turned up nothing more than PDF files of the voters pamphlets. So I called the number for more information and found that:

• the timing of this election is specified by the law, which means it can't be held in the fall and combined with the general election, or at least I think that's what they were trying to tell me, and
• all of the school board jobs are volunteer positions, no compensation, not even for expenses.

If I want to find out what the duties are that go with the position, I need to talk to the school district in question. In this case it would be Hillsboro. We have a dozen people running for four positions. I will ask my wife what she thinks. She pays attention to things like this.

Update January 2017 replaced missing image.