All is well among Guilford County election workers again.
It turns out that that group – and county citizens – will not have to exist under a confusing state of separate Guilford County Board of Education and Guilford County Board of Commissioners districts for the next decade. On Tuesday, Nov. 9, the school board voted 8 to 1 to approve the same district lines the county commissioners approved on Thursday, Nov. 4.
On Saturday, Nov. 6, the school board shocked many by voting against adopting the same district lines. The school board had previously voted unanimously to adopt whatever lines the commissioners approved. However, it turns out the no vote was only to give the school board members more time to study the map they were approving.
District 3 School Board Member Pat Tillman told the Rhino Times that he too was wondering what was happening on November 6 when the school board members voted not to adopt the map that the commissioners had approved.
“I was surprised on Saturday,” Tillman said.
However, he added that it was soon clear why that happened.
“A few members really hadn’t had much time to review the map,” he said.
The Board of Commissioners voted to approve its version of the county’s eight-district map to send on to the state last week. Every 10 years, the county and the school board make adjustments to district lines to account for uneven population growth in the county.
The NC General Assembly can overturn the adopted district maps. However, this year the county commissioners worked very closely with state elected officials of both parties to make sure a map that was agreeable to all was approved.
School board members were included in those talks as well, which is one reason the Nov. 6 no vote by the school board was a surprise.
Tillman added the school board already had its regular meeting scheduled for Nov. 9 – which allowed the board members to approve the map after having a couple more days to review it.
