And this involvement is particularly important to immigrant parents, says Elena Letona, director of Centro Presente, a Latino advocacy group.

"Education is an extremely important issue to these people," Letona says. "They intuitively understand that education is the way out of their situation for their children."

This proposal is particularly important given the lack of participation in school committee elections, says city councillor Jim Braude. Only 8 percent of registered voters cast a ballot in the most recent election, Barrios says.

"I am a firm believer that elected officials must work every day to expand participation," Braude says. "I can't think of a better way than to give the franchise to people who want it more, sadly, than those who have it," he continues.

The Precedent

This sort of proposal is not without historical precedent, Smith says. Throughout history, she says, the requirements for voting have not always included citizenship.

In addition, she says, women were allowed to vote in local school committee elections before they were given general franchise.

She suggests that changing the ballot would be a simple matter of deleting the word "citizen" from the school committee ballot.