After considering alternative maps to its voting regions, a committee appointed by the Central Bucks School District has endorsed a plan that will keep nine voting areas, with elections every four years.
The full board was expected to throw its support to the committee’s preferred map at tonight’s meeting.
In a 3-2 vote last week, the Voting Region Committee recommended a realigned map that will keep nine regions. It rejected a map proposed by CBSD Fair Votes, a grassroots organization that presented a three-region map with voters choosing three members from each. Elections would be held every two years under Fair Votes’ plan.
The matter may be moot, however, as Montgomery County Judge Cheryl Austin issued an order last month saying the court will only consider the district’s original redistricting plan and Fair Votes’ map at a Sept. 28 hearing.
Central Bucks can petition the court to change its order and allow the district’s newly drawn map to be reviewed, or it can ask for another extension, which it did after Fair Votes first introduced its map. Should the judge approve Fair Votes’ map, the district can appeal the ruling.
Earlier this year, the district submitted its map to the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas and a routine hearing was expected to take place. However, as the deadline approached for filing additional map proposals, Fair Votes filed its three-region map, saying the district’s map violated the U.S. Constitution and the Public School Code. The group had garnered 3,600 signatures in support of its map.
Following that development, in a move that surprised many involved with the matter, all 18 Bucks County judges recused themselves from the case. While no explanation was offered by the court, Common Pleas Judge Stephen A. Corr, who was elected in 2022, served on the Central Bucks School Board for three terms, including as its president and vice president.
The district was required to create a new voting map following the 2020 census, which indicated some directors were representing an unequal number of residents.
According to state law, a judge must hold a hearing to approve changes to a school district’s voting map.
Join our readers whose generous donations are making it possible for you to read our news coverage. Help keep local journalism alive and our community strong. Donate today.
