The Charter Revision Commission conducted its final hearing on its final draft of proposed changes to the town charter this week. While their work still faces extensive legal review and consideration by the Legislative Council before it goes to the voters next spring, the changes they presented to the public this week are expected to be essentially those that will appear on the ballot next year. The charter panel has come up with some helpful changes that will compress and streamline the budget review process and enhance Newtown’s standing in the financial markets. The lasting legacy of this round of charter revisions, however, may be the reinvigoration of the community’s political life.

From the beginning of its deliberations, the commission’s membership recognized that there might be institutional causes for Newtown’s political sluggishness in recent elections; except for the council district races, nearly all elective offices were filled in the 2005 elections by default without a contest. The town’s political leaders have notoriously deprived local voters of candidate choices for the Board of Education in nearly every election for the past 20 years. Consequently, the school board membership, which spends two of every three dollars in the municipal budget, reflects the choices of town committee insiders and not the electorate. This only aggravates the sense of distrust in local government that underlies nearly every failed budget proposal. And lately, there have been a lot of them.

The current Board of Education prides itself on being “apolitical,” with each political party apportioned three of the six seats on the board. The idea is that without a majority or minority on the board, there won’t be any partisan squabbling. This, of course, ignores the fact that there isn’t partisan squabbling on any of the other boards or commissions that have political majorities and minorities; after the elections are over, it’s hard to tell who’s a Democrat and who’s a Republican in Newtown. Ideological differences among Newtown’s elected officials, when they exist at all, tend not to split along party lines.

The Charter Revision Commission’s decision to increase the membership of the school board from six to seven members sets up an incentive for the local political parties to win a majority on the board, meaning at least some of the races for Board of Education seats will be contested. This also means that election campaigns will include a debate on issues critical to public education — a debate that Newtown sorely needs.

Acknowledging Newtown’s biggest bloc of voters who routinely go unrepresented on local boards and commissions, the charter panel has also decided to include a statement in the charter outlining the requirements for unaffiliated voters to get their names on the ballot as candidates for elective office. The process is not as complicated as most people think, and this simple effort to invite a large group of underrepresented voters to participate in local government should benefit the entire electorate by bringing more choices to the ballot. This is such a good idea that Newtown’s registrars of voters are not waiting for the charter to be revised. They have already conducted two “how-to” workshops for prospective unaffiliated candidates. The fruits of this effort should show up on the local election ballot this November. The Independent Party of Newtown announced its formation just this week.

If this town is to meet the formidable challenges it faces in the coming years — in public education and every other area of community life — it has to examine the full range of important issues from every angle. The best and most durable ideas are tempered in the crucible of contention. An election without contention deprives a community of its most valuable tool for thinking things through. We applaud the Charter Revision Commission for recognizing this and for attempting to bring our moribund local elections back to life.