LL Charter Amendment: LAUSD Redistricting

myEvery 10 years, federal law requires that electoral districts be redrawn based on population changes. That process also applies to the districts that make up the Los Angeles Unified School District. The lines were last drawn redesigned in 2011.

LAUSD is made up of seven districts, each represented by a board member who is directly elected by voters. The board oversees the second-largest school district in the country, which serves more than 500,000 students and employs 74,000 educators, administrators and support staff.

Currently, the agency in charge of redrawing district boundaries is the LAUSD Redistricting Commission. The commission members are: appointed by politicians:LAUSD board members, the Los Angeles City Council president and the Los Angeles mayor. The independent redistricting commission ballot proposal would end those political appointees and allow community members to run for the commission when it meets in 2030. It would also eliminate the process for City Council to approve final maps.

Official title on the ballot: Charter Amendment LL — Independent Redistricting Commission for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

What your vote means

• A “yes” vote means you want to establish an independent redistricting commission to redraw Board of Education district lines in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
• A “no” vote means you do not want to establish an independent redistricting commission to redraw Board of Education district lines in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The story behind this

In 2022, Los Angeles City Council members were recorded making racist remarks in a discussion about how to exert influence on redistricting, in what became known as the City Hall tapes scandal.

In an effort to reform City Hall and the redistricting process for the Los Angeles City Council (which also faces a separate redistricting ballot measure), then-Los Angeles City Council President Pro Tem Mitch O’Farrell said it was only fair to extend the changes to LAUSD since the City Charter also governs LAUSD elections.

“What we need is consistency and transparency,” O’Farrell told LAist. “If we’re only looking at City Hall, I think it would be remiss not to also include LAUSD, since their elections are governed by the city.”

How it would work

Every 10 years, a Independent Redistricting Commission for LAUSD It would be made up of 14 members, four of whom must be parents or guardians of an LAUSD student. State law would require commission members to be at least 18 years old, but the bylaw amendment allows for youth participation.

Residents would apply to serve on the commission. Eligible residents must live within LAUSD boundaries, have not worked for the district for four years and cannot have family members who are lobbyists. The Los Angeles City Clerk’s office would oversee the selection process, which is set to begin in 2029. The Clerk’s Office will randomly select seven commission members, one from each board district, who will then select the remaining seven members.

The process would start again for the next census in ten years.

What people who support him say

Proponents of the measure say an independent redistricting commission would take undue political power away from redistricting lines. “The commissioners and the people who will be drawing these new maps will be ordinary citizens and residents like them, and they will not be handpicked or selected by elected officials, which will bring greater independence,” said Alton Wang, a member of Equal Justice Works on Common Cause’s redistricting team. Supporters say the measure would prohibit gerrymandering and ensure greater community representation.

“When redistricting is done by elected members, by board members making their own districts and by council members making their own districts, you end up with people trying to cherry-pick their constituency rather than responding to the needs of the constituency that they have,” said Jackie Goldberg, a board member and former LAUSD president who is retiring at the end of this year.

What people who oppose it say

So far, no groups have spoken out against the measure.

Further reading