Manatee County School Board May Become First in State to Share County Commission Districts

BRADENTON – Board member Karen Carpenter said that by adopting county commission compatible district lines, Manatee County School Board would lead the state in redistricting collaboration efforts between government entities with overlapping districts when the board met for a regular meeting on Monday.

Board members unanimously approved advertising a notice of intent to adopt the redistrict lines very similar to the county and set a public hearing on the proposed policy for Nov. 14, 2011.

The school board plans to adopt these districts.

During public comment, local attorney and political activist Dave ”Watchdog“ Miner asked the board not to approve the notice of intent. Miner argued that by rushing the process through, the board was shutting the public out of the procedure. 

”This map isn’t even set in stone yet,“ said Miner. ”County Commissioner Michael Gallen had concerns.“

Miner suggested appointing a redistricting board made up of three people. Each person would represent a different entity. One person would be appointed by the school board, another by the county commission, and the Supervisor of Elections would select the last member.

”This is just the beginning of this process,“ said Superintendent McGonegal. ”It will conclude November 14 at a public hearing. During the next few weeks we plan to have an open house where members of the public may give suggestions there or on the website. We have even solicited high-school student involvement in the process as well. ”

Board member Harry Kinnan reminded the residents that a workshop was already held which was also open to the community.

Members of the board claimed that the county has provided them with all the information they have  needed so far, and been very helpful in informing them of any changes to the proposed map. 

The purpose of redrawing  the residence area boundaries is to have equal population in each area as much as practicable. The 2010 census revealed the districts are currently uneven. Under the new proposal, the only district to decrease would be that of Julie Aranibar in District 3, which would loose a total population of over 20,000. The southeastern portion of the county has greatly declined since the districts were last redrawn 10 years ago. District 1, whose elected board member is Barbra Harvey, would gain the greatest increase by 7,521. Under the new plan, each of the five districts would be relatively equal with predicted variances of only a few hundred and each contain 11 schools.

”I felt very positive in the way we worked on this process together,“ said Aranibar of the collaboration between the school board and county.

Since redistricting must take place in odd-numbered years according to Florida Statutes, the board is making an effort to efficiently go forward with the redistricting, as they would otherwise have to wait another year.