Dublin Unified School District Releases Map Options for New Trustee Area Elections

DUBLIN, CA–As reported earlier this summer, due to a lawsuit threatened by Malibu, CA based attorney Kevin Shenkman related to the California Voting Rights Act of 2001 (CVRA), Dublin will be moving from an “at-large” to a “trustee-area” voting model. To do so requires drawing map boundaries for each trustee.

Seven options are now being considered (see maps below), two proposed by the community and five by the District demographer. According to the District, “all seven of the map options being considered meet the legal requirements outlined in CVRA. Those maps that were submitted by the community but are not being considered were not legally compliant.”

There will be several community meetings and public hearings leading up to the Oct 22, 2017 deadline:

• September 5, 2017 – Community Meeting No. 3, Fallon Middle School, MP, 6:30 p.m.
• September 11, 2017 – Community Meeting No. 4, Wells MS Dining Pavilion, 6:30 p.m.
• September 12, 2017 – 1st Public Hearing re: Map Options (Board of Trustees meeting), 5:30 p.m.
• September 19, 2017 – 2nd Public Hearing re: Map Options (Board of Trustees meeting), 5:30 p.m.
• September 26, 2017 – 3rd Public Hearing re: Map Options (Board of Trustees meeting); Adopt map option; Public Hearing re: Waiver, Authorize waiver submission, 5:30 p.m.

Those who cannot attend in person can send comments and feedback to DublinUSDCVRA@coopstrategies.com.

The seven maps under consideration are included below (more details available here). According to DUSD, these additional maps did not meet the CVRA criteria and are not being considered. The criteria maps had to meet are as follows:

1. Meets the equal population requirement (that each trustee area have equal population with up to a 10% variance);
2. Creates at least one trustee area wherein the Asian population is either a majority (over 50%) or a plurality (less than 50% but the largest group in that area) of the population by Citizen Voting Age Population (CVAP/eligible voters) based on up-to-date CVAP statistics;
3. Creates at least one trustee area that enhances the CVAP percentage of the Latino and African American communities compared to the overall District average;
4. Complies with the Federal Voting Rights Act;
5. Respects communities of interest as much as possible;
6. Is compact and contiguous as much as possible; and
7. Follows man-made and natural geographic features as much as possible.