Every 10 years the U.S. holds a census, and every 10 years the Warsaw School Board has to evaluate its seven electoral districts.
Tuesday night at the board’s public work session, board attorney Max Reed and Kosciusko County GIS Director Bill Holder presented information on the electoral districts.
Current Indiana law, according to information provided, provides that the seven electoral districts in the Warsaw school district “shall be reapportioned and their boundaries changed if necessary, by resolution, prior to the first election following the effective date of each decennial United States census.”
Until 1990, according to Reed, the school board was appointed, not elected. Since the board became an elected board, the electoral districts have been evaluated twice and reapportioned – Aug. 12, 1991, following the effective date of the 1990 decennial census, and May 20, 2002, following the effective date of the 2000 decennial census.
Following the 2010 decennial census, it is again time for the school board to review its seven electoral districts.
Holder told the board that his review shows a percentage difference of 45 percent between the highest and lowest electoral districts.
According to Holder’s statistics, the current populations of the districts are: first district, 6,099; second, 6,030; third, 7,141; fourth, 5,882; fifth, 4,823; sixth, 5,718; and seventh district, 4,507.
He said the board needs to get the districts about as equally as possible, or within 10 percent.
“I thought it would be an easy process, but it’s not as easy as that,” he said.
Scenario I was an attempt to tweak the current districts, he said. That only reduced the percentage difference between high and low to 15.35 percent.
Scenarios II and III, he said, are almost complete reworks of the electoral districts, but it keeps the people currently on the board working within their districts.
Scenario II reduces the percentage difference between high and low districts to 6.7 percent, while Scenario III reduces it to 8.79 percent.
Districts with the same populations in Scenarios II and III would include District 1 at 5,555; District 6 at 5,558; and District 7 at 5,748.
District 2 would have a population of 5,791 in Scenario II, and 5,774 in Scenario III.
District 3 would have 5,862 in Scenario II and 5,879 in Scenario III.
District 4 would include a population of 5,941 in Scenario II, and 6,066 in Scenario III.
District 5 would be 5,735 in Scenario II, and 5,610 in Scenario III.
Board President Jennifer Tandy asked Holder if there was a scenario he felt would work best. Holder said he didn’t know, but Scenario II would be the lowest percentage of difference.
Reed said the board will need to approve a resolution on how they want to refigure the electoral districts. They have to do it prior to the next election, which is this fall, but candidates must file by July 23.
He also said it states that the districts must be roughly as equal as possible, but case law puts that within 10 percent.
“The sooner we do this the better because we have like three seats up for election,” Dan Metzger, board secretary, said.
Deb Wiggins, board member, suggested the board vote on it at its May meeting so the general election is past.
According to the Warsaw Community School Corp.’s website, districts up for election in November are Districts 3 (Dan Robinson), 4 (Christie Gale) and 6 (Wiggins).
Districts 1 (Matt Dick), 2 (Delores Hearn), 5 (Tandy) and 7 (Metzger) aren’t up for election until 2014.
