Remember, this Tuesday, May 20, voters in School District 271 can vote on three things:

• The $31,000,000 SPFL
• Trustee Position Zone 4
• Trustee Position Zone 5

Surprisingly, you may not get to vote for either of the Trustees. Let me explain.

All taxpayers in District 271 get to vote on the Levy. This post, however, is not about the Levy. (To see how much the Levy will impact you, read this post.)

Only voters in trustee zones 4 and 5 will get to vote for the trustee positions. And only those people in each zone get to vote for one of the trustee positions.

If you’re in Zone 5, you can vote for incumbent Sid Fredrickson or challenger Kevin Mylan.

If you’re in Zone 4, you can vote for incumbent Diane Zipperer or challenger Dr. Susan Francis.

Also, the best way to not miss out on the trustee vote is to vote at a school in your zones. That means a school local to you, such as where your kids attend or have attended elementary school. So to vote for Zone 4, go to Winton or Sorenson. For zone 5, go to Borah or Bryan. (Or, of course, other locations in those zones.)

Honestly, I believe this to be yet another example of how the school district alienates voters, as well as how they can stack the deck in favor of the status quo. While I have no beef with requiring elected officials to be from certain districts (as opposed to at-large), I am bothered that only those residing in the districts get to have a say. This situation creates a powerful vehicle to maintain incumbency. It lessens our voice as taxpayers.

There is a solution: Change the board. The board itself can dictate from where trustees can be selected and who gets to vote. It’s my wish that the new board look into this situation to better represent the people whose children attend the schools, and whose tax dollars are used for funding.