WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Nov. 17 began the process of redrawing the boundaries of the district’s trustee areas, a required decennial undertaking that follows the census.
During redistricting—which occurs in counties, cities and other jurisdictions nationwide—officials redraw their boundaries to make the population equal in each of its sectors, so that none has more electoral power than the others.
The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Nov. 16 did so for the county’s supervisorial areas.
PVUSD has hired PowerSchool, a Folsom-based educational software company, to help with the process, which will involve making the populations in the district’s seven trustee areas as close to equal as possible.
“The idea behind the representation is that not one area is going to represent a disproportionate number of the population,” said Powerschool Vice President of Enrollment Analytics Ron Van Orden.
The district contains a total of 107,424 inhabitants, but the current population in each varies from 14,977 in Trustee area 7 to 16,096 in Trustee area 5.
PVUSD Chief Business Officer Clint Rucker says the goal of the process is to make the population in each trustee area vary by no more than 10%.
Redistricting timeline
- Nov. 18: Survey sent out for community to provide feedback
- Dec. 10: PowerSchool provided feedback to assist in redrawing trustee areas
- First January Board Meeting: PowerSchool will present proposed trustee areas maps
- Day following Board Meeting: District Survey to community to vote on proposals (if multiple are available)
- First February Board Meeting: Presentation of survey results and board selection of trustee areas map.
