Under a district-based election system, the District would be divided into new equally populated trustee election areas. A candidate must reside within a trustee election area and is elected only by voters residing within that same election trustee area.
Currently, the Board of Education consists of five Board Members who are elected at-large. This means any eligible voter who lives in the District can run for office, and every voter may vote for all five of the Board Member seats, regardless of where they live in the District. Board Members serve four-year terms of office.
Redistricting determines which neighborhoods and communities are grouped together into a trustee area for purposes of electing Board Members. The Board of Education will seek input in selecting the next trustee area map for electing Board Members. You have an opportunity to share with the Board of Education how you think trustee area boundaries should be drawn to best represent your community either during the public hearings or by submitting comments to RuthieDiFonzo@burbankusd.org.
- Federal Laws
- Equal Population (based on total population of residents as determined by the most recent Federal decennial Census and adjusted by the State to reassign incarcerated persons to the last known place of residence)
- Federal Voting Rights Act
- No Racial Gerrymandering
- Traditional Districting Principles
- Compact and Geographically contiguous.
- Respect neighborhoods and “communities of interest”
- Easily identifiable boundaries (major roads, rivers, etc.)
- Respect voters’ choices / continuity in office
- Future population growth
A community of interest is a “contiguous population that shares common social and economic interests that should be included within a single district for purposes of its effective and fair representation.”
Below are useful excerpts from the Local Government Redistricting Toolkit by Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus (2020).
Communities of interest are the overlapping sets of neighborhoods, networks, and groups that share interests, views, cultures, histories, languages, and values and whose boundaries can be identified on a map.
The following elements help define communities of interest:
- shared interests in schools, housing, community safety, transit, health conditions, land use, environmental conditions, and/or other issues;
- common social and civic networks, including churches, mosques, temples, homeowner associations, and community centers, and shared use of community spaces, like parks and shopping centers;
- racial and ethnic compositions, cultural identities, and households that predominantly speak a language other than English;
- similar socio-economic status, including but not limited to income, home-ownership, and education levels;
- shared political boundary lines from other jurisdictions, such as school districts, community college districts, and water districts.
The Board will reach out to local media to publicize the redistricting process. Also, we will make a good faith effort to notify community groups of various kinds about the redistricting process. Our public hearings and workshops will be provided in applicable languages if residents submit a request in advance to RuthieDiFonzo@burbankusd.org.
The Board will notify the public about redistricting hearings and workshops, post maps online before adoption, and maintain this dedicated web page for all relevant information about the redistricting process.
Share your specific thoughts, draw a map, or attend an upcoming workshop to get involved!
- Submit written testimony about your community, the process, or a specific map to RuthieDiFonzo@burbankusd.org
- Click here to see the calendar of workshops and public hearings at which you can speak about the process or a specific map.
- Click here for information on drawing and submitting maps.
These are standard categories included in the Census. Not all of the categories are relevant for creating district maps. Acronyms include:
- NH: Non-Hispanic
- VAP: Voting age population
- CVAP: Citizen Voting Age Population
- CVRA: California Voting Rights Act
- FAIR MAPS Act: Fair And Inclusive Redistricting for Municipalities and Political Subdivisions
- NDC: National Demographics Corporation (the firm hired to produce the maps and provide demographic data)
No, you do not need to submit a fully completed map. You can draw boundaries for only your neighborhood or only a portion of the District. It is helpful if you submit written commentary with your map describing why the particular neighborhood or area should be kept together in a single district.
Yes, you may submit more than one map. Please draw as many maps as you like. We suggest you submit only your top 2-3 preferred maps to assist the Board in focusing on the map that best represents your community; however, there is no limit.
After you submit your map, the demographic consultants will generate the population and other demographic details for your proposed map. Maps can be viewed on the Draft Maps page or on the Interactive Review Map.
Once submitted, maps are considered public records.
Online publications and guides to districting/redistricting: