Published in the Sept. 2-15, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
The Morgan Hill Unified School District Board voted unanimously Aug. 4 to move forward to change the district’s election format from an at-large trustees election to one where voters choose from candidates living in their respective districts. That vote launched for board members a new set of decisions that must receive close public scrutiny.
Legally, the board had no choice. Lawyers advised trustees that because of the California Voting Rights Act of 2001 (which makes it easier for minority groups to prove their votes are being diminished by at-large elections), if the change was not made the threat of a lawsuit was a strong possibility. And indeed the road to this decision started with such a threat from the group Community Action Coalition, with one of its leaders, Julian Mancias, telling the board at the June 23 meeting the district was trying to “dilute the Latino vote.”
Going to a by-district system of electing trustees, however, might not turn out to be in the Latino community’s best interest. There is no guarantee that qualified Latino candidates will step up to run for the school board. There’s also no guarantee that Latino voters might turn out in mass at election time to vote a candidate into office who stands for their interests. A by-district election format might prevent competent candidates from running because their home’s district is not up for election. It also might cause last-minute candidates with no solid qualifications to serve to file to run for the school board if no one steps up to run in a specific district, ultimately diluting the quality of decision making by the board.
The possibility of reducing the number of trustees from seven to five would increase the size of each district, thus increasing the potential number of candidates, including Latinos. But this idea has proven to be a controversial one among some of the MHUSD board members who have rejected it before real discussion can begin.
One-third of Morgan Hill’s population is Latino. About one-half of the student population in public schools is Latino. So it makes sense to have competent Latino representation on the school board. On the school board, currently only Rick Badillo is Latino. Claudia Rossi, a Latina, left the school board last year when she was elected to the Santa Clara County Board of Education.
A vocal minority in the Latino community have expressed their opinion that the school district is failing to listen to their needs. We disagree with that view. The district has been very responsive to the Latino community, with such innovative programs as the dual-immersion program at San Martin/Gwinn Environmental Science Academy. Measure G funds provide digital devices for elementary, middle and high school students, helping close the digital divide for many students who are of a lower-income family status and thus not able to afford computers.
Now with the decision to go to by-district elections, the MHUSD board’s biggest question is how to draw the new boundary lines to best achieve equality in voter representation. At the March 10 meeting, the trustees voted to have a professional demographer prepare maps of potential election areas. The demographer created nine maps for the board and public to discuss and consider. Six of them were designed for seven-trustee elections, and most of these were constructed to take into consideration the locations where current board members now live. Additionally, three “test” maps presented the idea of bringing the number of trustees down to five elected representatives for the entire school district.
Board President Bob Benevento and several other people have suggested looking into a five-trustee school district. According to Benevento, only three of 31 school districts in Santa Clara County have seven-member boards, including Morgan Hill. All three are unified school districts. Three other unified school districts have five-member boards.
While this idea of a five-member board is still in its infancy, we at Morgan Hill Life advocate a respectful dialogue among the school board members and the public on the advantages and disadvantages of changing the number of school district trustees and selecting an appropriate map that will provide better and fairer education for all students regardless of their ethnic group.
Got an opinion? Show up Sept. 15 for the public discussion and share it.
