January 24, 2025 – The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports today on emerging legal issues within the Keller Independent School District. The reporting chronicles the work of the Brewer Storefront, the legal community service affiliate of Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors, and notes the Storefront’s many successful cases under the Voting Rights Act.
As reported, “At issue is the district’s [Keller ISD] at-large places in which voters select candidates from across the district to fill open school board seats. Some experts believe at-large elections unfairly favor majority voting blocs and therefore violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which was established to ensure all registered voters have an equal voice.”
The alternative would be a single-member system in which voters elect representatives from subdistricts within the larger district. Over the past several years, legal challenges based on interpretations of the Voting Rights Act have pushed at least five North Texas school districts to change their electoral systems, says the article.
William Brewer, founding partner of Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors, said several Keller school district residents had reached out to his firm about challenging the election rules. Those inquiries were in response to a recent proposal to split the district in half, using Denton Highway as the dividing line. The plan was met with overwhelming opposition from parents at a Jan. 16 board meeting. The next public hearing is scheduled for Jan. 30.
Brewer’s firm has successfully initiated the move away from at-large voting in the Lewisville, Richardson, Carrollton-Farmers Branch, Irving and Grand Prairie school districts. He said he plans to file the lawsuit within 45 to 60 days.
“The law says in order to force a change, you need to establish preconditions,” Brewer said. “You have to show that voting is polarized — that whites are voting for whites, Hispanics prefer voting for Hispanics and Blacks are voting for Blacks. Then you have to be able to draw districts around subgroups that are contiguous and compact. Those preconditions seem to be present in Keller.”
Read more here.