By Zhiyuan Ma, Staff Writer
San Mateo Union High School District is currently preparing for the transition to by-trustee area elections, which will be implemented in the 2022 and 2024 elections. In the current system, known as at-large elections, candidates wishing to be elected as a board trustee can reside anywhere in the district. Voters can choose to vote for any of the candidates. In the by-trustee system, the district is split into zones. Each zone is represented by one of the board seats, while each candidate runs for the seat representing the zone the candidate resides in. The voters only vote for the candidates residing in the same zones as them. There are 2 pre-map public hearings on August 26th and September 9th to discuss the upcoming transition.
On or about January 25th, the school district received a letter from an attorney at law firm Shenkman and Hughes PC accusing the at-large election system of violating the Civil Voting Rights Act of 2001 (“CVRA”) by being “racially polarized.” In other words, the system dilutes the voice of minorities and doesn’t allow their chosen candidates to win. According to the presentation from public agency law firm Lozano Smith at the August 26th board meeting, not only will going to court be extremely costly from litigation fees, it is highly unlikely the school district will even win. The law firm said that the only way to guarantee the school district won’t be sued is to transition to by-trustee elections. On February 25th, the Board of Trustees unanimously voted for Resolution 20-21-12 to begin the transition process.
When asked about her opinion on the change by The Thunderbolt, Trustee Linda Lees Dwyer believes that despite the district being forced to transition, this new election system will increase representation from communities that don’t in the old system. She said, “I want more varied voices. I want to see current high school parents become board members. When I first ran for the board, I had 1 in college, 3 in high school and 1 in junior high school. I had lived and was living the high school parent life–and I brought that with me to the board… We have no board members now with children in the schools. This change could facilitate more age and ethnic diversity-which is good.” Dwyer said that even if she loses her ability to run in the next election, this is the right thing to do.
The Thunderbolt also interviewed several other people, including Mills’ teachers. They agreed that this change would be positive. One source knowledgeable about the subject said that if a candidate wants to represent an area, they should live in that area. A candidate living far away won’t know enough about the area to make important decisions.
Trustee Ligia Andrade Zúñiga thought that the outcome might not be better. “I think this situation could go both ways… it could be that there is not as much diversity in the candidacy, or accessibility in the process [than] people thought. I think we are all just trying to understand and learn more about how this process works.” She pointed out that becoming a candidate is still expensive and inaccessible for many people.
During the August 26th pre-map hearing, the board discussed criterias that should be used to split the district into zones. According to a presentation from National Demographics Corporation, the district must take into account the federal requirements. The zones should consist of about the same population, and there should be no racial gerrymandering. An article from the Washington Post states that “racial gerrymandering” is when the map is split in a way that minimizes the representation of minorities in the government. For instance, it is considered “racial gerrymandering” if the map is designed so that there are significantly more non-minorities than minorities in each zone. The voice of the non-minorities will drown out the voice of the minorities. National Demographic Corporation also discussed common factors used to split an area into different zones, such as visible boundaries, anticipated future growth, and communities of interest. The Corporation defined communities of interests as groups of people having “shared social or economic interest.” One criteria the Board frequently mentioned should be used is that each zone should have more than one school. The Board thought that if each trustee represents only one city or one school, the trustee will only look out for the zone’s own interest instead of the entire school district.
Trustee Dwyer hoped that high school students will involve themselves in the transition process. “This would be a great exercise for the government classes–to participate in our meetings on this issue and provide their analysis and input! I would really like the government classes to study this. This participation would give the board the perspective of many students from throughout the district…” Dwyer mentioned that many high school students will become eligible voters in the 2022 election.
Trustee Zúñiga agreed with the idea of student involvement. “I would love to have a session with students to voice their opinions, ask questions, and give suggestions about what this should look like to them.” Zúñiga said that this might even encourage students to run for elected or appointed office in the future.
There will be two map consideration hearings on January 20th and February 10th of next year. The large amount of time is needed to allow the demographer to be able to use the official redistricting 2020 Census results, which aren’t released at the time of this article. Drafts of the proposed maps will be released at least one week in advance of the hearings. There will be an online map review tool that lets citizens see the proposed maps and other data such as the overlay of “communities of interest” and school attendance zones.
