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As the first government agency in the region this year to begin its transition to district-based elections from at-large elections, the San Ramon Valley school board has issued two preliminary concepts for potential district maps, which the trustees will review at a special board meeting this Thursday night (Jan. 24).
The meeting will see the Board of Education talk about its planned transition from at-large voting for elections to district voting, a move done in response to a voter coalition’s petition citing the California Voting Rights Act. Trustees and district staff will also seek public input on options for how trustee areas will be drawn.
After the transition is completed, residents will only vote for a candidate who lives within their geographic area, essentially meaning residents will only vote for one trustee seat every four years, instead of each available trustee seats every two years as is the case under at-large voting.
In total, five districts will be drawn that district staff hope will be comprised of regions with similar interests and similar population — although population totals can vary by 10% according to the Voting Rights Act.
This week, the district released two proposed trustee area maps for public consideration.
The first option, Map 101, is designed so each SRVUSD high school and middle school attendance zone has at least two trustee areas overlapping them.
In this option, Area 5 would be geographic region in southeast San Ramon and the Dougherty Valley that features a majority of residents who are Asian-American, which is in line with the voting act’s efforts to provide residents belonging to a protected class — voters who are members of a race, color or language minority group — greater representation in government.
The second, Map 102, generally follows along city and town borders, although not exactly. Each high school in Map 102 has at least three trustee areas overlapping it, and each middle school, with the exception of Stone Valley, has at least two.
In this option, Area 3 has a majority of Asian-American voters. It is comprised of the central and eastern San Ramon area.
In both maps, Areas 2 and 3 would be up for election in 2020 and represent the seats currently occupied by Greg Marvel and Mark Jewett — though neither trustee has publicly announced his intent to run for re-election.
If Map 101 is selected Marvel would be representing Area 2, which primarily is comprised of the unincorporated county area and east Danville. While Trustee Mark Jewett could be challenged by the residents of Area 3, which encompass parts of north San Ramon and south Danville.
If Map 102 is selected, Marvel will be in Area 2, which contains most of Danville, and Jewett would be representing the aforementioned Area 3.
It may be worth noting that in both options the five current trustees would each represent a different district, ensuring that sitting members will not face off in the 2020 or 2022 election.
As of Thursday, SRVUSD officials have not yet publicly expressed a preference for either map.
Trustees unanimously voted to make the transition last month after it received a petition, submitted by attorney Scott Rafferty on behalf of the Bay Area Voting Rights Initiative, requesting that they do so. The petition claimed that at-large elections impair the abilities of protected classes to influence the outcome of an election, further threatening litigation if the district denied the request.
The same petition was also addressed to the town of Danville, city of San Ramon, the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District and the Dublin San Ramon Services District. Not only was the SRVUSD the first district to announce its intent to make the transition, but it is the only agency to release maps of potential districts.
The district could have challenged the petition in court, but according to chief business officer Greg Medici, the SRVUSD would almost certainly have lost.
“It is a very powerful provision of the law. And ultimately … it is always the intent of every government agency to comply with the law,” Medici said at the board’s Dec. 18 meeting. “There have been government agencies that have chose to suggest that there are other ways of complying with the California voting Rights Act… and have paid a lot of money to do so.”
He added that no agency has ever successfully challenged the act.
The board’s public hearing on possible trustee areas map is scheduled to be held on Jan. 24, 7 p.m. at the SRVUSD district offices, 699 Old Orchard Drive in Danville.
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