Judge Orders 3-Region Voting District Realignment In Central Bucks

DOYLESTOWN, PA — The Central Bucks School District’s nine region voting districts will shift to three under an order issued by a Montgomery County judge.

While Judge Cheryl Austin said both the school district’s nine-region plan and CBSD Fair Votes’ three-region plan met the criteria of a fair plan under the law, the judge ordered the institution of the Fair Votes plan, which was brought forward last January by a group of registered voters as an alternate to the school district’s plan.

Under the school board’s updated plan, the district would have continued with the current nine-region format but included adjustments to the regions to accommodate population fluctuations since the last census.

Fair Votes argued for the abolishment of the existing nine-region makeup and put forth a reapportionment plan that reduces the number of electoral districts from nine to three with three school directors being elected from each of the three regions.

After considering both plans, the judge called the Fair Votes Plan “superior in its maintenance of political subdivision integrity” because it splits fewer municipalities than the school board
plan. The Fair Votes plan splits four municipalities, said the judge. The school board plan splits six municipalities with one municipality (Warrington) split three ways.

The Fair Votes Three Region Map.

“In maintaining subdivision integrity, the Fair Votes Plan also keeps communities together and preserves communities of interest,” the judge said. “An advantage of having fewer regions in the school district will mean that school district residents have an opportunity to vote for three of the nine school district directors, instead of one. This will create a greater chance that residents will be electing board members that reflect their personal values.”

Additionally, the judge said a three-region system increases the voters' ability to vote for at least one Board member from every four years to every two years.”

The new regions will include:

• Region 1 - Buckingham Township Lower 2; Buckingham Township Middle 1 and 2; Buckingham Township Upper 1, 2, 3, 4; and Doylestown Borough 1-1 and 1-2.

• Region 2 - Doylestown Borough 2-1 and 2-2; Doylestown Township 6; Plumstead Township 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5; Buckingham Township Lower 1; Doylestown Borough 3-1 and 3-2; Doylestown Township 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8; New Britain Township East 1; New Britain Borough; and Warwick Township 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

• Region 3 - Chalfont Borough; New Britain Township South 1 and 2; New Britain Township West 1 and 2; and Warrington 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.

In issuing her order, the judge also laid out a timeline for it to be carried out.

• 2025 - Region 1: two director positions shall be for a four-year term and one director position for a two-year term.
• 2027 - Region 1: one director position shall be for a four-year term. Region 2: two director positions shall be for a four-year term. Region 3: two director positions shall be for a four-year term and one director position for a two-year term.
• 2029 - Region 1: two director positions shall be for a four-year term. Region 2: two director positions shall be for a four-year term. Region 3: one director position shall be for a four-year term.

The school district held a series of hearings over the summer, allowing each party an opportunity to outline their proposed redistricting plan. Following the hearings, the school board voted 6 to 3 in September to stay with a 9-region configuration but went with a map created by resident Mara Witsen.

Voting for the nine region map were Dana Hunter, Leigh Vlasblom, Debra Cannon, Sharon Collopy, James Pepper and Lisa Sciscio.

"I tried to go in with an open mind and listen to the advantages and disadvantages of the three regions," said the board's vice president Leigh Vlasblom, a member of the subcommittee. "I just
found myself landing back on nine regions. It's what serves our district best. It's what we have always had and it allows a greater opportunity for each town to have a voice in the school district."

Dr. Tabitha Dell'Angelo joined board members Karen Smith and Dr. Mariam Mahmud in favoring the Fair Votes map. The three Democrats on the board called the three region map a fairer model for the district's residents.

Dell'Angelo said adopting the district's 9-region map would further "exacerbate" hyper-partisanship in the district by favoring one political party in each region and "likely maintaining a 6-3 Republican majority on the board."

Historically, Dell'Angelo said the board has had Republican majorities, but said the atmosphere was less divisive and more collegial. "Our current reality is one where Republicans are set on maintaining power even though it is not the will of the populace," she said.

The current 9 region map, she said, resulted in Republicans winning the majority of the seats
even though Democrats received more total votes.

Dell'Angelo argued that the 3 region map would require that board members in the three regions "to work together, collaborate, and seek to understand the concerns of the larger region." She said in the three-region model members would be "motivated to know and understand the values, ideas and characteristics of more of their constituents. It's a model where board members would be encouraged to work together to find compromise and find solutions for all of those they serve.

"Everyone seems to be unhappy with the hyper-partisanship we've experienced," she said. "A map like this one will only make it worse," she said of the 9 region options. "This is a moment where we can commit to refocusing on the community and resisting the pull of partisanship, where we can say no to confirmation bias and instead say to each other, 'I see you. I'm
learning from you. You belong.'"

Board member Sharon Collopy, who chaired the subcommittee, said her ideal plan would have been a combination of at-large and voting districts.

"But choosing between the 3 and 9, I go with nine," she said. "I go with nine because we are a large district. We have many students and we do a lot of things in this district to bring a large district down to a community level.

"I disagree that having three regions will have all singing Kumbaya," said Collopy in response to Dell'Angelo's comments. "This is my eighth year on the board and we used to get along. You used the word hyper-partisanship," she told Dell'Angelo. "That is too broad of a term to describe our bitter differences now. We were getting along. You couldn't even tell who belonged to which party.

"But then what happened? Two things. The first one was COVID with the lockdowns, restrictions and masks," said Collopy. "That's what started this. Unfortunately, there is lingering anger on both sides. But we are recovering.

"So we get the kids back in school and things go back to normal. And then all a sudden number two issue pops up. The sexualization of our children. That's where we disagree.

"It is not politics. It's not hyper-partisanship because these two issues do cross party lines," said Collopy. "There are Republicans who wanted every kid masked. There are democrats who do not think a pornographic image should even be in a high school. I'm going with the nine. I like to do whatever we can to make it a little smaller."