At a meeting of the Los Angeles County Committee on School District Organization, a voting map for the William S. Hart Union School District Trustee Areas was approved Wednesday, May 6, in accordance with the California Voting Rights Act.

The board approved the plan brought forth by Hart School District officials based on public comments received during eight public meetings held in Santa Clarita between November 2014 and April 2015.

[CLICK HERE] to view the full map as a .pdf

“The move to a by-trustee area election method increases the voting power of minority blocks,” said Vicki Engbrecht, Superintendent of the Hart School District.  “After seeing neighboring districts and municipalities involved in costly lawsuits, the governing board took proactive steps to protect the district from possible litigation related to CVRA.”

Two voting area maps were created by Dolinka Group, the firm hired for demographic analysis and support in preparing Trustee Voting Area plans.  A series of five community meetings and three public hearings were held in order to solicit input from the community in developing the five district areas.

A third map was subsequently created by Dolinka after receiving input from Santa Clarita residents.  It was this third map that was approved by the county committee.  The demographic breakdown of citizens by voting age population was found to be most equitable under this third scenario.

The governing board approved Trustee Voting Area Scenario 3 in its meeting held March 11, 2015.  The first elections under this new system will be held this November.