By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
The Seattle School Board has begun its redistricting process to reset the boundaries for each of the seven Board of Directors’ districts. This redistricting process will impact only the boundaries for director districts and will not affect where students go to school or their funding.
The seven Seattle School Board director positions cover different geographic areas in the city but are charged with representing all schools. During a primary election, Director candidates are voted on by those living within their district. In the general election, all positions are included in the citywide general election.
According to Seattle Public Schools General Counsel Greg Narver, it is important for people to know that the redistricting of these boundaries are political election boundaries and are different from school attendance area boundaries.
“First of all, this process has nothing to do with school attendance boundaries,” says Greg Narver. “This is only for the seven Director Districts and the only time it is really relevant is for the primary elections. In the primaries for school districts, you only vote within the school districts in which you live but when you get to the general elections it is a citywide election so all seven of these directors serve the entire school district.”
“It [the redistricting] has no affect at all on how funding decisions are made, not like congressional districts where you have your own member of congress who’s your contact point for constituents’ service or trying to get extra funding for their communities,” added Narver. “This is process only addresses communities voting during school board primary elections.”
As part of the redistricting process, the Seattle School Board is asking the community to provide feedback on the draft map available on the district website or at a public hearing that will be held as part of the School Board meeting on Weds., Sept. 28, 2022.
Every 10 years, Seattle Public Schools is required to revise these boundaries, following the U.S. Census, to ensure the director districts are of nearly equal population. Directors elected in 2023 and beyond and voters for the primary must reside in the specific director district. The redistricting’s goal is to bring about population equity throughout the region in order that each district has an equal opportunity to voice their votes during the primary elections of the Board of Directors.
“The thing about equal number of people comes from a state law that we are required to follow,” states Narver. “And it lays out criteria on how we draw the districts and the first one on the list is you try as much as can to get an equal number of people in each district. And the thing that is a little bit counter-intuitive for some people is it not based on the number of Seattle public school students in the district it is not based on the number of school attendance areas in the district, it is only based on the census data of how many people live in the district.”
“That is just the rule the state has delivered to us that we have to try and meet,” Narver adds.
On Sept. 28, the redistricting plan will be introduced to the School Board with public comment taken remotely and in-person through a public hearing. More information and a timeline can be found on the district website.
The School Board must approve the redistricting plan by Nov. 15, 2022. No School Board positions are on the November 2022 ballot.
