Sentinel staff report–
The board of trustees for the San Juan Unified School District on Tuesday will consider a recommendation from the superintendent to transition from at-large elections to “by-trustee area” elections, often referred to as “district-based” elections.
Currently, all five school board members are elected by all voters within the school district’s boundaries. Under “by-trustee area” elections, the school district would instead be split into five areas — for voting purposes only — and each elected board member would be required to live in the area they represent and only be elected by voters of that area.
Although five trustee areas would be created within the existing boundaries of the San Juan Unified School District, a staff report to the board says the change will not affect the overall boundary of the district, or existing school attendance areas.
The move follows a trend of cities and public agencies around the state, including Citrus Heights, who have made similar transitions to avoid lawsuits stemming from the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA), which favors district-based voting systems to avoid “racial polarization.”
While the district does not believe its current form of at-large elections violates the CVRA, the staff report says “it does believe that it is in the public interest to begin the process to transition from at-large to by-trustee area elections.” The report also says the transition would minimize the potential for lawsuits.
In recent board meetings, members of the public have spoken in favor of district-based elections.
If the board votes in favor of the transition, a demographer would be hired to draft trustee boundary maps, with five separate areas.
As the only incorporated city within the San Juan district boundaries, Citrus Heights could gain a guaranteed seat for one of its residents on the board, depending on how boundary lines are drawn. Currently there are no residents from Citrus Heights serving on the board.
A minimum of two public hearings would also be held to receive input on the maps and proposed sequence of elections, according to the wording of the resolution being considered by the board.
The changes could go into effect in time for the upcoming November 2020 election, when three trustee positions are up for election.
The board of trustees will meet to discuss the proposal during their regularly scheduled March 10 meeting, which begins at 6:30 p.m. at 3738 Walnut Ave., in Carmichael. The full agenda packet can be viewed at www.sanjuan.edu.
