Pasco looks to give Latino voters more of a voice on the school board
Pasco school leaders want to change how school board leaders are picked to comply with Washington state voting rights laws.
The school district is holding a pair of public meetings to talk about three options that would create districts for some of the positions on the five-person board.
They also are sending out a survey for voters.
All five members of the board currently are elected at-large, meaning everyone in the entire school district votes for them.
The officials are looking at a system in which three to five of the spots would be elected only by people within a particular area of the district boundaries.
The changes are aimed at making it easier for the Latino-heavy areas to pick candidates that they want. Depending on the option, the changes would create at least one position in a Latino-majority voting district.
The district has been studying how to make the change since the 2018 Washington Voting Rights Act gave them the power to make changes so Latino voters weren’t being diluted.
The population of the city is more than half Latino, but there is only one Latino school director, Jesse Campos.
While no one has challenged the school district about its election system, the city and Franklin County have each been sued because of similar issues with their election system.
The city agreed to a system change in 2017 that would have six members elected by districts, and one at-large member.
The county’s three at-large position system is being challenged by three members of the League of United Latin American Citizens with the help of the UCLA Voting Rights Project. The case has not been decided yet.
Community advocate Felix Vargas has been pushing for a change in the district’s election system since the 2017 decision at Pasco City Council. He praised the school leaders for moving to fixing the issue.
“It’s important all of our people need to have an equal voice,” he said.
The change in city of Pasco has made it easier for people to contact their council member, and created a more invested population, he said.
Community organizer Leo Perales is part of a small group of parents living in Pasco discussing the issue. He told the Herald that people wanted to see Pasco schools move away from the at-large system.
“We need representation that not only hears but acts on behalf of the parents and their students,” Perales said.
The issue for him is more than just racial disparity, but a geographical one as well. The majority of the current board members, except for Campos, live in central or west Pasco.
By creating districts they can guarantee that more people get to be part of the system.
Proposals
The school district has three draft maps drawn up with the help of their demographer, Peter Morrison. The 2020 census found that 50% of the voting-age population in the Pasco School District is Latino and 42% is white.
To address the issues, officials are proposing moving to one of three district-only options. One would divide the board between two at-large and three district-only positions, another would make the split 4-1 and the last would make all of the spots district-only.
School board members pointed out that the maps are still preliminary and could be changed.
“These are illustrative to give community members an understanding of what we’re talking about,” said Assistant Superintendent Sarah Thornton. “What we found was it was difficult to have the conversation without having the context of an actual map.”
One option would split the district into three 28,000-person sections, Thornton said during a school board meeting. It would have one majority Latino district in east Pasco.
A second choice would have four district-only positions, with two having a majority Latino population. One would capture east Pasco and stretch to the northern boundary, while a second would capture north and east Pasco. Each area has about 21,000 people.
The final option would divide the board across five districts.
It would create two Latino-majority areas that would be in similar spots to the four-district option. Each area would have about 17,000 people.
The maps would be finalized ahead of a planned public hearing on Dec. 14.
The first public comment meeting for Spanish speakers in tonight, Nov. 15, from 6-7 p.m. at Pasco High School.
A session for comments in English is 6-7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 18, at Chiawana High School.
Vargas was concerned that the three and four district options would not comply with the Washington Voting Rights Act because they would seem to dilute the Latino vote too much. He prefers the five-district option.
He is hoping the district is open to working with demographers working with Latino advocates.
“My hats off to the school district board for working to change the electoral system,” he said.
This story was originally published November 15, 2021 at 2:00 PM.