Voters will Decide on School Committee Term Limits

Voters in Cranston will decide whether School Committee members should be term limited after the City Council voted 8-1 to ask the General Assembly to put the measure on the ballot in November.

Councilman Don Botts sponsored the resolution and said it was only fair that the School Committee be subjected to the same term limits as the City Council, with members limited to 5 consecutive two-year terms.

And if approved, existing School Committee members would still be able to serve for up to 10 more years since the new rule wouldn't count towards time already served.

"After 10 years, I think we need fresh ideas and some turnover to introduce new ideas," Botts said before the vote.

City Council President John E. Lanni Jr. said he supported the measure, too, noting he took a term off in the years between 2010 and 2012 because he hit the 10-year limit as a City Council member.

"I had to get off because of term limits and sat out two years," Lanni said. "If you've been on the School Committee for 10 years in a row and if you've really done a good job, I'm sure you can wait two years again and get reelected."

The lone vote against the resolution was Councilman Paul Archetto, who said he believed the matter should go before the City Council's Ordinance Committee for review before a full-fledged council vote. 

The reason the issue didn't go before the committee first was timing, Botts said. Without immediate passage, it would be too late to get on the General Assembly's calendar, thus it wouldn't be in time for this November election.

Cranston voters last weighed in on term limits when they approved a change from two-year to four-year terms for the mayor in 2010, going into effect in 2012.