Hays CISD Begins the Single-Member Election District Redistricting Process
The Hays Consolidated Independent School District is required to redistrict the boundaries of its single-member trustee election districts based on the 2020 Census data. To encourage citizen input in the process, the Board of Trustees has named a seven-member Redistricting Advisory Committee (RAC), created a central webpage for all of the information about the process, and opened an electronic comment button for individuals to share their comments regarding the maps and process. This webpage is available through a button on the school district’s website homepage, or directly at: www.hayscisd.net/redistricting.
The committee will work with a demographer and an attorney, who will explain the redistricting process, answer questions, and present draft map options as a beginning point for discussion. The guidelines for redistricting single-member districts include: drawing districts to contain similar total voting age population size, drawing districts that contain contiguous and compact geographic areas, using easily identifiable geographic features as boundaries, maintaining communities of interest and minimizing dividing neighborhoods, considering the residential locations of current school board members in their separate districts, evaluating minority voting strength in terms of voting age population, and avoiding retrogression of racial and language minorities as defined in the Voting Rights Act.
The district intends for this process to be open and interactive within the school community. The committee will consider the options for redrawing the boundaries of the district’s current single-member trustee election districts and make a recommendation to the Board regarding what option would best serve the district. This committee’s task is expected to be accomplished over the course of this fall semester with a decision by the Board in December.
Committee members are: Jeff Barton, Celeste Castro, Sylvia Cruz, Jamie Fulenwider, Jackie Hooks, Jazz Lough, Lacy Waller. The district thanks the committee members for their willingness to serve.