Lawsuit Forces Changes In School Board Election

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA — Big changes are coming to the way voters choose candidates for the West Contra Costa Unified School District's school board starting in 2020, and proponents of the change say historically underrepresented communities will now be guaranteed a seat at the table.

Rather than electing trustees from anywhere in the school district in an "at large" model, voters will be able to choose trustees to represent their specific geographical area within the district.

The move comes as a result of litigation with the Bay Area Voting Rights Initiative, which argued that the previous election methodology violated the California Voting Rights Act and that it resulted in "racially polarized voting," which may have left minority communities underrepresented on the school board.

A map of these new "trustee areas," which has been approved by a court after lengthy negotiations with the plaintiff as well as public input at a series of meetings, is available online.

District officials said they sought to create at least two trustee areas in traditionally underrepresented areas within western Contra Costa County.

The new map, however, will not affect which schools students attend based on where they live. For most voters the biggest change will be that instead of getting to vote for all five seats on the board, they will only get to select one board member to represent the part of the community they reside in.

In a statement issued Wednesday, board President Tom Panas said he was glad to see the litigation come to a close.

"It is the hope of this Board that the transition to trustee areas elections will give residents elected representatives who are passionate and effective advocates for all of the children in this District," Panas said.

Speaking on behalf of the plaintiff, Walnut Creek attorney Scott Rafferty said this agreement will have a significant impact on the way the district operates. He argues that in the past the board has often had a majority of trustees from El Cerrito, which represents a relatively small portion of the district's population.

"This district was one of the biggest school districts in CA that elected trustees at large, so trustees answered to special interests whose funding they needed," Rafferty said Thursday in a statement. "Now, grass roots candidates can run in their own neighborhoods."

"Winner take all meant that few minorities got elected... urban Richmond and San Pablo are now guaranteed two seats on the Board, including a majority Latino area, as required by federal law," Rafferty said.

As part of the judgment, the court has also directed the district to pay the plaintiffs $280,000 for their legal expenses -- in addition to $30,600 already paid.

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— Bay City News