Education board bill defeated in committee

A bill that would change the election process for the State Board of Education was squashed by the Senate Education Standing Committee Friday morning with a 5-to-2 vote following much heated debate.

HB150, sponsored by Rep. Carol Spackman Moss, D-Salt Lake, would eliminate the governor's nominating selection committee. Instead, State Board elections would follow the pattern of local school board elections, with a primary election that allows the voters — not a committee — to weed out the candidates.

Moss said she was extremely disappointed with the committee's action. She doesn't intend to revive her bill this session but may bring it up again next year.

She calls the current State Board election process "contrived and kind of manipulative."