Clovis Unified could change the way school board members are elected. Here’s how

Clovis Unified School District is taking initial steps toward implementing a district-based election system, a change some hope will lead to more diverse representation on the school board.

Clovis Unified board members are currently elected at-large, meaning they are required to live in the specific area that they represent, but they are selected by all voters from across the entire school district.

During its meeting last week, the school board unanimously, and with no discussion, declared its intention to transition to district-based elections. This means voters that reside in a specific area would only cast ballots for a representative for that area.

District-based elections are believed to diversify governing bodies, because minority or diverse communities that might be the majority within a specific district could vote for someone from their community to represent them.

Of the 42,699 students enrolled at Clovis Unified during the 2021-2022 school year, 39% were Hispanic or Latino, 35% white and 15% Asian, according to state data. District spokesperson Kelly Avants said the district doesn’t ask people to declare their race when running for school board, and therefore she couldn’t answer specific questions about the race of current or previous board members.

The district held a public workshop regarding the transition to district-based elections in 2021. The board set a timeline for changing the election system at that point, Avants said in a statement to The Bee, and this week’s action was “right on schedule.”

Attorney calls for district-based elections in Clovis Unified

While Avants said the board’s plan to implement changes before the 2024 elections is occurring independent of any outside pressure, the district has faced criticism for its voting process.

Malibu-based attorney Kevin Shenkman, known for demanding these types of changes to local elections, wrote a June letter to the Clovis Unified board on behalf of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project and its members living in Clovis, urging the district to voluntarily change its at-large election system or “we will be forced to seek judicial relief.”

He charged that the district’s at-large elections violate the California Voting Rights Act of 2001, which aims to protect people of color against voting systems that limit their voice. He also argued that Clovis Unified’s current system leads to “vote dilution,” resulting in school boards that are not representative of the district or the city of Clovis.

“When Latino candidates have stepped forward to seek a seat on the district’s governing board, the results demonstrate racially polarized voting,” Shenkman wrote.

Shenkman pointed to the 2004 and 2016 Clovis Unified board elections, in which two Latina candidates weren’t elected “despite significant support from the Latino community, due to a lack of support from non-Latinos.”

The district has seen the letter and doesn’t agree with Shenkman’s characterizations, Avants said.

When will Clovis Unified transition to district-based elections?

The new voting process is scheduled to be implemented for the 2024 election, when the district two, four and five seats are up for a vote.

Before any changes are implemented, Clovis Unified must:

• hold at least two public hearings where the community can provide input on how the districts’ boundaries should be drafted.

• hold at least two public hearings where the community can weigh in on the draft district map.

The current Clovis Unified trustee area map was adopted fairly recently based on the 2020 census, Avants said. It’s yet to be determined whether this map will be changed, too.

“These public hearings are an opportunity for the community to first share their own perspectives about the possibility of moving to fully district-based elections,” Avants said. “Later in the process, the public has an opportunity to give feedback on potential trustee area maps before they are considered by the governing board.”

So far, no specific dates have been set for these legally required public hearings. Yet, the district intends to host five public hearings and adopt a map of trustee voting areas by January 2024, according to the timeline included in the board’s approved resolution.

After these hearings, a sixth one will be conducted by the Fresno County Committee on School District Organization sometime in February or March of next year.

The district expects to present a timeline with dates for the five required public hearings at its next meeting on Aug. 16, Avants said.

Full agendas and the rest of the year’s meeting schedule are online at www.cusd.com/BoardMeetingsAgendasArchives.aspx.