CLEVELAND, Tenn. — State Sen. Dewayne Bunch gave Bradley County educators a dose of political reality Friday, saying that if a bill to elect school superintendents ever gets out of committee, it will pass the legislature.

“It’s hard to look citizens in the eye and say, ‘You are smart enough to elect me and not smart enough to elect him,” Sen. Bunch, R-Cleveland, said at a meeting with Cleveland and Bradley County school board members to talk about the Tennessee School Boards Association’s 2009 legislative agenda.

The TSBA supports appointed directors and opposes elected superintendents. The state switched to appointment in 1992, but supporters of elected superintendents keep the issue alive in Nashville.

Sen. Bunch said if the legislation is bound to pass, the school boards should work to make it as palatable to them as possible.

The Bradley County board on Thursday reaffirmed its stand in favor of appointed directors. The city board is expected to take a similar vote in January.

The dozen educators said voters elect them to make critical decisions, including who heads the day-to-day operation. If board members make bad decisions, they are accountable to voters, they said.

“The voters are smart but this has more to do with the division of labor, that CEO that carries out the policies of the board,” city board chairwoman Dawn Robinson said.

“Why would we want to ignore the business model?” asked Bill Brown, a city board member. “All the employees don’t elect the supervisors and the supervisors don’t elect the CEO. ... The corporate model is the best model and it has served Tennessee well.”

The educators said they worried that an elected superintendent would spend more time building a political support group, including the choice of teachers and principals, than leading the school system.

“If everyone elected had the same motives and the same passion for educating our children, we wouldn’t have a problem,” Mr. Morgan said. “But they don’t.”

The group also talked about the TSBA’s support for giving school boards independent taxing authority. The TSBA says only 11 states tie local school funding to local legislative bodies.

“My view is the constitution is the people’s document and not the legislature’s. It would be up to the people to change it,” Sen. Bunch said.