2 Tarrant school districts accused of blocking election of Black, Hispanic board members

A Dallas law firm has sent warning letters to two school districts in Tarrant County, saying their at-large school board seats and off-cycle elections deny diverse representation on their school boards and limit voting by people of color.

Brewer Storefront, a public service legal affiliate of the national litigation firm Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors, sent the letters to the Arlington Independent School District and the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw Independent School District on March 6. The law firm sent similar letters to nine other school districts across Texas.

The letters accused the districts of violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which “forbids any electoral system that denies voters of color an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice.”

The law firm ties the issue to other problems in schools: “A lack of diversity and equitable geographic representation on school boards often leads to underfunded schools, school and student achievement gaps, and disenfranchised voters,” it says in a news release.

Representatives of the Arlington and Eagle Mountain-Saginaw school districts did not respond to a request for comment.

The law firm says that neither the Arlington nor the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw school boards represent the diversity of their communities.

Enrollment in Arlington is 83 percent nonwhite but the school board consists of six white members and one Hispanic member, the law firm said. Eagle Mountain-Saginaw’s school board members are all white even though 39 percent of the district’s students and voting age population are Hispanic, the law firm says.

“What we’re hoping is that the letters would be greeted with a positive response and that the outcome would be an invitation to work with our experts to help define a voting system that actually encourages participation and engender change,” William Brewer III, founding partner of Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors, told the Star-Telegram.

According to last year’s STAAR results published by the Texas Tribune, 58 percent of white students in Texas were at grade level in math compared to 36 percent of Hispanic students and 28 percent of Black students. And 68 percent of white students were at grade level in reading, compared to 45 percent of Hispanic students and 41 percent of Black students.

The letters sent to school districts gave each school district potential solutions, including adopting single-member school board election districts that would create the opportunity for representation by Black or Hispanic board members and moving elections to November. The districts were asked to respond within seven business days outlining their intended actions.

Brewer Storefront has challenged other voting right issues in Irving, Frisco, Grand Prairie, Carrollton-Farmers Branch school districts and has advocated for single-member districts to ensure minority voters have a fair opportunity and can participate in the electoral process.

Brewer says he hopes the school districts will work with his team to address the issues, but his firm is also prepared to affect change through the courts.