The School Board Action Team is focusing its efforts on exploring the process to be followed in moving to a non-partisan school board. This action team planned a candidate recruitment and training process to encourage candidates to run for the school board election in 2006. The team ran two Canidate Forums and provided a voter's guide through the WS/FC Public Library and this web site.

It has also done the following:

• Interviewed local government scholars at the Institute of Government to learn more about the history and process of non-partisan elections.
  
• Learned that Winston-Salem/Forsyth County is one of only three school systems in the state that still has partisan elections (and among only 10% in the country).
  
• Learned that the state law favors non-partisan elections for school boards and that in order to change our practice we need to have the legislature pass a local act changing the way our county runs its elections. If the state delegation will not support it, we can gather signatures to have a referendum put on the ballot.
  
• Interviewed members of the Board of Education to find out whether or not they would support the change.
  
• Planned interviews state legislative delegation about their support for a change.
  
• Discussed partnership with local CHANGE organization to build grass roots coalition supporting non-partisan elections and possible referendum effort.
  
• Studied candidate training and recruiting programs run by local education groups in Charlotte and Wake County.