Four trustee seats will be up for election this November
PASO ROBLES — The upcoming November elections were discussed at the Tuesday night, June 11, Paso Robles Joint Unified School District (PRJUSD) board meeting. Due to the California Voting Rights Act, the district has had to make the move from an at-large voting system to a by-trustee area election.
In 2019, the district received a demand letter that alleged the district of violating the California Voting Rights Act. This prompted the Board of Trustees to move forward to transitioning to a by-trustee area election.
However, the COVID pandemic delayed the process due to the need for updated census data to develop the trustee districts. Eventually, a map was approved in June 2021. The district map is required to be adjusted following every census data collection, next would be around 2030.
The district is continuing to transition all the seats on the board to the by-trustee area election.
The 2022 General Election saw the election of the following trustees:
- Trustee Area 1: Jim Cogan
- Trustee Area 2: Joel Peterson
- Trustee Area 4: Sondra Williams
- Partial Term (At Large): Laurene McCoy
The Nov. 5 General Election will see the following on the ballot:
- Trustee Area 3
- Trustee Area 5
- Trustee Area 6
- Trustee Area 7
Current trustees whose term expires and will be up for election this year include:
- Nathan Williams
- Laurene McCoy
- Dorian Baker
- Kenney Enney
All four were elected when the district used the at-large method for elections.
Enney issued concern over using the by-trustee method: “My concern is that you get these little areas and i think you are limiting the number of people that can run.”
His concern was echoed by other trustees and Superintendent Curt Dubost.
Peterson agreed, “It’s hugely problematic. I agree with you.”
Dubost added, “It is. In particularly smaller districts where you are lucky to find anybody willing to run and all of a sudden you have to find somebody from five different areas. It’s extremely challenging.”
Though trustees felt uneasy about continuing the by-trustee election method — some districts like Templeton Unified School District have not transitioned into the method — they felt pressure to move forward with it due to the 2019 demand letter.
Trustees unanimously approved to move forward with the following resolutions supporting the by-trustee election:
- Resolution No. 24-19: Order of Election, for the PRJUSD Governing Board Member Elections on November 5
- Approve and Adopt of Resolution No. 24-20: San Luis Obispo County Consolidation of Elections for the PRJUSD Governing Board Member Elections on November 5
- Approve and Adopt of Resolution No. 24-23: Monterey County Consolidation of Elections for the PRJUSD Governing Board Member Elections on November 5
The next Paso Robles Joint Unified School District meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 25, at 6:30 p.m.
