Special Meeting At The LEUSD

The public still has an opportunity to weigh in on how board members should be elected to the Lake Elsinore Unified School District.

A public hearing that was scheduled tonight has been moved to 6 p.m. Feb. 16 at the LEUSD headquarters located at 545 Chaney Street. The hearing is being held by the Riverside County Committee on School District Organization.

The hearing comes after theto move from its current system of electing school board members “at-large” to elections by “trustee areas.”

Under the system of at-large elections, registered voters within the LEUSD boundaries have traditionally cast ballots, collectively, to decide who should sit on the board.

Under the new “by-trustee-area elections,” the LEUSD district will be split into five zones – each one represented by a board member elected by voters within that specific zone. The attached map shows the proposed five zones. National Demographics Corporation was hired by the district to study and present trustee-area boundary options.

During the upcoming Feb.16 meeting, the County Commission will hear public comments on the issue and will decide whether to accept the proposed map. If approved, the State Board of Education will still need to give its rubber stamp. If approvals are granted, elections under the new process could be in place by November.  

Dozens of California school districts that currently hold at-large elections have been targeted by lawsuits as a result of the California Voting Rights Act, California Elections Code sections 14025-14032, enacted in 2002. Racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups have argued that at-large elections can leave some minority constituents underrepresented.