Daphne Bramham's column in yesterday's Vancouver Sun was the first I heard of Premier Gordon Campbell's municipal election task force.

I located the government press release and discovered the task force will consist of two MLAs, the president of the UBCM and two UBCM designates.

Hmmm. Don't all of these people have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo? For this reason alone, municipal elected politicians should not be the majority members of a task force reviewing the system under which they were successfully elected. As for the MLAs, support from municipal politicians is usually a key component of their own elections.

However, I am particularly struck by the absence of any appointee's to the task force with particular knowledge of Board of Education elections? So much of the public doesn't notice the election for school trustees every three years, so perhaps Premier Campbell just accidentally overlooked this aspect of British Columbia municipal elections?

Or maybe Gordon Campbell knows something we don't? Will we even be electing school trustees in November of 2011?

If Boards of Education will still be in place for the 2011 municipal election, I would like to volunteer to sit on the task force.

I successfully ran for school trustee in three Maple Ridge municipal elections (1996, 1999 and 2002). Unlike about a third of my trustee colleagues from across the province I faced several challengers in every election and have never been acclaimed to the position. In 2005, I chose to step aside and not run again. I paid very close attention to both the 2005 and 2009 school trustee elections across B.C.

I am well informed about education politics and policy in BC and feel I would bring a valuable perspective to Premier Campbell's Municipal Election Task Force.

Premier Campbell, you can read my bio here. I'll be waiting by the phone.

~ Katherine

Public Education Horizons