Conejo Valley Unified receives demand letter to move to district-based elections

Conejo Valley Unified School District offices.

The Conejo Valley Unified School District was sent a letter threatening a lawsuit if the school board doesn’t move away from an at-large election system to a district-based system.

The letter, dated June 8, is one of several that have been sent to boards and city councils across Southern California from Malibu-based law firm Shenkman & Hughes, which represents the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project. The Simi Valley Unified School District received a similar letter last week. It came on the heels of the city of Simi Valley getting a demand letter and subsequently voting to move to district-based elections.

The Conejo school district currently operates on an at-large system, under which members of the public vote for candidates for all open seats in any given election. Under a district-based system, members of the public vote only on one candidate running for a single seat representing their geographical area of the school district. The candidates must reside and be registered in the area in which they are running.

The letter, which The Star obtained from the law firm, states the current at-large system is “racially polarized,” resulting in a dilution of the minority vote. It asserts that because of that, the district is violating the California Voting Rights Act of 2001.

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“The district’s election history is illustrative: during the past 15 years there has not even been one Latino to emerge as a candidate for the Conejo Valley Unified School District’s board of education,” the letter stated. “Opponents of fair, district-based elections may attribute the lack of Latinos vying for elected positions to a lack of interest in local government from the Latino communities. On the contrary, the alarming absence of Latino candidates seeking election to the District’s Board reveals vote dilution.”

Data from the 2009 American Community Survey shows that Latinos make up about 15 percent of the district, according to the letter. According to data from the California Department of Education, last year nearly 27 percent of students in the Conejo Valley Unified School District identified as Hispanic or Latino.

“For at least the past 15 years, there has not been one Latino to serve on the district’s board,” the letter stated. “Therefore, not only is the contrast between the significant Latino proportion of the electorate and the absence of Latinos to be elected to the District’s Board outwardly disturbing, it is also fundamentally hostile toward Latino participation.”

The Ventura Unified School District voted to move to district-based elections earlier this year and will hold its first district election this November. The Oxnard School District and the Ventura County Community College District also operate with district-based board elections. Ventura and Oxnard have moved to district-based elections for their city councils.

The Conejo school board was on summer recess at the time the letter was received, but it appeared as a closed-session item when the board resumed meeting in late August.

“We are working with our attorney firm on the best course of action moving forward,” said Conejo Valley Unified Superintendent Mark McLaughlin.

The Conejo Valley Unified School District will have to decide if it will go to district-based elections after it received a letter threatening a lawsuit because of it's at-large system.