Ballot Question 3A – a measure to shrink the size of the Durango School District 9-R Board of Directors – passed overwhelmingly Tuesday night.
According to the La Plata County Clerk and Recorder's Office, of 10,359 total votes cast, 77 percent voted in favor, with 23 percent voting against.
The measure will reduce the 9-R school board from seven to five members over the course of coming years.
Both the current Durango school board and Superintendent Daniel Snowberger supported 3A's passage.
Outgoing board president Jeff Schell said by reducing the board's size, school board elections are likely to become more competitive, and in nonelection years, the composition of the board will likely become more stable.
He said for years, the board has struggled to retain seven members, with seats going vacant for long periods after members' resigning, moving out of a district and dying.
He said no board member could remember a time when all seven board seats were occupied for longer than 12 months.
Across the state, seven-member school boards, such as Durango's, are a relative rarity.
More than 75 percent of Colorado's 178 school districts have five-member boards.
cmcallister@durangoherald.com
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