Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 28, 1993 TAG: 9307280115
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE:
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Short
Bedford County Registrar Marie Batten said Tuesday that she has verified the required 2,393 signatures from petitions calling for a November referendum.
They amount to the 10 percent of registered voters needed to put the referendum on the ballot. The petition drive was led by Willie Perdue of Hardy, who said he is "absolutely confident" the referendum will pass.
Perdue said he will work now to ensure that voters get out and support the referendum.
Forty-two Virginia localities have passed referendums for school board elections - most of them by overwhelming margins. Five referendums have failed.
Members of Bedford County's School Board now are appointed by a special selection committee that is appointed by Circuit Judge William Sweeney. Perdue and other advocates of elected school boards say such a system doesn't allow for direct accountability to the voters.
If the referendum passes, the first Bedford County School Board elections would be in 1995, and they would follow the same staggered schedule used for the Board of Supervisors.
by CNB