Thursday, March 3, 2011

Let's Balance the School Board Now

(Since the post below, Jeff Hogan, a District Administrator, has promised that the new boundaries would be developed in time for the candidate registration deadline, whether that be a May or a June deadline.  This is great news, and we should still monitor the process and attend the public hearing once the new sub-districts are proposed.)

Have you ever wondered about the school board?   Who can run?  When are the elections?  Well, this is a very interesting and important time with respect to the Snoqualmie Valley School board due to the extreme growth of Snoqualmie, the impact of the new census, and an upcoming election.   There is an urgent need for some action to balance the school board, and I hope this blog explains why. 
The school district is divided into five director districts.  Each director must reside in a separate district but is elected by and represents the district at-large.  The current 5 director districts are: 3 from the general North Bend area, 1 from Fall City, and 1 from Fall City/ Snoqualmie.  There are no Snoqualmie residents currently seated on the school board.    The districts, which are supposed to be balanced by population,  have not been redrawn for 10 years, and thus Snoqualmie, because of its growth, has been under-represented on the school board.
I am not an attorney, but,  as I read the state law, it requires that each district "periodically redistrict its governmental unit, based on population information from the most recent federal decennial census." (RCW 29A.76.010 (1)).  "Each district shall be as nearly equal in population as possible to each and every other such district... shall be as compact as possible...shall consist of geographically contiguous area...should not favor or disfavor any racial group or political party...shall coincide with recognized natural boundaries...and shall, to the extent possible, preserve existing communities of related and mutual interest." (RCW 29A.76.010 (4)). 
Although the school district is required to re-district because of the census, it is unclear to me whether they could have chosen to do so earlier.  The inequity has existed for most of the last 10 years, and I brought it up to the administration 6 years ago. 
The school district will be receiving its census data on March 15. The district has a legal obligation to complete its redistricting plan within 8 months of receiving the census data (RCW 29A.76.010).  This timeframe makes sense when dealing with political parties or with significantly diverse racial populations.  But for a school district, the work to re-district should take a matter of days for a recommendation  and  a couple of weeks to ensure adequate public hearing and approvals. 
This November, three of the five directors are up for election: two from Fall City (seats currently held by Dan Popp and Craig Husa) and one from the downtown North Bend area (seat currently held by Caroline Loudenback).   The deadline for submitting the new district descriptions in time for this election is May 7. This date is defined as 30 days before the first date that a candidate can file for  the primary or general election, which is June 6 (see RCW 29a.24.010 and King County's 2011 Elections Calendar at kingcounty.gov). 
Should the re-districting occur after May, the November elections would continue under the current director districts and  the three newly elected or re-elected directors (Fall City, Fall City/Snoqualmie seat, and  a North Bend seat) would continue in their positions until their terms expire (RCW 28A.343.350).   Unfortunately, a delay would allow the significant imbalance and under-representation of Snoqualmie residents to continue for another 4 years. 
Time is short.  If the plan must be in place by May 7 to be effective for the November election, and  it needs time for public comment,  it needs to be approved  by the school board in late March or early April.  The framework for this process should have been set up long before now, but our current school board directors were unaware of it until I brought it to their attention. 
I was curious about the imbalance, so in advance of the census data, I used, as proxy, the number of registered voters.  The census data will add children and unregistered voters.  But, to start, I prepared a rough estimate looking at the most recent numbers of registered voters by area.
The following shows the current director districts and their approximate number of registered voters in the district based upon my analysis:
District 1 - North Bend/Snoqualmie/Fall City - Hodgins                      3,541 registered voters
District 2- North Bend - Loudenback                                                    1,905 registered voters
District 3 -Fall City/Snoqualmie - Husa                                                  8,420 registered voters
District 4 -North Bend - Busby                                                             4,085 registered voters
District 5 - Fall City - Popp                                                                   2,209 registered voters
You can see the extreme imbalance in population, using registered voters as a proxy.  But I believe that there is also lack of compliance with the  state criteria of preserving "existing communities of related and mutual interest".  
We live in a very large geographically stretched school district, but we have  three very distinct "communities".  Ask anyone who lives here - they define themselves by their communities of Fall City, Snoqualmie and North Bend.  Two of our director districts cross over these communities.  Here are some very rough descriptions of the districts.  The maps and legal descriptions can be found on the district website.
District 1 - Hodgins - extends westward from Snoqualmie Pass north of the I-90 freeway and then extends north of the city limits of  North Bend.  It then crosses the North Fork river and  runs westward along (roughly) the north edge of the city of Snoqualmie.  It then includes the north side of the district property, north of the 202 and below the falls, all the way up to the roundabout at the 202 and the 203. It even goes up the 203 incorporating some of that area north of downtown Fall City.  So, this one district includes residents who come from all three of our very distinct "communities".  This district crosses some natural boundaries
District 2 - Loudenback  - is a compact district primarily comprised of citizens within the city limits of North Bend.
District 3 - Husa - is comprised of the entire city of Snoqualmie along with unincorporated parts above the historic downtown and in the mill pond area.  It then extends westward to Lake Alice, the Fish Hatchery Road area,  part of downtown Fall City and even the Aldarra area.  This district includes residents from two of our distinct "communities".  Fall City and Snoqualmie are geographically separated by both a canyon and the Falls and although Lake Alice looks close to Snoqualmie Ridge on a map, it is completely separated geographically by lack of roads between the two. 
District 4 - Busby - can be best described as that area of the district which is south of the I-90. 
District 5 - Popp - includes the remainder of the Fall City area not included in District 3. It  includes most of the Fall City downtown area, and all district property north and east of downtown  Fall  City.
The district legally can put this off for 8 months.  But don't you think that the "right thing" for them  to do is to prioritize this process so that the inequity of representation on the school board is corrected this spring?  That would allow for fair primary and general elections that will result in balanced representation on the school board.   Please join me in this plea.  Please write the school board or attend the next board meeting on March 10 and speak out about the need for immediate re-districting.