L.A. Charter Amendment LL election: LAUSD board redistricting voter guide

The November election will give Los Angeles-area voters the opportunity to enact sweeping changes over who will have access to political power — through the process of how voter districts are shaped.

The redesign of L.A. City Council districts through Charter Amendment DD is getting the most attention. But voters also will decide on Charter Amendment LL, a measure that would create a comparable process for all the territory within the Los Angeles Unified School District, which stretches well beyond the borders of the city of L.A.

The seven-member school board sets policy for the nation’s second-largest school district, which educates about 420,000 students and employs some 74,000 teachers, administrators and other staff. The school board is accountable for the district’s $18.4-billion budget. Members also hire and evaluate the superintendent.

Los Angeles City Council redistricting was catapulted into public attention in 2022 when three council members and a high-profile labor leader were secretly recorded discussing ways of drawing the maps to benefit themselves or their allies. Interspersed with those comments were racist and derogatory remarks — mainly by council President Nury Martinez — about a wide array of targets, including then-Councilmember Mike Bonin, who is white, and his son, who is Black.

The scandal reignited the push for an independent redistricting commission — and the creation of the two charter amendments that go before Los Angeles voters in the Nov. 5 election.

Charter Amendment LL seeks to take the politics out of LAUSD redistricting, a process that occurs every 10 years to account for evolving population patterns.

Historically, redistricting — in L.A. and elsewhere — is inherently a power play. In Los Angeles, especially for the City Council, the process has been largely overseen by the very people who stood to benefit from it: the council members themselves.

City Council members, both directly and through their political appointees, have tried to ensure that the maps were drawn in ways that would help them win reelection. They also sought to claim certain “economic assets” — airports, parkland, educational institutions and commercial areas — for their own districts. These assets translate to power.

LAUSD Board of Education members also have sought politically favorable districts, and until recently there was no limit on how many times they could be elected to four-year terms. The limit is now three.

Who will cast ballots on the measure?

Charter Amendment LL will be on the ballot of voters who live within the boundaries of L.A. Unified. This includes Los Angeles residents and all residents of Gardena, Huntington Park, Lomita, Maywood, San Fernando, West Hollywood and Vernon. Portions of 17 other cities also are within the district.

What would the measure do?

Under the current process, new district maps are reviewed, debated, modified and approved by a committee appointed by current officeholders. This committee then hands matters over to the City Council, which has the power to make its own changes. If Charter Amendment LL passes, the entire process would be turned over to an independent panel of citizen volunteers.

The L.A. Unified commission would consist of 14 members, at least four of whom must be parents or guardians of pupils who attend a district school at the time of their selection. In addition, a person must have resided in the district for at least three years to be eligible for the LAUSD commission and must not have been employed by the district for at least four years prior to selection.

In putting together the rules for the L.A. Unified commission, City Council members expressed interest in allowing those 16 and older to take part but ran up against laws limiting participation for those under 18. As a result, the measure provides that a person must be at least 18 years old to serve “unless a lower minimum age requirement is established by ordinance.”

The goal was to provide flexibility if state law is amended or clarified to clearly allow participation of people younger than 18.

“This approach also would allow for the time and opportunity to solicit input from youth, the LAUSD, and other stakeholders in developing effective methods to involve youth in the Commission’s work,” according to a report from the L.A. city attorney.

As proposed, who could apply to be a commissioner?

There are many rules for who can apply — with the goal of keeping out those with a vested interest. You and your spouse, for example, are not eligible if, within the last eight years, you’ve worked for a school board candidate or a campaign committee active in a board election. You also cannot have had a paid or elected role for a political party, worked for the LAUSD Board of Education, registered to lobby the school district or contributed $500 to a board candidate. And there are other restrictions.

The new rules could have the effect of eliminating many people with knowledge and experience of how the Board of Education and school district function.

That doesn’t mean the commissioners can’t be successful, but it does mean they would rely heavily on commission staff and any hired consultants to train and guide them.

For the first seven commissioners, the city clerk would conduct a random drawing at a public meeting to select one person among the applicants residing in each of the seven Board of Education districts.

These seven selected commissioners would then review the remaining applications to choose seven additional members by a two-thirds vote at a public meeting. Their charge would be to ensure that the commission “reflects the Los Angeles Unified School District’s diversity, including racial, ethnic, sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, income, professional, and geographic diversity. However, formulas or ratios shall not be applied for this purpose.”

The full commission would select four alternate members from the pool of applicants.

How does redistricting work?

Redistricting takes place at the start of each decade, soon after the release of demographic information from the latest U.S. census.

Each school board district must have roughly the same number of residents. Because neighborhood populations change over time — sometimes growing, sometimes shrinking — some districts must take on additional territory, while others must shed it.

The new maps also must comply with the federal Voting Rights Act, ensuring that underrepresented groups have a fair shot at electing a candidate of their choice.

In practical terms, Board District 1, which takes in much of South Los Angeles, has been drawn to make it more likely that a Black candidate would be elected. And others including Districts 2 and 5, which take in large swaths of the Eastside, northeast L.A. and several southeast cities, have been drawn with Latino representation in mind.

Who supports the measure?

Charter Amendment LL has widespread support. The North Westwood Neighborhood Council submitted a letter in support, saying that “the current redistricting commission is not independent at all, with appointees named by current office holders and subject to removal at any time, even during the process,” according to the city’s summary.

School board President Jackie Goldberg and board member Tanya Ortiz Franklin have signed the ballot argument in favor of it.

No one submitted a ballot argument against Charter Amendment LL.

Times staff writer David Zahniser contributed to this report.