Bill May Change College Trustee Elections

The current method of electing trustees for community colleges in the state could be changing soon.  The Times News reports that a bill introduced yesterday in the House State Affairs Committee would require that trustee districts be divided into geographic zones with residency requirements to give board representation from all of a colleges taxing district. The bill, introduced by Rep. Frank Henderson, R-Post Falls, was prompted by a recent trustee election in Twin Falls County for the College of Southern Idaho.  LeRoy Craig, a former trustee from Jerome County, and Charles Lehrman of Buhl were defeated by Bob Keegan of Twin Falls and Karl Kleinkopf of Kimberly, leaving residents on the west side of Twin Falls County and Jerome County without representation on the board even though residents in those areas pay taxes to support the college.  The bill introduced yesterday would prevent that from happening by setting up zones in college districts for North Idaho College, College of Western Idaho and CSI. Representatives on the board would be required to live in each of the zones.  The bill seems to have support from some CSI board members as well as several area senators and representatives.