Like the Board of Commissioners, the Board of Education has eight members who are elected by district and an at-large member who is elected by the entire county.
Board member Deborah Napper, a Democrat, said that, to her knowledge, it was a coincidence that all six Democrats on the board voted against the resolution while all three Republicans voted in favor. She said she wanted to take a closer look at how the new commissioners’ map would impact her district and she was also troubled that she hadn’t had a chance to see or hear the text of the resolution to adopt the map until it was read during Saturday’s school board meeting.
According to the school board’s attorney, Jill Wilson, the county Board of Elections has requested the school board submit its choice of redistricting by Nov. 18 so that ballots can be printed and potential candidates can find out which district they qualify to run in before deciding whether to file.
County commissioners and school board members currently share the same electoral district boundaries, but they don’t have to do so.
The boards need to adjust their district boundaries because of figures released in September from the U.S. Census, which takes place every 10 years. The federal government released those figures in August rather than January, due to a pandemic-related delay, and that pushed back the process to redraw district lines, Wilson said. The data shows the area’s population is too large in some districts and too small in others.
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