Esquimalt council members unanimously voted in favour of asking the Greater Victoria School District to consider a new electoral model for school trustees ahead of the 2026 school board election.
At a council meeting on Sept. 23, councillors discussed and passed a motion to write letters to the school board, and to the five municipalities and two First Nations that SD61 covers, in an effort to start conversations with stakeholders around a more equitable electoral model.
Coun. Tim Morrison explained there were many more school districts in the 20th century before a number of districts were amalgamated into bigger districts, which included more schools and municipalities.
He said amalgamation can be a problem for some school boards, where board members are voted for and elected at-large, which can miss representation from certain municipalities, districts, or neighbourhoods. He says that is the case for SD61, which has no representatives from the Esquimalt township.
"As far as I can remember, and anyone I've talked to [confirmed], there has never been a Township of Esquimalt resident actually elected and serving on the school board for our area," he said. "I guess you could almost call it a democracy deficit."
He proposed using the Trustee Electoral Area Model, which is already adopted by a number of B.C. school boards, where communities each separately elect their own trustee representatives to help "optimize fair and equitable, geographically balanced school board representation".
Both Couns. Ken Armour and Duncan Cavens agreed it was a good idea, but they were concerned with the idea of one democratically elected body interfering with another.
"My biggest hesitation is the idea of one level of government telling another how to govern," said Cavens. "I just wonder how we would respond if someone else asked us to impose wards."
After some minor amendments, the motion was passed, and Morrison said he is "eager" to further engage with SD61 to make the community better connected to the "important school board governance".
SD61 representatives did not get back with a response before publication deadline.
