LINCOLN — Paying the people elected to govern the Omaha Public Schools would put the district in a class by itself statewide.
So would placing term limits on their service.
No school board members in Nebraska are paid for their service or subjected to term limits.
But State Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh of Omaha sees no problem in doing both for OPS — along with shrinking the size of the board.
"OPS frequently argues that they are different," he said.
Lautenbaugh unveiled details of a bill Tuesday aimed at shaking up the board that governs the state's largest school district. He plans to introduce the measure Wednesday as the Nebraska Legislature kicks off its 2012 session.
The proposal would shrink the board from 12 members to five. Members of the new board would be paid $20,000 a year and be limited to two four-year terms.
"I believe this will create a board that is of a higher profile, more responsive to the need for change, and better equipped to give us the kind of district we need for our children," Lautenbaugh said.
To get his measure across the finish line he will have to overcome lawmakers' concerns about breaking new ground on school boards and satisfy questions about the need for any change.
The proposal to pay school board members represents a "radical" change in how school boards operate, said State Sen. Scott Price of Bellevue, vice chairman of the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee, which may hear the bill.
"Do we really want to go down this path?" he asked, noting the financial difficulties facing school districts.
Price also questioned why state law should single out one district for different treatment.
On the other hand, Sen. Rich Pahls of Omaha, a former school superintendent, said he sees some logic in shrinking the OPS board, paying members and expecting more from them.
He compared the OPS board to the Omaha City Council and Douglas County Board, whose members are paid, while saying they are in a different position from the University of Nebraska Board of Regents, whose members are not paid.
"I do think the OPS district is a distinctly different animal," Pahls said. "I think it's an intriguing idea. If nothing else, we need it for discussion."
But Sen. Brenda Council of Omaha, an 11-year veteran of the OPS board, questioned how the bill would fix any perceived problems on the board.
She called Lautenbaugh's statement about creating a higher profile, more responsive board a "nice platitude" that, she said, does not explain how and why his proposal would improve anything.
"This is a solution looking for a problem," Council said.
To fight the bill, she expects to offer a measure that would extend Lautenbaugh's changes, including term limits and annual salaries, to all school boards in the state.
The chairman of the Education Committee, Sen. Greg Adams of York, said he isn't convinced yet about Lautenbaugh's proposal.
"I want to hear, defined, what the problem is and hear if this is the solution to the problem," he said.
Under Lautenbaugh's measure, the largest school district in the state would be governed by the smallest board.
The state's smallest school districts have six-member boards. Some districts have as many as nine members.
The district closest in size to Omaha's, the Lincoln Public Schools, has seven members on its board.
Lautenbaugh said he believes the Omaha board's size contributed to a situation in which district superintendents demanded more autonomy from board oversight. Current OPS Superintendent John Mackiel sought contract language limiting board authority as a condition of staying with OPS in 2000.
"They have traded control to placate the candidates they wanted for superintendent," Lautenbaugh said.
He also said he thinks the board's size discourages good people from running, because they realize they would be only one voice among 12.
Lautenbaugh said he settled on five as the number of members for the new board because that would maintain the same proportion of districts that have a majority of minority voters.
The current board has two such districts out of 12. The new board would have one of five.
"There would be no way to argue that I would be reducing representation," he said.
As for the proposal to pay members, Lautenbaugh said it would raise the caliber and number of people running for the board.
He said $20,000 is a defensible salary figure, arguing that the district probably would save that much by reducing staff and other expenses of a larger board.
If approved, his proposal would take effect before the elections this fall. It would set up a situation in which all board members would have to run — potentially against other sitting members — in order to keep their seats on the smaller board.
Lautenbaugh announced plans for the legislation in the fall, after The World-Herald highlighted concerns about the board's effectiveness at overseeing the state's largest school district.
Contact the writer:
402-473-9583, martha.stoddard@owh.com
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