Cd'A schools tweak trustee zones
COEUR d'ALENE - Trustee representation on the Coeur d'Alene School District board is going to change for thousands of residents living within the district's boundaries.
To ensure equal representation on school boards throughout the state, districts are required by statute, to balance the populations of their trustee zones every 10 years following the federal census. The population variance between the zones must be within 10 percent.
Coeur d'Alene School District employee Tom Hobson completed an analysis in April, and presented the proposed trustee zone changes Monday to the board.
"As anticipated, the zones had grown in significantly different rates across the last 10 years," Hobson said.
The district has five zones, and a total population of 71,692.
The highest population now resides in Zone 3, which covers much of the school district that lies west of U.S. 95 and includes some of the densest areas of recent housing development.
The Zone 3 population, as it stands, is 21,240. That is 50 percent greater than the population of Zone 4, which encompasses the southwestern corner of the school district, and has a population of 10,504.
Zone 3's population exceeds that of Zones 1 and 2 by roughly 40 percent each. Zone 1 now has 12,612 residents, and covers the eastern section of the district from 15th Street along the east side of Hayden Lake over to the district's east boundary.
Zone 2, with 12,894 residents, now runs from Dalton Avenue north, generally along U.S. 95 to the west, north to the district boundary. Zone 2 includes the west side of Hayden Lake.
Zone 5, which covers the downtown area east of U.S. 95 and north to Dalton Avenue, has 14,442, and most nearly represents one-fifth of the district's population.
To balance the zones, they are being re-shaped to accommodate a shift of 7,038 residents from Zone 3 into Zones 1,2, and 4.
School board zone representation will change for those residents, and it will change their voting zone when school board elections take place again in 2013.
The proposed changes do not affect any of the sitting trustees or the trustees-elect who will take office in July.
The newly proposed zones each have populations of between 14,172 and 14,712, and are within 2- to- 3 percent of each other.
Some of the proposed changes include a re-shaping of Zone 2 to include the section of the district that lies north of Prairie Avenue and west of U.S. 95. Much of that area now lies within Zone 3.
Sections of Dalton Gardens that are now part of Zone 2 between Prairie Avenue to the north and Dalton Avenue to the south, will now be part of Zone 1. In Zone 4, the boundary will be moved over into what is now Zone 3 to include the area west of Kathleen Avenue.
The board is expected to vote on the proposed changes at its next meeting. The state requires that the proposals be submitted for approval by July 8.
The Lakeland school board will consider new trustee maps Monday at 7 p.m. at that district's central office in Rathdrum.
A trustee zone change proposal will be presented to the Post Falls school board on Monday at 6 p.m. at City Hall.