Vote reminder signs did not constitute improper advocacy

On Board Online • May 13, 2013

By Pilar Sokol
Deputy General Counsel

With the upcoming school board elections and budget votes in mind, school districts are taking extra care to avoid engaging in activities that could be deemed to be improper advocacy.  The well-established prohibition against the use of district resources to express “favoritism, partisanship, partiality, approval or disapproval…of any issue” is not limited to advocating a “yes” vote.  It also forecloses even subtle promotional activities.

The issue in the recent Appeal of Tillet was whether signs that read “VOTE MAY 15 TUESDAY PENFIELD SR. HIGH 6AM-9PM” violated that prohibition.  As in prior years, the district placed the signs during last year’s vote and election along various roads and intersections in the district, including along roads bordering district schools and at major road intersections.

According to the commissioner of education, while districts must avoid “even the appearance of impermissible partisan activity” the placement of the signs at issue in Appeal of Tillet did not create such an appearance. They merely encouraged district residents to vote, were informational, and did not advocate a partisan position.

Furthermore, the district placed the signs in public places.  “That some of those places were district property [did] not transform a neutral sign into a partisan one.”