The Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) is preparing to redraw its five Board of Education area boundaries based on latest census data. Results from the 2020 census reveal population shifts since the 2010 census that make some areas bigger than others, requiring redistricting.
Yumi Takahashi, LBUSD chief business and financial officer, told the board at its Wednesday, Sept. 14, meeting that school districts must by law review population data every ten years following a census to ensure populations are balanced across representation areas.
Takahashi emphasized that redistricting does not affect which school a student attends based on where they live.
“Redistricting does not change school boundaries and school attendance areas,” Takahashi said. “Redistricting addresses geographic voting areas of board representation.”
A new district area map must be in place before the next school board election on June 7, 2022, Takahashi said. For that to happen, the board must approve a final map by Dec. 1, less than three months from now.
The December date allows time for the City of Long Beach to approve the redrawn map before submitting it to the LA County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office in advance of the election, Takahashi added.
The timetable for redrawing district boundaries is shorter than in past years because census data came in later than expected due to pandemic delays, Takahashi said. Instead of receiving population data in April, LBUSD received it on Aug. 12 and it won’t be officially validated until Sept. 20.
Takahashi added that though the time frame is short, the board will discuss redistricting at each of its bimonthly meetings in October and November until it finalizes a new map on Dec. 1. The community will have opportunities to provide input during those meetings and through online community surveys and community meetings in November, she said.
Justin Rich, senior director of Cooperative Strategies, a demographic research firm LBUSD hired to help with redistricting, said that after the map is redrawn, each board member will represent an area with roughly the same population within a 10% margin. That would be about 103,000 people per area, he said, based on the latest census data showing an overall population increase of about 1% in the school district since the 2010 census.
Rich shared census data showing that the population of District 5 grew the most in the past 10 years, by 7.3%. Represented by Board Member Diana Craighead, that area covers East Long Beach and Lakewood.
District 1 in North Long Beach—represented by Board Vice President Megan Kerr—grew by 4%.
District 3, covering South Long Beach near the port and represented by Board President Juan Benitez, shrunk by 7.5%. District 2 in West Long Beach, represented by Board Member Erik Miller, also decreased, by 3.2%.
Board Member Doug Otto’s District 4, covering the middle of Long Beach as well as Signal Hill and Catalina, shrank by less than 1%.
Rich said that LBUSD’s population is not evenly distributed and boundaries can reflect geographic and even cultural considerations. However, redistricting cannot discriminate by political party, race or language, he added.
The board can factor local considerations into the map, such as unique communities that should stay in one district area rather than be divided, Rich said.
Rich told the board to consider two main questions to discuss at the next board meeting on Oct. 6: What would they like to see maintained on the new map and what should be improved?
Takahashi said the board can also discuss at the Oct. 6 meeting community survey results coming in from LBUSD’s website. The board will then discuss draft maps at its Oct. 20 and possibly Nov. 3 meetings.
Takahashi pointed out that LBUSD’s website has a dedicated “Redistricting 2021” page under its Board of Education Office tab that includes “communities of interest” surveys in English, Spanish and Khmer.
LBUSD defines a community of interest as a group that has common policy concerns due to a mutual cultural or historic bond, or shared racial, ethnic or religious identity, and would benefit from staying in a single district.
“Another way of understanding a community of interest is that it is simply a way for a community to tell its own story about what neighbors share in common, and what makes it unique when compared to surrounding communities,” LBUSD states in its redistricting FAQs.
LBUSD will create a list of communities of interest based on those survey results.
Some board members expressed concern that LBUSD’s redistricting timeline overlaps with the City of Long Beach’s and Long Beach Community College’s redistricting, which might be too much for the community to process since each map is different.
Takahashi said LBUSD is coordinating its efforts with the City, such as sharing community survey feedback to improve all redistricting efforts.
Kerr noted that LBUSD’s redistricting underscores the impact of the census.
“This is the culmination of why we were so insistent on people filling out the census a year ago,” Kerr said. “And really wanting our communities to be counted—all of them—and not undercounted.”
