Los Angeles City Council Takes Up LAUSD Redistricting

LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The Los Angeles City Council's Rules, Elections and Intergovernmental Relations Committee today began deliberating new district boundaries for seven Los Angeles Unified School District board seats.

The committee is considering a map of the seven districts drawn by a 15- member redistricting commission appointed last fall by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, City Council President Eric Garcetti and school board members.

The City Attorney's Office expressed some concern about the map. Deputy City Attorney Harit Trivedi told the council committee that the commission's decision to dramatically rearrange board member Bennet Kayser's Fifth District could draw scrutiny from a judge in the case of a lawsuit.

The LAUSD Redistricting Commission created a very narrow stretch to connect a southeast portion of Kayser's district that includes Vernon, Maywood, Bell and South Gate to a northeast portion that includes Silver Lake, Echo Park, Highland Park and Eagle Rock.

 "In the area of redistricting, shapes of districts matter, especially when there's a narrow connector between two larger portions of a district,'' Trivedi told the committee. ``Courts may exert greater scrutiny on that type of configuration to see whether it was justified by following traditional redistricting criteria or not.''

Councilman Tom LaBonge, who serves on the Rules Committee, said he was concerned that some middle and elementary schools were moved into different districts from the high schools they feed.

City Council President Herb Wesson, who chairs the Rules Committee, told the city attorney and chief legislative analyst to work together to "try to make sure that we're not placed in an uncomfortable situation.''

The committee is scheduled to host two public hearings on the map next week. The full City Council is expected to approve a final district boundaries on April 20.