Rio Rancho Board of Education Redistricting
At its May 14, 2012 meeting, the Rio Rancho Board of Education completed the redistricting process by adopting the school board district boundaries as proposed in Plan E. Current board members will continue to represent constituents in their districts as re-defined in the new board district boundaries. The new boundaries will be effective for candidates running in the February 2013 board election in school board districts 1, 3, and 5.
New district boundaries as adopted by the school board: Maps / Demographic information
New district boundaries as adopted by the school board: Maps / Demographic information
| About Redistricting | ||
| Redistricting is the process of re-defining the geographic areas represented by elected officials such as school board members to provide equal representation for all citizens in the community. As is required after every federal census, Rio Rancho Public Schools has completed the process of evaluating and re-drawing the districts represented by school board members. |
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What is redistricting? Federal law requires after every federal census -- every 10 years -- that governmental entities such as city councils, county commissions, and school boards evaluate the population of the districts represented by their elected officials to determine if the districts are reasonably equal in size and are demographically balanced. If population shifts have caused the districts to become imbalanced -- for example, some districts have too many people and others too few -- the elected body must re-draw the boundaries to equalize the population among districts. Federal law mandates that districts contain substantially the same population based on the most recent federal census, that minorities be equitably represented, that districts be contiguous and compact, and that "communities of interest" be preserved to the extent possible within a single district. |
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Must the Rio Rancho Board of Education redistrict? Yes. Rio Rancho has grown substantially in the past ten years. But that growth has not been equally distributed across the city. Some areas have grown explosively, some less so. If the 89,070 citizens of Rio Rancho were divided equally among the five school board districts originally adopted in 2002, each district would have approximately 17,814 residents. Some of the former districts had substantially more than 17,814 people living in them, and some substantially less (see map):
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What will happen during redistricting? The redistricting process reduces the number of residents represented by the board members from districts 3 and 5, and will increase the number of residents represented by the board members from districts 1, 3, and 4 so that each board member represents approximately the same number of residents. The process also takes into account demographic characteristics such as racial and ethnic balance and "communities of interest." |
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Will redistricting affect where my child attends school? No. School attendance boundaries are set through a different process that is not affected by school board redistricting. |
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Will redistricting change which school board member represents my neighborhood? Possibly. As the board districts are redrawn, some residents in school board districts that are currently larger will necessarily move into another district. But the process could also move some residents in smaller school board districts from one district to another, as occurred during recent redistricting of the city council and the state legislature. |
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When will the new school board district boundaries take effect? The new boundaries are currently in effect and will apply to the February 2013 school board elections, when the District 1, 3, and 5 seats will be up for consideration by the voters. The board members in Districts 2 and 4 will continue to serve; however, their district boundaries have changed. |
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How do I learn more about the process?
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| About the Proposed Plans | ||
| The plans described below were prepared by the district's contracted demographic experts, Research & Polling Inc., | ||
Former school board districts Maps / Demographic information |
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Proposed Plan A Maps / Demographic information |
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Proposed Plan B Maps / Demographic information |
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Proposed Plan C Maps / Demographic information |
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Proposed Plan D Maps / Demographic information |
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Adopted Plan E Maps / Demographic information |
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Research & Polling background report |
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Presentation to school board on 4/9/12 |
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How may I ask questions? You may submit questions by clicking here! |
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