Challenge over Dublin school board elections

Dublin officials are facing a potential legal challenge to the way school board members are elected from a Southern California attorney who specializes in bringing such cases against government bodies in the state.

The attorney, Kevin Shenkman, has filed lawsuits against several cities and school districts claiming they are violating nonwhite residents’ rights by electing City Council and school board members on a citywide basis rather than by district. Last month, he targeted Dublin and its school board election system.

Dublin’s at-large voting system is “racially polarized, resulting in minority vote dilution,” a violation of the California Voting Rights Act, Shenkman wrote in a letter to Dublin officials on behalf of a client, the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project. The group advocates for Latino voting rights.

“Given the historical lack of Latino representation on the City Council in the context of racially polarized elections, we urge Dublin (Unified School District) to voluntarily change its at-large system of electing council members,” or face a lawsuit, Shenkman said.

The school board has scheduled a special meeting Monday to decide what to do.

“The board, in collaboration with legal counsel who has worked with districts around the state on this issue, is reviewing the request,” according to a statement the district released Tuesday. “The board will gather information and act in the best interest of the school community.”

The 2010 census found that 44 percent of Dublin’s 46,000 residents were white, 26 percent were Asian, 14 percent were Latino, and 9 percent were black. All five current school board members are white.

Shenkman prevailed in 2013 in a similar challenge to the elections process in Palmdale (Los Angeles County). Since then, most school districts and cities challenged by Shenkman have voluntarily decided to switch to district elections.

If the Dublin board decides to change the system, it would have to decide how to divide the city into districts. The new system would first be used in 2018, when two of the school board’s five seats are up for election.

Shenkman is going after other Bay Area cities. The Fremont City Council just converted to district elections after being threatened with a lawsuit by Shenkman, and the attorney sent letters to the Santa Rosa City Council and school board last week promising legal action if they don’t switch.

The San Francisco school board, like those in Dublin and Santa Rosa, has an at-large election process, which Shenkman said Tuesday was news to him.

“As progressive as they’ve been on election issues, it surprises me,” he said.

Not all at-large systems violate the law, Shenkman said. Any challenge would require an in-depth analysis, comparing demographics of each precinct and election results, he said.

“It’s difficult to say,” Shenkman said. “I’m not really that familiar with San Francisco school elections.”