SANTA BARBARA COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT REDISTRICTING Background The Santa Barbara Community College District was created

in 1965 with four geographical areas (Carpinteria, Santa Barbara-Montecito, Santa Barbara, and Santa Barbara-Goleta) represented by seven trustees. Currently elections are held at-large and voters can vote for trustees in all four areas, regardless of where they live. Each trustee serves a four-year term with a rotating schedule of three to four members up for reelection every two years. No election is held if the incumbent chooses to continue and there are no other candidates for the seat. Legislation Change California Voting Rights Act The California Voting Rights Act was passed in 2001 (CVRA) which required that at-large elections be performed in a manner so as not to impair the ability of a protected class to elect candidates or dilute the rights of voters who are members of a protected class. (Protected class is defined as a class of voters who are members of a race, color or language minority group.) CVRA gives voters the right to sue a district for an alteration in voting conditions when racial vote dilution exits. In the Santa Barbara Community College District, currently 32 percent of the population is Latino. The District Board has only one Latino trustee, Luis Villegas. Assembly Bill 684 In 2011, California Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 684 which allows community college districts using at-large elections to establish a by-trustee area election upon adoption of a board resolution in accordance with the new law and upon the approval of the California Board of Governors. By-trustee elections require that the candidates compete to represent specific geographic areas and only voters living in that area can cast votes. While the new statute is not mandatory, it simplifies the decision to adopt a by-trustees area election without a district having to seek voter approval, an expensive and time-consuming process. By moving from an at-large election methods to by-trustee area, a district also is able to avoid potential liability under CVRA. SBCC District Board Actions In Fall 2011, the SBCC District Board contracted the services of Redistricting Partners, a Sacramento consulting group to evaluate SBCCs at-large election process and recommend options for re-drawing lines.

After research and analysis, Redistricting Partners recommended that the SBCC District Board move to a by-trustee model for two reasons: 1. To avoid potential lawsuits for CVRA violations 2. To create districts within the SBCC district of approximately equal voting population size. The current four areas are currently of disproportionate size with the west end (Goleta) having grown substantially since 1965 and the east end (Montecito and Carpinteria) remaining smaller. Redistricting Partners presented several options to the Board which were discussed at length at their regular meetings from September through December 2011. The following model calls for seven districts of approximately the same size within the SBCC district, each to be represented by one trustee to be elected by only voters in that specific district. This model was approved by the Board at its December 15, 2011 monthly meeting. Districts and Trustees* District 1 (Carpinteria and Montecito) 28,744 Residents Current Trustees: Dr. Peter Haslund (term expires 2014) and Morris Jurkowitz (term expires 2012). Second seat will go to one of two new districts. Next election year 2014 New -District 2 (Goleta) - 29,771 Residents Trustee: Open Election year 2012 New - District 3 (Santa Barbara) 29,076 Residents Trustee: Open Election year 2012 District 4 (Portion of Santa Barbara and Unincorporated) - 27,709 Residents Current Trustee: Luis Villegas (term expires 2012) Next election year 2012 District 5 (Mission Canyon and Santa Barbara) 27,865 Residents Current Trustees: Marsha Croninger (term expires 2014) and Joan Livingston (term expires 2012). Second seat will go to one of two new districts. Next election year: 2014 District 6 (Isla Vista and Santa Barbara) 29,604 Residents Current Trustee: Lisa Macker (term expires 2014) Next election year: 2014 District 7 (Santa Barbara) -29,290 Residents Current Trustee: Marty Blum (term expires 2014) Next election year: 2014 *The recommended model and election dates for 2012 and 2014 were established so that all trustees will be allowed to complete their entire four-year term before running for re-election.

Next Steps The Boards decision to convert to a by-trustee-area election system must be reviewed and approved by the California Community College Board of Governors. The final step is submission to the Elections Division of the County of Santa Barbaras Office of the County Clerk, Recorder and Assessor Registrar of Voters. The new by-trustee district model will be put into place and used for the first time in the November 2012 election.