If I didn’t know better, I could swear that the state House of Representatives will pass silly bills just to see whether we taxpayers are paying attention.

Such was the case last week when the House by a 114-77 vote passed and sent to the state Senate a bill which would eliminate having school board candidates cross-file.

As it is now, there are a few offices in Pennsylvania where candidates are allowed to cross-file to the other party’s ballot in an effort to make them appear to be bipartisan, even nonpartisan.

In local elections, along with school board candidates, those seeking positions on the Court of Common Pleas and District Magisterial candidates can also cross-file.

This is good, if not perfect. School board candidates should be removed as much as possible from partisan politics. Fortunately, we don’t encounter too many school board issues which revolve around political party ideology, so one’s political party becomes almost immaterial in selecting candidates.

As it is now, Republican school board candidates need the signatures of 10 registered Republican voters in their party to get on the Republican ballot. If they are able to get the signatures of 10 registered Democrats, they can be on the Democratic ballot, as well.

Typically, among the nine-member board, five are elected in an odd year, and the other four in the next odd year. This gives the board continuity. The next board elections will be in 2019. School board terms are four years.

In many school districts, especially where there are no hot issues raging, aside from the incumbents (those already in office), candidates are scarce. Given what we have seen so far in the Lehighton Area School District, look for a bunch of candidates to come forward next year.

The Lehighton board has been unable to agree on replacements for resigned members, requiring the Court of Common Pleas to make decisions. So, with this board, agreement is in short supply, especially when it comes to touchy issues such as the district’s current building program.

Unlike most other elected officials, school directors receive no compensation for their work, even though the position requires hours of involvement.

When candidates cross-file, there are several scenarios which can emerge from the primaries. A Republican or Democrat might win both parties’ nominations, or a Republican can win his or her party’s nomination but not the other party’s, or vice versa, or, in rare cases, a Democrat can win the Republican nomination while losing his or her party’s nomination, or vice versa.

I believe that all school board candidates should run without party labels, just as they do in New Jersey. This way, even independents and third-party candidates have a crack at the office. Because of our closed primary system in Pennsylvania, they don’t.

By closed primaries, I mean that Republicans can vote only for Republican candidates, and Democrats can vote for only Democrats. Those registered as independent, nonpartisan or as third-party candidates can’t get on one of the major parties’ ballots and can’t vote for candidates of these parties in the primaries.

In my experience as a journalist, I can rarely recall an instance where a voter chose a school board candidate based on his or her political party, except where voters cast straight ticket ballots. In this alleged age of enlightenment, there are still voters who will cast ballots for every candidate of their party, regardless of the candidate’s competency, background or other qualifications.

The school board bill was introduced by Rep. Justin Simmons, R-Lehigh, and was loudly criticized by school board members from around the state. Simmons believes that because school board members make such important decisions about budgeting and school taxes, they need to be identified as Democrats or Republicans and be labeled as such in the general election.

The bill’s fate is uncertain in the state Senate, and Gov. Tom Wolf has not issued an opinion on how he might act if it gets to his desk. I hope it does not get that far.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com