The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly on Tuesday recommended that state law be amended to allow term limits for school board members. Currently, Alaska Statute does not allow term limits to be imposed on school board members.
The resolution, sponsored by outgoing assembly member Richard Derkevorkian, is nonbinding and does not change borough laws, but rather formally states the assembly’s position about a topic.
In supporting term limits for school board members, Derkevorkian said the move would bring the board into alignment with the borough assembly and mayor, which also have term limits, would prevent a concentration of power by “a few entrenched incumbents” and would enhance accountability.
The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education has nine members who each serve three-year terms.
Derkevorkian in a Sept. 7 memo accompanying the resolution cited information from the National Conference of State Legislatures, the University of Chicago’s “The Journal of Politics,” libertarian think tank the Cato Institute and think tank Brookings Institution.
Assembly member Tyson Cox successfully amended the resolution such that two whereas clauses were removed. The first amendment removed reference to a ballot measure that was disqualified by Alaska’s lieutenant governor and the second removed a clause that Cox said stated an opinion.
Tuesday’s assembly meeting will be available to stream on the borough’s website at kpb.legistar.com.
Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com.
