Critics of partisan school board elections in Utah argued in court Wednesday that a constitutional prohibition against a “partisan test” for school employees extends to members of the state Board of Education.
But Thom Roberts, an assistant attorney general, said no such test exists under current law, since members of any political party and independent candidates are free to run and be elected in next year’s partisan school board elections.
“There’s no requirement that a board member be from any particular political party, or can’t be from one,” Roberts said in arguments Wednesday in Utah’s 3rd District Court.