School board elections are nonpartisan for good reason and they should stay that way.

School board members should make decisions on behalf of students, not a political platform.

School board members should have the ability to reach consensus without having to stumble over the divisiveness ofpartisanship.

School board members should be immersed in the schools, with a much more realistic view of what is needed than partisan ideologues have.

Public schools represent all the people, not the "blue" people or the "red" people. They accept everyone who shows up at the door. Their successes, or failures, are shared by all the people, and there is no room for partisan grandstanding.

School board members have enough challenges without having to wade through partisan bickering.

The public must feel that the school board is making the right choice, not necessarily the political party's choice.

School boards need to rise above partisanship.

But none of that should preclude either elected officials or political parties from taking a stand in school board elections.

Gov. Mark Sanford is being criticized for expressing his preference in the recent Beaufort County school board races.

Sanford, obviously, is partisan. He is a Republican. And it is easy to see how school board candidates, who also happen to be Republicans, are stunned by a fellow Republican taking sides.

But why shouldn't he? Sanford owns property in the county. He had an opinion about the local school board races. Why shouldn't he be able to share it? The governor is an individual in addition to being a partisan politician, and he should enjoy the same rights all other individuals in America enjoy, including the freedom of speech.

Local Republican Party leaders were adamant with us in this year's GOP primaries that the party would not and did not take a stand for any candidate.

That is a position the party learned through experience to be the most prudent for all concerned. Perhaps now the party might want to address the issue raised by Sanford's voice in a nonpartisan race.

In the past, we have cried foul when partisan leaders grilled nonpartisan school board candidates and asked them to sign pledges to make certain decisions once elected.

That was wrong. Any candidate should tell anyone asking them to sign away their future decision-making to go jump in a lake.

But an individual who has an opinion about a political race should be able to express it.