A Colorado lawmaker thinks a key constituency should have a greater say about who serves on local school boards: students.
State Rep. Jonathan Singer, a Longmont Democrat, confirmed to Chalkbeat that he intends to introduce legislation next year that would give local school boards the freedom to set the voting age as low as 16 for their elections. The current minimum voting age — for federal races as well as state and local races in Colorado — is 18.
“I can’t think of a better place to actually involve our students than in local school board elections,” Singer said Wednesday.
Singer is scheduled to detail his plans Friday during a keynote address at a breakfast benefit for Project VOYCE, a nonprofit that works to help public school students become advocates for education, according to a news release from the group.
The proposed legislation has been three years in the making, Singer said.
Chalkbeat Colorado is a nonprofit news organization covering education issues. For more, visit chalkbeat.org/co.