By-Trustee Area Election Transition

In 2002, the California legislature enacted the California Voting Rights Act ("CVRA"), which prohibits the use of at-large elections of governing board members for a school district if it "impairs the ability of a protected class to elect candidates of its choice or its ability to influence the outcome of an election…."  (Elections Code § 14027, emphasis added.)  Under the CVRA, the only election system that provides an accepted “safe harbor” from a potential CVRA claim is a “by-trustee area” election system.  Under a “by-trustee area” election system, a school district is divided into separate trustee areas and one governing board member who lives in a particular trustee area is elected by the registered voters in that trustee area, rather than by the community at-large. Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District (LGSUHSD) currently employs an “at-large” election system for the purposes of electing Governing Board members.

Numerous school districts and other public agencies throughout the state have been targeted for alleged violations of the CVRA and it is believed that the best course of action for the District is to initiate its transition to "by-trustee" area elections for future Governing Board elections.  Under state law, school districts and community college districts may transition to by-trustee area elections upon approval by their Board and their county committee on school district organization, without the need to seek voter approval or to obtain a waiver of the same for the State Board of Education. 

If the District does not make this change, then an individual can file a legal challenge to the District’s at-large election system. If the court finds against the District, the District must change its election system and pay the plaintiff’s attorneys, experts, and other expenses. These fees are typically in the millions of dollars. The most proactive course of action against a CVRA claim is to implement a by-trustee area election. 

Hundreds of public agencies across the state have been threatened with legal action challenging the compliance of at-large elections with the CVRA. In an effort to preempt likely legal challenges, the LGSUHSD Board of Education has decided to follow the statutory process to discuss, invite public input, and ultimately decide on a trustee area-based election process. Upon adoption of a resolution of intent to transition, the law provides 90 days to conduct public hearings prior to adopting an ordinance ordering the transition to a by-trustee area election system (Elections Code Section 10010). On January 14, 2025, LGSUHSD’s Board adopted a resolution declaring its intent to transition to a by-trustee area election system.

No – this new system for electing Board members has NO IMPACT on your student’s school attendance area. Attendance areas are NOT being changed as part of this process. 

If approved, voters will have the opportunity to vote for a candidate for the Board of Trustees who lives in their trustee area. Voters will not be able to vote for candidates from trustee areas in which they do not reside. However, each trustee owes a fiduciary duty to the entire district, not just the area from which they are elected.

The population of each trustee area must be nearly equal, based on total population.  (See Reynolds v. Sims (1964) 377 U.S. 533.)  That being said, the law permits local districts to have up to a 10% variance between the largest and smallest trustee areas.  (Id.) The 2020 Census was the last time every person was accurately counted in the district. Updated total population figures since then are merely estimates. Therefore, in order to comply with federal and state population equality requirements, the LGSUHSD’s demographer is required to use the most recent Census data (2020) when calculating equal population per area.

Other demographic data are used to ensure compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act and to identify communities of interest in the District, but only the 2020 Census total population counts are used to determine population equality. 

The Board will consider a range of factors when it chooses to select a map of five geographic areas as part of the transition to a by-trustee area election system. These factors include (but are not limited to) equal population, communities of interest, compactness, contiguity of the districts, visible/natural boundaries, boundaries of cities and Census Designated Places, and public input.  After a series of public hearings, the Board plans to vote to adopt one of the trustee area map options on April 14, 2025. The Santa Clara County Committee on School District Organization will then subsequently conduct an additional public hearing before making a final decision whether to approve the district’s adopted map and transition to by-trustee area elections. 

If 83 days before a scheduled election, no candidate has been nominated for a particular trustee area, then an election will not be held, a vacancy occurs, and the Education Code authorizes the Board to appoint a qualified individual who lives in the vacant trustee area to the Board. Such an appointment must occur at a Board meeting prior to the day fixed for the election and the appointee will be seated at our district’s annual organizational meeting as if elected in the district election. The appointee must be qualified to hold office and reside within the specific vacant trustee area.  Unlike with most typical vacancies, an individual appointed to the Board because of a failure to elect/lack of candidates will serve "as if elected," i.e., for the full four-year term. If the Board is unable to decide upon an appointee, then a special election will be called to fill the vacancy. 

Transitioning to this new system will require the Board to hold public hearings on proposed trustee area boundaries (or maps) prior to asking the County Committee on School District Organization to approve the change. If the Committee approves the change, the first “by-trustee area” voting would be held starting with the November 2026 election.  

All Governing Board members may serve out their full terms of office. Specifically, the Education Code contemplated transitions from at-large to by-trustee area elections at Education Code § 5021(a) which states, in pertinent part, that “[i]f a proposal for the establishment [of trustee area elections] is approved . . . any affected incumbent board member shall serve out his or her term of office . . . .” The Education Code requires that the terms of board members be staggered so that, as nearly as practicable, one half of the members shall be elected in each year in which the Board's elections are regularly held. Here, given LGSUHSD’s five-member Board, there are three (3) trustees whose terms will be completed in 2026 and two (2) that will complete their terms in 2028. The number of seats open each year remains unchanged by the transition to by-trustee-area elections, so in 2026 there will be elections in three (3) of the newly created trustee areas and in 2028 there will be an election in the other two (2) areas. In each proposed map, there will be a proposed sequencing schedule which will indicate which seats/areas will be up for election in 2026 and 2028.   The law now requires that the trustee areas be drawn without consideration of the location of incumbent board members.  Once a map is selected and the election sequence is determined, effects on those previously elected at large can be determined.  Again, incumbents and those elected in 2024 will hold their seat for their full four-year terms.  Any impact would only be on future elections commencing in 2026.