RICHMOND – A bill unanimously passed by the General Assembly on Feb. 24 will allow the Loudoun County School Board to decide whether its members should be elected for staggered terms.

House Bill 704, introduced by Del. Tag Greason, (R-northeastern Loudoun), will give School Board members the authority to decide for themselves if they want to go to staggered terms.

“This bill will allow the school system to have more continuity on a regular basis, and I think that’s a good thing for everybody,” Greason said.

Until now, that decision has been up to the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors: The supervisors can set their own terms of office as well as the School Board’s. If the supervisors voted to change to staggered terms, the decision would apply to both themselves and the School Board.

Greason’s bill will allow the supervisors and the School Board to decide on their terms of office independently of each other.

Loudoun County supervisors currently are considering moving to staggered election terms themselves.

The board on Jan. 20 referred the issue, as well reducing the number of elected seats on the dais and incorporating more at-large seats, to a committee for more study.

Supervisor Lori Waters (R-Broad Run) introduced the idea, she said, as a way to get the board in discussions long before a redistricting effort and election year begin in 2011.

Under Greason’s legislation, which will become law once Gov. Bob McDonnell signs it, the School Board would have the authority to switch to staggered terms beginning in November 2011.

In that year’s election, five members of the School Board could be chosen to serve four-year terms and four members would be chosen for two-year terms.

From then on, all members would be elected for four-year terms. As a result, their terms would expire on a staggered basis – so only half of the School Board seats would be up for election at any one time.

The members initially chosen for the four- or two-year terms will be picked randomly by the county’s electoral board.

Under the current system, all of the School Board seats could turn over at the same time, which some say could cause problems for the system’s institutional memory and stability.

Greason said that’s why he proposed his bill.

“The purpose is to try and provide some stability for long-term projects,” Greason said. “If the majority of the members are voted off, then we lose a lot of institutional knowledge. With staggered terms, you have a little more continuity.”

Crystal Owens contributed to this report.