SMCISD board votes to keep current election format

The San Marcos Consolidated Board of Trustees chose to keep its current election format by rejecting a move to seven single-member districts.

Currently, the makeup of the board consists of five members who represent a single district and two trustees voted at-large. The board considered moving to a makeup of seven members who represent a single district during Monday’s regular meeting. The motion to change to the seven-member district, however, failed by a 3-4 vote.

The trustees decision came as the current maps for SMCISD trustees are being redrawn following the 2020 U.S. Census. The maps are being redesigned to accommodate equal representation for voters throughout the district.

Eduardo Rios, SMCISD Community Redistricting Committee chair, gave a brief presentation to the board prior to its vote. Rios outlined the committee's objectives, stating that it was to review and recommend a school member district for 5-member district and two at-large districts as well as a seven-member district configuration.

“As of [Monday], with the meetings that we’ve had, we do have a 5-2 [map] proposal on the table that does meet the requirement for the standard deviation of less than 10,” Rios said. “And, we do have a seven-member proposal on the table that does meet the requirement for a 7-0 configuration.”

Rios said the redistricting committee unanimously voted to recommend a seven-member district. But the necessity of holding a public hearing by Jan. 6, 2022 to make the change drew concerns from a majority of the trustees.

“What I understand from legal counsel is that we can change to a 7-0 district at any time,” Trustee Anne Halsey said. “So, we could do that next summer. We could do that in the spring. We could do it a year from now. We could do it at any point but the other point of that is once we make that change, we can never reverse it. So, we’re a 7-0 district irrecoverably.”

Additionally, Halsey said she believed significant public input would be needed to make the change, which she didn’t feel would be possible with the holiday schedule. Trustee Mari Salmi said she also felt it would be important to receive public input before a move “this big” was made.

“I really appreciate the committee’s work on this,” Salmi said. “It’s valuable information to know that it was their unanimous recommendation. But I think that given the requirement that we have an opportunity for public forum between now and Jan. 6, it doesn’t seem like a reasonable timeline to let people let their opinion be known. It’s reassuring to know that we can change this and give it the time it needs to make such a large change that can’t be made again.”

Board President Clementine Cantu and Trustee Kathy Hansen also believed that more time would be needed to implement the seven single-member district configuration.

“It’s such a critical issue that I think that we need to take our time and really study the maps and really have time to do what is best for our SMCISD community,” Cantu said.

Trustee Miguel Arredondo pointed out that any change to the member-districts, including changes made to the 5-2 plan, would require a public hearing.

“Moving the lines in some way, which they’re all going to get moved,” Arredondo said. “In the 5-2 plan, they move for every single-member district. So, there’s going to be limited citizen engagement on either plan and I don’t see any concerns or comments about that on the front end. Thirdly, I just find it hard to believe that this board, quite frankly, is committed to true public engagement when it comes to the change in the way in which we elect ourselves.”

The trustees voted 3-4 against changing from its current 5-2 member configuration to a seven-member district. The redistricting committee will continue its work to complete the new trustee map.

ncastillo

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