JACKSON – Two bills have been introduced, one in the House of Representatives and one in the Mississippi Senate, to amend the current school consolidation legislation that created the Winona-Montgomery Consolidated School District. The bills propose amending the makeup of the district’s board of trustees to be made up of all elected members, versus the current makeup of two elected members and three members appointed by the Winona Board of Aldermen.
Senate Bill 2506 was introduced by Senator Lydia Chassaniol (R-Winona) at the urging of the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors,
Senate Bill 2506 proposes that current members of the Winona-Montgomery Consolidated School Board of Trustees continue to serve until January 1, 2021, and then five members elected by voters in each supervisor district will take over. The bill calls for a special election for November 2020 to elect the new board.
The board member representing District 1 will serve a term of one year, the one from District 2 will serve a term of two years, the one from District 3 will serve a term of three years, the one from District 4 will serve a term of four years, and the one from district five will serve a term of five years.
“Therefore, members shall be elected at special elections as vacancies occur for terms of five years each,” the proposed bill states.
All members must reside in the district which they represent.
“When an elected board asks me to draft legislation, it is my job to do this,” Chassaniol said. “They are elected bodies, part of a representative body, just as I am.”
Chassaniol said SB 2506 is currently being mulled over in the Senate Education Committee, chaired by Dennis DeBar, Jr., (R-Leaksville). She said she passed on DeBar’s contact information to representatives from the county and the city, to allow everyone involved to present their opinions as proponents of the bill or those in opposition to the bill.
“I’m sure Dennis DeBar will listen to both sides and make a sound decision,” Chassaniol said.
Representative Karl Oliver (R-Winona) said he has also introduced a bill in the House of Representatives similar to that of Chassaniol’s, however, that bill has not yet received a number.
Oliver sent a statement regarding his decision to introduce a bill:
“Many of you have been made aware of a request to change the structure of our local consolidated school board to give citizens who live in the county more voice in the makeup of the WMCSD school board. Following the consolidation of the Winona Municipal School District and the Montgomery County School District, those who resided within the city limits of Winona were given three members appointed by the Winona Board of Aldermen to serve on the school board and there were two elected members elected from a 2 district area similar to our Justice Court Judge district excluding the incorporated area of Winona to serve on the newly-established WMCSD school board.
The majority (around 60 percent) of Montgomery County’s population resides in the county and in the cities of Duck Hill and Kilmichael; the other 40 percent reside in the municipality of Winona. Those 60 percent are underrepresented on the school board with only two of the five seats being elected from the county. As I’ve already mentioned and you are aware, the other three seats on the school board are appointed by the Winona Board of Aldermen.
To reiterate, the unincorporated areas of Montgomery County contain 60 percent of the county’s overall population and the city contains the remaining 40 percent, but the city has 60 percent of the school board representation and the county has the remaining 40 percent. This is the opposite of how representation works in other levels of government; normally where the people are determines the numerical strength of an area’s representation. In our case the people are in the unincorporated areas so the representation should correspond and more school board members should be elected from the county.
Recently, the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted on a resolution asking that legislation be passed to align the county’s unincorporated areas school board representation with their share of the county’s overall population. Days following, I received a similar resolution from the City of Winona Mayor and three of the Board of Aldermen requesting this change not be made. I emphasize the Winona Board of Aldermen’s request was not unanimous.
It’s apparent the will and desire of the majority of the people of Montgomery County to have their school board members be elected by the people from the five Supervisor Districts, as spelled out in the request. Ignoring such an overwhelmingly supported request from the people would be derelict on my part.
To quote a most admired man, I was once told… ‘The only constant in life, is change.’ How we go about the process of preparing our children for life and the struggles that often accompany it will continue to change, long after God has finished with each of us here on this earth. The real measure of our efforts is how we adapt and overcome these challenges, put aside our differences, and ultimately fulfill our responsibility to our children.”
In its January 31 meeting, the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to request an amendment be made to the current legislation at a recent meeting.
According to Board President Ron Wood, members of the board of supervisors have been contacted by Montgomery County citizens regarding the representation on the board for those living outside the city limits of Winona, especially in relation to the district’s tax millage request from the county.
“We didn’t think [how the school board was composed] was right from day one,” Wood said. “The board of supervisors feel like there is no accountability from the school board.”
Wood said the board was told the school consolidation would save the taxpayers money, however, school taxes have increased for those living outside the city limits of Winona for past two years.
“The increase in taxes has got more people upset about the whole situation,” Wood said.
In response, on February 4, the Winona Mayor and Board of Aldermen took action by speaking out against the change to the school district’s board of trustees, with a 3-1 vote by the board of alderman.
In a letter sent to Oliver, it stated: “The City of Winona vehemently opposes such a change as it would not be a valid representation of the students and the school district. At last count, only twenty percent (20%) of the students that attend live in the county, while approximately 80 percent (80%) live within the city limits of Winona. Based on this statistic alone, it is obvious that changing the statute could misplace authority and greatly affect the majority of the students and families within our school district. Taking away the City of Winona’s ability to appoint three (3) members of the board is a reckless endeavor, and is tantamount to a school district run by a minority of the student population.”
Alderman Sarah Minnieweather told the board that she was not in favor of leaving the makeup of the school board of trustees in its current form, as she feels black citizens of Montgomery County are not being equally represented with a four white, one black board makeup.
Tuesday morning, Minnieweather addressed the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors and thanked them for their efforts to change the makeup of the school board.
“Black folks are not given a fair shake,” Minnieweather told the board. “It was three [whites] and two [blacks] on the board, and now it is four [whites] and one [black] on the board. I would like to see all of our board members elected.”
