A state senator from the Upper Peninsula wants to change state law to require more “geographic diversity” on the state Board of Education.
Senator Ed McBroom’s bill would require political parties to nominate candidates for the board from different regions of the state. The candidates would still run in a statewide election.
At a state Senate Education committee hearing last Thursday, McBroom (R-Waucedah Township) complained that the current election process results in the majority of board members coming from southeast Michigan.
“You have different cultural issues. You have different economic issues,” says McBroom, “And that diversity really does not all reside in southeast Michigan.”
There appears to be little time for the state legislature to act on McBroom’s bill this year.
