Columbia Board of Education meeting includes filing requirements for April candidates
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Columbia Board of Education included candidate filing requirements for the April election.
Columbia Public Schools will start accepting candidacy fillings for any one who is interested in running for one of two positions. People who are interested can begin putting their name on the ballot at 8 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 5. Filing runs until 5 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 26. The Board’s agenda indicates the district will accept walk-in applications from 3-5 p.m. on Dec. 26.
Filing can occur on weekdays and by appointment only, according to slides from the Board’s website. Filing will not occur on weekends, or from Dec. 22-25, according to the slides.
An appointment can be made by contacting Board Secretary Noel McDonald at 573-214- 3416 or by his email. Filing will also not occur if the Administration Building is closed because of inclement weather or health-related reasons.
The guidelines for this are being detailed after CPS was sued last year. Former Missouri State Rep. Chuck Basye filed a lawsuit against CPS, the school board and its members in January 2023 after his name was not added to the list of candidates. CPS claimed if Basye did not make an appointment to file on Dec. 27, which he needed to do because schools were closed for the holidays.
Bayse's lawsuit claimed that CPS was not open about when a candidate can file as long as it was before the Dec. 27, 2022 deadline. Bayse said he scheduled an appointment with CPS to file because the deadline to be added to the ballot was over school break. CPS argued that he did not make an appointment.
After listening to both arguments Judge Brock Jacobs ruled in favor of Bayse, stating that the district broke the law by not allowing him to file. Bayse's name was added to the April 2023 election ballot, but he was not picked by voters for any of the three open positions.
