Next time voters in Wells step to the polls, they will likely have more choices on candidates for school board.

Monday, the United South Central school board voted unanimously to become an &uot;at-large&uot; district, meaning the district will no longer be divided into precincts for the purposes of voting.

Previously, the district had three precincts, each with two representatives on the school board.

But some argued that that system made board members vote in favor of their precinct instead of the district as a whole.

&uot;I think this will be a good step toward unity in the district,&uot; Pat Staloch, chairman of the school board, said.

Staloch said the precincts had been adopted because farmers didn’t think they were getting enough representation in respect to their taxes. The precinct system was enacted 12 years ago.

&uot;Farms had to pay excess levies back then,&uot; Staloch said. &uot;Taxes wise, things weren’t quite fair back then. The farmers paid more.&uot;

Though the farmers were paying a great deal, many board seats still went to people in towns.

Staloch said that because the changes in the way farms are taxed in the last few years, the board decided it was okay to go back to the at-large representatives.

The idea of unity was a key to the decision, he said.

The district has struggled in the last few years with possible building closings, failed referenda and a superintendent who resigned after an investigation into his personal conduct. These issues have been divisive and hurt the district’s morale.

Staloch hopes the new system can help shed that stigma.

&uot;We felt it was time to move on,&uot; he said.

Though the new rule was passed unanimously, there were opponents to the rule change.

Former school board member Mary Thrond, who resigned from the board last winter, said she thinks the change will take away representation from people in the district.

&uot;It just seems as though you are removing something that will help to disenfranchise voters,&uot; she said.

But Thrond said she is most disappointed that the issue was not brought to a referendum.

She said that a petition backing the change, which was passed around by a USC high school student, was ready to be brought to the board. But Thrond wondered why the board had not waited to accept it.

If the board had signed off on the petition, a referendum would have been necessary to dissolve the precincts.

&uot;Why not just allow people to vote for it?&uot; she said.

She also said that precincts could hurt rural representation because people from larger towns will have an easier time getting more voting support in their community.

This fall four board seats will be up for grabs, including Thrond’s old seat and Staloch’s.

(Contact Peter Cox at peter.cox @albertleatribune.com or 379-3439.)