Legislation Would Change School Voting : Elections: A bill that has been sent to the governor would end at-large balloting for some boards of trustees.

The state Legislature has passed a bill that could force new board elections in the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District on the grounds that the school system neglects minority students.

If signed by Gov. Pete Wilson, the bill would require Hacienda La Puente Unified to divide into electoral districts by January and elect board members by district rather than at large, which could bring in new representation from heavily minority areas.

Two of the five board members are minorities: William Torres of Hacienda Heights and Yvonne Garcia of La Puente, both Latino. The school district is 57.3% Latino, 19.3% Anglo, 14.7% Asian, 5.3% black, 2.5% Filipino, 0.5% American Indian and 0.4% Pacific Islander.

The bill, by Assemblyman Pete Chacon (D-San Diego), would require district elections in school systems with at least 24,000 students and a school population that is at least 25% minority.

According to the state Education Department, the Hacienda La Puente district had 24,792 students in the 1989-90 school year, when the bill was drafted. Seven other school systems meet those conditions, including nearby Montebello Unified, ABC Unified in Cerritos and Garden Grove Unified and Orange Unified in Orange County.

The Hacienda La Puente schools serve students from La Puente and the City of Industry as well as the unincorporated county areas of Hacienda Heights and Valinda. Four of the five board members are from Hacienda Heights; only Garcia is from heavily Latino La Puente.

Board President Ken Manning opposes the bill, arguing that school board members or school district voters should decide whether members should be elected by district. In addition, he says, three-quarters of the school district voters live in Hacienda Heights.

“I’ve been on the board 12 years and I’ve served with Asians, Hispanics and a number of women,” Manning said. “I don’t think there’s any doubt that we’ve met the need of the minority community.”

Manning said such a bill has flopped before, passing the Legislature only to be vetoed by then-Gov. George Deukmejian.

The bill’s language is blunt, stating that at-large elections in certain districts have “resulted in a lack of representation on the board of residents in certain parts of the district and of residents who are members of ethnic minorities.”

“As a result of that lack of representation, the district has not accorded appropriate attention to the educational needs of all pupils in the district,” the bill says.

In at-large school elections, voters can cast ballots for all board seats on the ballot, regardless of where they live. The legislation would allow a voter to choose only from candidates who live in that voter’s district. The bill does not specify how the districts would be created.

The Legislature also passed a bill recently that would allow for a local referendum on the issue if 5% of an area’s registered voters signed petitions favoring such a ballot measure. That bill was also sponsored by Chacon.