Letter to the Editor

New ESU system

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Dear Editor,

LB603, which passed in the 2007 Legislature, changed the way the Educational Service Units will be governed. "Each educational service unit board, except boards of education service units with only one member school district, shall divide the territory of the educational service unit into at least five and up to 12 numbered districts for the purpose of electing members to the board in compliance with section 32-553. The newly established election districts shall apply beginning with the nomination and election of educational service unit board members in 2008."

Presently, board members for the ESU are elected by one per county and four at-large members. ESU 15 currently has 10 members on the board.

With this direction coming to us from the Unicameral the Educational Service Unit 15 board has been working to divide ESU 15 into election districts. The board is attempting to divide the educational service units into districts to the extent possible by using existing school district boundaries. Some of the larger districts will need to be divided into more than one district and some smaller districts will need to be combined with another district to form an election district.

ESU 15 will be divided into 10 election districts of substantially equal population. The board members will be elected at the November 2008 election. Board members will serve from the district in which they live and be elected by district. The board member elected from the odd-number districts will serve for a two-year term and the board member elected from an even-numbered district will serve for a four-year term. The election district information must be submitted to the Secretary of State by the end of December.

The ESU 15 board welcomes your suggestions or questions. More information is available at the ESU 15 Trenton office and/or by contacting me.

Brent McMurtrey,

ESU 15 administrator

(308) 334-5160

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