Rockingham School Board Could Change Under New Bill

The Rockingham County Board of Education is the latest to face possible restructuring if a bill proposed Wednesday passes in the legislature. The move is raising some eyebrows among community members.

House Bill 189 would reduce the number of districts from six to four by 2016 and the number of school board members from 11 to seven by 2018.

“I don't know why the bill was introduced or why they want to reduce the size of the board,” says Bob Wyatt, a Rockingham County School Board member.

Wyatt says lawmakers in Raleigh are getting too involved in local politics. “I've been keeping up with municipal changes that are occurring across the state and I see the same thing taking place with city and county boards, so it wasn't a surprise that it filtered down to the school board.”

Republican State Reps. Bert Jones and Bryan Holloway sponsored the legislation.  Holloway (R-Rockingham) says the current board is too big, especially when compared with much larger school districts like Wake County, who only has nine school board members.

“There has been an outcry from the public for quite a while that the school board is too large, and it's too confusing as to whose district do you actually live in. And for a county of 90,000 people, which is relatively small, that's a little ridiculous having 11 different districts,” says Holloway.

Holloway says the voters will decide in the end. If the North Carolina House & Senate approves it, a referendum will be placed on the ballot in 2016.

Follow Keri Brown on Twitter @kerib_news