California Voting Rights Act Litigation
The California Voting Rights Act ("CVRA") was signed into Law in 2002. The CVRA along with California Elections Code § 14025-14032, is designed to insure that minorities receive fair representation in district Trustee elections. California Election Code §14027 further defines the law concerning how Trustee elections should be held.
Does your school district elect members of its governing board at large? Are your elections conducted so that the entire district votes for a candidate who must reside in a specific trustee area? If either is the case, your district may soon face a demand from minority voting rights advocates that it implement "by-trustee area" elections, in which candidates are elected only by the voters in the trustee area, or risk litigation under the California Voting Rights Act. Such litigation can put a district at risk of a stigmatizing civil rights judgment against it AND and a potential attorney's fee claim of hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.
Additionally, because the Education Code prescribes a role for county educational agencies in approving changes to a district's method of election, those county agencies will be named as co-defendants in any suit. More than two dozen districts have already been targeted and are struggling to manage or avoid this expensive litigation.
The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights based in the San Francisco Bay area has filed and or threatened to file litigation for non-compliance with CVRA against multiple Districts in California.
Click here to see our new trustee locator.
WHAT IS AT STAKE FOR YOUR BOARD OR COUNTY OFFICE OF EDUCATION?
School districts and county offices with budgets already strained by tough fiscal times are understandably reluctant to devote resources to changing district electoral systems. However, the CVRA mandates the award of costs, attorneys' fees and expert expenses to prevailing plaintiffs. (Prevailing defendants rarely recover fees and litigation costs.) Your district may even have to pay huge sums to attorneys even if you do not contest the litigation, or settle early.
Gomez v. Hanford Joint Union School District - The city chose to settle and agreed to use by district voting for the board of trustees. Although the case never went to trial, the district had to pay $110,000 in lawyer fees to the plaintiffs as a part of the settlement.
Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights v. Madera Unified School District - The school district was officially the losing party and was required to pay the $1.2 million in lawyer fees to the plaintiffs.
Sanchez v. Modesto - The case ended in settlement after the city voted on a ballot measure to use district voting by 2009. Although the city settled, they were still responsible for paying $3 million in legal fees.
Madera Unified School District voluntarily moved to "by trustee" area elections after being sued by LCCR, however LCCR is demanding $1.2 million in legal fees.
HOW SCHOOLWORKS CAN HELP!
School districts that have a significant minority population that is underrepresented on the school board may be subject to an expensive, potentially successful legal challenge. As US Census Data becomes available this spring, it is imperative to verify not only if your election system is open to litigation, but that your trustee boundaries reflect the current population makeup.
SchoolWorks provides services to analyze the relationship between your current trustee boundaries and ethnic population reflected in census data to see if you are at risk for litigation. Our three step process is available as follows:
1. Base analysis of your district to determine if you are subject to litigation under CVRA.
2. An in depth analysis of your district with a report containing vital statistics for the jurisdiction and each trustee area, a proposal for new trustee boundaries if necessary based on new census data and appearance at one school board meeting.
3. Additional boundary scenarios, modifications and board meetings as needed.
If you have questions or concerns whether your election system may be subject to a legal challenge, please contact SchoolWorks today.