Guilford Delegation Wants To Go Back To Nonpartisan School Board

A bipartisan group of state lawmakers has filed bills to make a local election non-partisan.

Six members of the Guilford County delegation - four Democrats and two Republicans - have filed bills to change the way voters pick the school board. One measure is a House bill, and there's an identical bill in the Senate.

If approved, candidates' names would appear on the ballot without party affiliation for both the primary and general elections.

That's a return to the way it was in Guilford County for years, until a bill filed by then-state Sen. Trudy Wade - a Republican - switched the elections to partisan beginning with the 2016 campaign.

The move was opposed by school board members at the time. Wade lost her re-election bid last year.

The proposed change does not impact any other counties in the state.