SALT LAKE CITY — Lawmakers on Wednesday continued to discuss possibilities of changing how State School Board members are chosen after a stalemate of opinions stalled previous proposals in the 2015 Legislature.

Sen. Alvin Jackson, R-Highland, calls his proposal the "5-4-4 compromise," a bill that combines elements of three approaches lawmakers debated during the legislative session: partisan elections, nonpartisan elections and appointment by the governor.

"This plan is a genuine compromise," Jackson said during Wednesday's Education Interim Committee meeting. "It gives supporters of partisan, nonpartisan and a governor-supported school board something the can support while actually requiring them to accept something they don't like."

Jackson's proposal would reduce the number of State School Board members from 15 to 13 and mandate that five members be appointed by the governor with Senate approval, which would require voters to approve a constitutional amendment. Four board members would be vetted in a nonpartisan election, and the other four would be selected in a bipartisan race based on Utah's four congressional districts.

If approved by the Legislature, the constitutional amendment would go on the November 2016 ballot, and the new system would take effect in 2018.

Sen. Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City, also pitched creating new State School Board seats along local school district boundaries to increase voter interest in elections.

“I do believe it would create a lot of energy and excitement,” Jenkins told members of the Legislature’s Government Operations Interim Committee Wednesday.

Jenkins said he has opened a bill file, but for now his proposal “is strictly conceptual.”

The Legislature has been split on the issue and unable to come up with a solution since U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups ruled Utah's current selection system as unconstitutional by violating First Amendment rights of some candidates.

Board members are currently chosen through a selection committee that refers board candidates to the governor, who then selects candidates for the ballot. Waddoups did not strike down the law, but is allowing the Legislature to come up with a new system.

Sen. Evan Vickers, R-Cedar City, a vocal proponent of nonpartisan elections, said he first thought Jackson's proposal was "quirky," but as he studied it further, he realized its potential.

"I really do think it has great possibilities to serve the children of our state," he said.

Lawmakers can again try to pass a solely governor-appointed, partisan or nonpartisan system, Vickers said, but he doubts anything but a hybrid is likely to survive.

"The last thing we want to have is for a judge to tell us how we're going to select our school board," Jackson said.

But discord among legislators reared its head again Wednesday.

Several lawmakers worried that Jackson's proposal was too complicated and that it was merely proposed as a solution that has a likelihood of passing, rather than a solution that would actually improve the system.

"I'm concerned this model is more confusing and less responsive than even our current law," said Rep. David Lifferth, R-Eagle Mountain. "I would describe this concept as not just quirky, but as clunky."

Sen. Jim Dabakis, D-Salt Lake City, said the real issue with the state's complex education system is that there is no clear leadership. Ands that's why he supports a governor-appointed selection process.

"I think we ought to take this, rip it up and throw it away," Dabakis said of Jackson's proposal. "This is not a courageous, bold effort. It's just restacking the deck. I would hope we would have enough courage to not just look at this because it's the only one that everybody can agree with."

Jackson acknowledged that his proposal was designed to satisfy all sides, even though he would personally prefer a system that is driven at a local level.

"We're trying to make the most out of the situation that we have," he said.

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Both committees took no action on the proposals and referred them for later discussion.

"We're going to have to do something. We don't want to have to leave this up to the judge," Jackson said. "So let's continue to work together in this process."

Contributing: Lisa Riley Roche

Email: kmckellar@deseretnews.com; Twitter: KatieMcKellar1

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