'It's a Bloomington issue,' school board says on ward bill

Bloomington school board chairwoman Maureen Bartolotta and four of her six colleagues have a message for a trio of legislators who backed a bill that could bring city council-style wards to the school board: Stop picking on Bloomington and stay out of local school issues.

"It's a Bloomington issue, and it should've stayed in Bloomington," Bartolotta said.

All seven Bloomington school board members live in vote-rich, relatively affluent west Bloomington, said Rep. Ann Lenczewski, DFL-Bloomington. It's a pattern that's existed for years.

"It's not personal. I wouldn't want six of the seven school board members to live in east Bloomington, either," she said. "The district is rapidly changing. We're not the same school district we were in the '60s, '70s, '80s or even '90s."

So far, there's no similar statewide proposal, but the idea could surface in the future, Lenczewski said. She and Sen. Dan Larson, DFL-Bloomington, introduced the Bloomington bill last year but postponed it because of opposition from school board members.

On Tuesday, the House version of the bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Linda Slocum, DFL-Richfield, passed 91-42. The Senate companion bill was approved prior to the Easter recess. Andrew Wittenborg, a spokesman for the House DFL caucus, said the bill should be on Gov. Tim Pawlenty's desk within a few days.

'Fairness in the future'

"This isn't about the individuals on the school board. It's about building in some fairness in the future," Larson said.

The Bloomington legislators praised the current school board members and said that they regret their opposition but that there's widespread support for the idea throughout the city.

"As a state legislator who lives in this community, it would be irresponsible for me to not do something," Lenczewski said. "We've got a big city with huge needs."

If the bill is signed by Pawlenty, Bloomington's school board members would have about a year to adopt the new setup or it would appear as a referendum question on the November 2010 general election ballot. If approved in the referendum, the new setup would take effect in 2013.

"If it's such a good idea, why aren't they pushing this for the whole state?" Bartolotta said.

"I really don't know what we're going to do," Bartolotta said after Tuesday's House session. "We'll have to decide how we're going to respond."

Rural areas concerned

Meanwhile, officials from the St. Peter-based Minnesota School Boards Associations don't want to see a similar bill enacted statewide. They said that while geographic-based school boards work for metro area districts, a statewide policy could backfire in rural areas.

"It's each district's decision, but there's a reason why only 13 out of 341 districts use this method," said Greg Abbott, a spokesman for the association. "In some of these rural areas they've got five people vying for a seat in one area and one person running unopposed in another area."

Anoka-Hennepin -- the state's largest school district -- divides its board into geographic districts, Abbott said, and Minneapolis residents will vote on whether to implement it this fall. In the north metro area, Sen. Linda Scheid, DFL-Brooklyn Park, also has considered introducing a similar measure. Scheid represents portions of the Osseo School District.

Geography-based school boards are often seen as a way to increase ethnic and socio-economic diversity and increase board members' responsiveness. Opponents, however, point out that such boards are also more prone to infighting, which many argue can be more detrimental for school districts than city governments.

"I would ask them how do you switch back if you want to?" Abbott said about districts where the system has been unsuccessful. "To my knowledge, there's no way to do that."