Valparaiso folks might believe their community is one in a million, but their school board is one in two dozen.

That's not necessarily a good thing.

Of the 290 school boards in Indiana, 14 -- including Valparaiso and East Chicago -- are appointed; the rest are elected.

So state Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, is holding a public forum at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Valparaiso City Hall to gather public input for legislation that could end this anomaly.

The Valparaiso School Board has five members, four of whom are appointed by the City Council and the fifth appointed by the Center Township Board. That gives residents of unincorporated Center Township little representation.

But it also gives all residents no say in how the School Board members are chosen.

That seems highly ironic in a society that prizes democratic representation. School districts are the most costly units of local government, yet residents in the Valparaiso Community Schools district cannot vote for their School Board members.

There's more than one side of this story, of course. Those who oppose democracy, at least in this instance, worry that single-issue candidates will win the election and wreak havoc with the status quo. Yet those same people don't make the same argument for other units of government.

We prefer an elected board, but let's hear from all sides so Soliday can guide the Indiana General Assembly appropriately in deciding this question.