House approves partisan elections for Pitt County school board after extended debate, 70-47

The North Carolina House on April 1 passed House Bill 302, allowing Pitt County to change its Board of Education elections from nonpartisan to partisan. The House committee substitute passed second reading on a recorded roll-call vote, 70 in favor and 47 opposed, and the bill passed third reading by voice and will be sent to the Senate.

Representative Reeder, sponsor of the bill, told colleagues the change would allow Pitt County to “join 53 other local educational agencies who have made their board of education's elections partisan” and argued that partisan labels “help provide additional information to voters to make a selection on the ballot.” Reeder noted the county’s nine-member board serves staggered four-year terms and said supporters included current board members, former candidates and constituents of both parties.

Opponents on the floor said the board itself had not been consulted and worried the change would politicize local school governance. Representative Brown read a letter from the Pitt County Board of Education chair, saying in part, “As chairman of the Board of Education for Pitt County Schools, I am appalled of, this bill being introduced … the board was never contacted as a whole and did not know of the bill until it was made known after it had been filed.” Brown said a majority of the board preferred to remain nonpartisan and asked members not to support the bill.

Other speakers raised broader concerns about partisan pressure on local officials. Representative Jones said, “We could make everything political, every darn thing,” and warned that making more offices partisan risks discouraging people from serving specifically to avoid party politics. Representative Reeves said making boards partisan can subject members to party hierarchy and primary challenges, reducing space for public servants who do not want partisan pressures.

Representative Ball raised a practical point about unaffiliated voters, asking whether unaffiliated voters would be excluded from serving; she said an unaffiliated voter “cannot run for the Board of Education” under the proposed change and questioned whether that was desirable.

The House committee substitute to House Bill 302 passed second reading 70-47 (recorded) and was ordered read a third time; on the third reading the bill passed by voice and was sent to the Senate.