NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Tennessee bill that would allow school board members to run based on political affiliation has passed both the House and Senate.
During an Extraordinary Session Friday, House and State lawmakers approved a partisan school board election bill.
Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (R- Oak Ridge) and House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) introduced HB 9072/SB 9009 this week. The bill would've required partisan elections for all school board members. Currently, school board members are elected on a nonpartisan basis and those seeking election cannot campaign as a representative of a political party.
However, amendments added to the bill would be partisan school board elections permissive and not mandatory.
Some conditions of the bill include:
- Specifies that candidates for school board may campaign as the nominee or representative of a political party if the applicable county primary board of a political party elects to conduct school board elections on a partisan basis;
- Specifies that political parties may elect to nominate a candidate under party rules rather than by primary election; and
- Adds that, if a county executive committee timely filed a notice with the county election commission directing the commission to hold a May primary election in 2022, then within 30 days of the date that this bill becomes a law, the county executive committee may file a supplemental notice, in writing, to include school board offices to be elected in the regular August election within the county.
The bill says no later than 30 days after the bill becomes a law, "a county executive committee may direct, in writing, the county election commission to hold a primary for school board offices to be elected in the regular November 2022 election."