The Campbell County Board of Education voted at a special meeting on Wednesday to move two precincts to different districts in order to better balance the number of people living in those districts.
This decision follows the requirements of a July 15 United States District Court of the Eastern District of Kentucky order because two of the five districts had too many people in them.
The board was asked to redistrict by Aug. 1 or the federal court would redraw them by Aug. 15.
While boards of education in independent school districts like Covington or Newport are elected by all voters in the district, county systems only allow people to vote in the district they live in.
The two districts in question were in division two, which had a population of 10,721, and division four, with a population of 11,316. Both were larger than districts one (with 8,491 people), three (with 8,769 people), and five (with 9,868 people).
In his order, U.S District Judge David Bunning said that constitutionally, “the average/ideal population per district, which is calculated by dividing the total population by five (the number of districts),” is 9,833, or the mean. The total population of the school district is 49,165.
The board voted to move precinct Highland Heights D from district two to district one. This move gives a new population in district one of 9,828, or a -.05 deviation from the mean (9,833.) District two now has a population of 9,384, or a -4.57 deviation from the mean.
The board also voted to move precinct Alexandria B from district four to district three. District three now has a population of 10,221, or a 3.95 deviation from the mean. District four has a population of 9,864, or a 0.32 deviation from the mean.
The new populations yield a total deviation from lowest to highest of just over 8.5%.
District five was not affected.
The precincts that were moved are all contiguous to the districts they were moved into.
“These changes by moving only two precincts we’re really minimizing the number of voters who are affected by this change,” District Three Board Member Kimber Fender said.
Districts one and four are up for election this cycle. This means that people in Highland Heights D will vote earlier than expected, and Alexandria B will have to wait an additional two years to select a board member.
In his order, U.S. District Judge David Bunning said that districts two and four of the Campbell County board of education violated the Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment equal protection clause under the “one person, one vote” rule.
District one Representative and Board Chair Janis Winbigler and district four Representative Peggy Schultz are running for reelection this year, while the other three seats will be up for election in 2024.
Fender said the board followed Kentucky state statute, which prohibits districts from redistricting within five years of their most recent change. The most recent redistricting was done in January of 2020 according to Fender.
“That was based on the merger with Silver Grove Schools needing to place those voters in one of our divisions,” Fender said. “That would have been in violation of Kentucky law at that time because it had not yet been five years since we had done this, and it’s only with the judge’s ruling that we can really ignore that law and move forward with this change.”
District 5 Board Member Richard Mason added that back in 2020 when the board absorbed Silver Grove, the 2020 consensus numbers were not yet available. He said they chose to put Silver Grove in district three because that district surrounds it.
