Hillyard expects to see changes to the way State School Board members are selected

State Senator Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, says he believes a special session of the Utah Legislature will be held within the next week or two because there are some issues that need to be resolved.

The Republican from Logan, who is chairman of the Senate’s Executive Appropriations Committee, says one issue is how state school board members are elected.

A federal judge has declared the current method unconstitutional. Hillyard says that involves a committee selecting three names to recommend to the governor, the governor chooses two and those two names go on the ballot.

“One option is that we tighten up that standard they apply,” says Hillyard. “Another one would be to just have (general) elections and just have anybody file and if you’re on the ballot you vote.

“But there is no mechanism there for a primary. So you could end up in November, when you have the election, you could have, say, 10 people who had filed for a school board seat. Whoever got the most votes, be it 25% or 21%, whoever got the most would end up on the state board.” 

Hillyard says the major issue that needs to be dealt with in a special session is Senate Bill 54 which deals with ballot issues.

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