An effort to change elections for the Craven County Board of Education from non-partisan to partisan has drawn mixed reactions from local officials and citizens, ranging from the enthusiastically supportive to the vehemently negative.
The legislation would also move school board elections away from the current county-wide general election to a district-based system.
The push by North Carolina’s Republic-controlled legislature to move school boards to partisan elections in North Carolina has increased significantly since 2013. Currently, 35 of the state’s 115 public school districts run partisan elections, an increase from 23 in 2017.
Onslow County recently went to partisan school board election and a controversial candidate, Eric Whitfield was elected. Whitfield was fired from a school for a racial post and the Onslow County GOP disavowed him. Whitfield ran as a Republican and was elected.