The Monroe County Community School Corporation decided on a new map for board redistricting at last night’s meeting.
The goal of redistricting is to even out populations between the seven districts that the board members represent.
After receiving public comment on three options, School Board member Brandon Shurr says the board opted for Map A, which prioritizes making compact districts and using of major roads as district boundaries whenever possible.
“The new board districts have a total population ranging of 17,025 to 17,687, with a difference of any district from the mean being no greater than two percent a significant improvement from our current board districts.”
Before the board redistricting, the number of people in each of the seven districts ranged between 5,200 to 14,700.
All Monroe County registered voters can cast a vote for all seven board districts.
Read more: MCCSC unveils board redistricting options
One comment submitted during this month’s feedback asked the board to change to electoral districts, so that voters could only vote for board members in the district where they live.
“This was not something that our community requested through our survey and public comments as part of the current process, nor something that any board member publicly requested for our current redistricting process,” Shurr said.
Shurr said even if board members or a significant number of community members expressed interest in changing to electoral districts, Indiana law only allows this switch in the year after a census is conducted.
The redistricting will go into place after approval from the Indiana State Board of Education.
The new districts will go into effect once they're approved by the Indiana State Board of Education.
Four board district seats are up for election in 2024.
This story has been updated.
