TEXARKANA, Ark. – At a specially called meeting Monday night, Texarkana Arkansas School District Board of Trustees took the first step in changing how it will elect school board members. It adopted a resolution to rezone its district.
At the end of the process, officials expect the School District to be divided into six zones of equal population -- each with a Trustee to represent them and one At Large Trustee, who will elected by a majority of all voters in the district. Currently, The District is divided into five zones, with two At Large Trustees.
The plan must be approved by the county election commission.
During the special meeting, District Trustees approved the administration's recommendation to move to five zones and two at-large positions of substantially equal voting age population.
Arkansas Code 6-13-631 requires that after the 2020 federal decennial census figures are released, a school district having a 10% or greater minority population has to divide the district into zones of either five or seven single zones or five zones with two at-large positions
The board recently held a workshop to discuss zoning options and consulted with the district's legal counsel for advice and guidance on the matter to help the district come to this decision.
School Attorney Dick Dodson said once the board approves the resolution, it has to be sent to the county election commission for approval. If approved, these changes would become effective in the 2022 school elections, which are in November.
"This is the first step in this process," Board President Frank Coleman said. "And we can't make the other steps until we get this passed"
The district does not yet have a map for the zones, as it will have to be redrawn to reflect the new configuration that was adopted.