MEASURES C, D WOULD IMPROVE SCHOOL BOARD

Two ballot measures before San Diego voters would ensure greater representation on the city school board. One — designed to diversify a board that rarely elects people of color — would replace citywide runoff elections, which favor candidates funded by teachers unions, with fairer district-only elections. Another would make it easier to remove trustees for dereliction of duty or malfeasance.

Measure C would bring the San Diego Unified School District into compliance with the California Voting Rights Act of 2002, which bans the use of an election system “that impairs the ability of a protected class to elect candidates of its choice or its ability to influence the outcome of an election.” No local government in California without district-only voting in both primary and general elections since that law passed has won a case when defending its rules against lawsuits in state courts.

Against this backdrop, the school board’s refusal to change a system in which district-only voting happens in primaries but in which all voters have a say in the general election is not just bizarre. It’s an invitation to a costly lawsuit the district can’t win.

District-only elections are also preferable as a matter of policy. They don’t just remove obstacles for candidates of color in a school district that has had only three Latino and one Asian-American trustees in its history. They are, simply put, fairer. Just consider 2016 when reform candidate LaShae Collins ran 20 percent ahead of Sharon WhitehurstPayne among southeastern San Diego voters then lost the districtwide general election by nearly 10 percent when unions backed her opponent.

Measure D would let the school board call a special election to replace a trustee convicted of misconduct if the election had the support of four of five board members. It would also set up a replacement process that gives the district’s voters the final say, mirroring what’s in place for City Council members.

Council members Vivian Moreno and Chris Cate pushed for the measure in response to a scandal involving school trustee Kevin Beiser. Despite his denials, four men who accused Beiser of sexual assault and sexual harassment were found credible by the remainder of the school board, which called for his resignation last year. Yet Beiser, who was reelected in 2018, won’t go voluntarily. He should step down, and voters should support Measures C and D.