Board term limits urged

Karen Yelsey pulled off an upset victory four months ago in the Newport-Mesa school board race, toppling a longtime incumbent with an aggressive grass-roots campaign.

Now, the newly elected trustee hopes to shake things up in the future.

Yelsey, who advocated setting term limits for Newport-Mesa trustees during her campaign last year, has submitted a proposal to the board asking that members be limited to 12 years or less. Newport-Mesa, like most school districts in the area, imposes no limits on how long trustees can stay in office. The board is expected to consider Yelsey’s plan at tonight’s meeting.

A former PTA president at Lincoln Elementary School and Corona del Mar High School, Yelsey defeated board member Serene Stokes in November with 56% of the vote. Her campaign cost more than $38,000 and involved months of intense lobbying by friends and supporters. She was moved to ask for term limits, she said, because she wanted to provide a chance to candidates who didn’t have her resources.

“I was out there 15 hours a day, and that’s a lot,” Yelsey said. “The effort, the time and the money is beyond the means of a lot of very capable, good candidates who say, ‘That wouldn’t be worth it.’ ”

Under Yelsey’s proposed system, board members could serve no more than three consecutive four-year terms. The rule, if accepted, would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2009.

Only three trustees in Newport-Mesa history have served longer than three terms: Roderick MacMillian, who retired in 1994 and is now the boardroom’s namesake, and current members Martha Fluor and Judy Franco. Five other members, including Stokes, served three terms each — with several serving 13 years instead of 12 because elections moved from odd-numbered years to even-numbered ones while they were in office.

Franco, who has served 26 years on the board and will be Newport-Mesa’s most venerable trustee ever if she completes her current term, said term limits were unnecessary. She cited Yelsey’s victory over Stokes as an example of voters’ power.

“I feel that this community has voters who are very well educated on the issues, and I truly believe that every time I have run, I have faced term limits,” Franco said. “Being an incumbent doesn’t carry the aura that some people think it does. Throughout your time in office, you’ve made some decisions that have made people very unhappy or very happy.”

Fluor, who has served for 15 years on the board, said she would be willing to consider Yelsey’s argument, but added that she could see both sides of the issue.

“There’s something to say for turnover,” she said. “There’s also something to say for providing stability for the district.”