The Santa Clara County Committee on School District Organization approved Sunnyvale School District’s proposal to establish trustee areas within the District on March 14, 2022.
Like more than 300 school districts and 100 cities across the state, the Sunnyvale School District is transitioning to by-trustee area elections. Currently, the District has an at-large election system, where voters of the entire District are able to vote for all members of the Board. Switching to by-trustee elections will require the District to create five geographic trustee areas within the District boundaries, each member assigned to one seat on the Board. Voters will only be able to vote for one Board member who resides in the trustee area in which they live.
The intent of this proposed system is to adhere to the California Voting Rights Acts known as CVRA and to offer greater opportunities for Board representation for candidates that might not otherwise be elected under the current election method.
The Board worked with a professional demographer to create the proposed trustee area boundaries, which were refined and revised based on the public’s input. There were five public hearings and a virtual community forum where the public was invited to attend and provide input on the trustee areas. The map and an overview of the entire process can be seen at https://www.sesd.org/Page/5360.
Now that the process is complete, Board elections will transition to by-trustee area elections beginning with the 2022 election. The current Board members will continue in office until the expiration of their terms in 2022 or 2024.
