Appendix E

Recall of Regional School Board Members

As noted in the briefing, the power of recall, that is the ability to remove elected officials during their term in office by a vote of the people, is one extreme form of holding officials accountable. The Connecticut Supreme Court held towns do not have the authority to recall elected officials because the legislature has not explicitly granted this power to municipalities and the authority is not implied in other powers. Only five municipalities (Bristol, Milford, New Haven, Stratford, and Westport) have valid recall provisions because they were granted the authority by special act before the enactment of the constitution's home rule provision.

However, even if a town had a recall provision, it probably would not be binding on school board members. The Superior Court has ruled a recall of a school board member is not allowed because recall provisions in a town charter cannot apply to school board members because they are agents of the state.

As a result of continued voter rejection of the FY 03 school budget in the Amity School District (Region No. 5 is on the 11^th referendum), and calls from some members of the voting public for certain board members to resign, the program review committee examined whether a recall provision for regional school board members should be enacted. However, the committee decided not to recommend a recall provision that would be limited to only regional school board members. The committee believed any consideration of implementing a recall provision should contemplate a wider application to all state elected officials, or at a minimum all school board members. Therefore, such a provision would be beyond the scope of this study.