No-Cost School Reform: Bulletin # 2

In 1976 the voters at the annual meeting of the Town of Garland decided to change the terms of office for selectmen to one year terms. The reasons for the change were numerous, but basically centered on the need for maintaining accountability to the voters. Staggered three year terms did not allow the voters to change a majority of the Board if it was perceived to be acting contrary to the will of the citizens. Voters expressed a desire to evaluate each official'’s performance annually and re-elect when it was mutually acceptable.

At the Town Meeting of 1977 I was elected selectman to the first one-year term under the new provision, and I am proud to have been re-elected eight times until other considerations prevented me from further office for several years.

Imagine if the Maine law was amended to provide that MSAD voters could decide to have one-year terms of office. Ineffective Directors could be replaced with effective ones. Those considered to be unrepresentative of the community's values could be easily replaced. Entrenched cliques would be harder to create and "the good old boy" network harder to maintain with all one-year terms.

Many novice Board members welcome the opportunity to try one-year terms (for example, when a vacancy in office is created by resignation) prior to making a longer commitment. It might even be easier to recruit suitable candidates for the one-year term.

Because each of the communities has at least one annual Town Meeting or an annual election for filling vacancies in terms of office, there wouldn't be any additional cost or inconvenience associated with this proposed change.

Let us know what you think as we continue to pursue this and other no-cost school reform ideas.