VSBA Advocacy in Action at the General Assembly

This morning the House Counties, Cities, and Towns committee took action on HB1383 (Morris). This legislation would allow local governing bodies to remove appointees at any time, including school board members, with a 2/3 majority vote of the local governing body. VSBA activated members from the 20 appointed school boards to contact their legislators and members of the committee to urge their opposition to the bill. With help from those appointed school board members, including several who passionately testified before the committee, we were able to successfully defeat this legislation on a 13-5 vote, flipping many of the votes from subcommittee. 

Thank you to all of those board members who wrote letters, made phone calls, and advocated against HB1383, especially those who traveled to Richmond to testify. Your voice made a difference! 

Richmond County Board Members John Brown and Brenda Pemberton testify before the House Counties, Cities, and Towns committee on HB1383. 

Legislators listen to testimony from school board members on HB1383.