San Bruno Park School District is changing the way its voters will elect the members of the Board of Trustees!

Currently, the Board is elected at-large, which means that all voters residing anywhere in the school district vote for all members of the Board. The new system of elections is known as “by-trustee area voting.” Once the transition is complete, the District will be divided into five trustee areas, each with nearly the same number of people living in it. The voters in each area will elect a single trustee who also lives in that area to sit on the SBPSD Board.

There are a few reasons for making this change:

1. The California Voting Rights Act (CVRA) encourages school districts to elect their Boards by-trustee area rather than at-large. By making the transition now, the voting strength of minority populations will be enhanced, and our District will be in a stronger position against legal challenges.

2. With trustee areas, SBPSD Board members will always reside across different areas of the District. 

3. Election by trustee areas makes it easier for new candidates to run for a seat on the Board, as they can campaign within a single trustee area rather than across the entire District. 

One of the biggest steps in making this transition is the creation of a trustee area map that defines the five areas that will each elect a member to the Board. In addition to having nearly equal population and working to enhance the ability of minority voters elect their preferred candidate, these areas will also consider other “communities of interest.” 

San Bruno Park School District places enormous value on getting community participation in this process. Before any maps are drawn, the District will conduct at least two public hearings and possibly additional community meetings, where the District and the demographer who will create the map options can hear about communities of interest within the District. Interested community members can also submit their ideas through this website at the link below.

Schedule

The currently planned schedule for the process is shown below:

Public Hearings

Public hearings for the purpose of asking questions, providing input, and discussing communities of interest are scheduled to be held on April 13 and April 27 at 7:00 p.m. at the San Bruno Park School District office at 500 Acacia Avenue. Members of the public can access these public hearings by Zoom.

After Map Options are Created

Based on the input from the initial public hearings, the District’s demographer will provide at least three initial options for trustee area maps. These will be posted to this website by May 4.

There will then be two public hearings to discuss the map options. After the first hearing on May 11, additional maps might be created depending on what kind of feedback is heard from the community. This is another important opportunity to get involved!

Immediately after the second hearing on May 25, the Board has the option of adopting one of the map options to become the District’s trustee area map, pending approval from the San Mateo County Committee on School District Organization. If the Board needs additional time to consider options or request information, it will meet again on June 1 to select a map.

Staying Connected

The public is invited to attend any and all of the above meetings!

However, if you cannot attend one of the public hearings but still want to provide input, please send your comments to us at By-TrusteeArea@sbpsd.k12.ca.us.

If it is helpful to draw your ideas on a map, please use the one provided here. You can email a marked up map to the same comment address for written input. You can draw an entire set of trustee areas, or just define a single area that you believe should be included together. Just a few reminders:

• Census blocks (the labeled areas on the map) can’t be split

• A trustee area has to all be connected

• The total population (shown for each block on the map) of a trustee area must be between about 7,500 and 8,200 people

Census Block Map (Download)
Purple Map Option (Download)
Green Map Option (Download)
Blue Map Option (Download)
Demographic Data Summary (Download)