February 15, 2025 - The Brewer Storefront filed suit in federal court on behalf of plaintiff Claudio Vallejo against the Keller Independent School District (KISD), alleging that the school district’s election system violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 because it denies fair representation to Hispanic voters. The lawsuit further alleges violations of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments.
Filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division, on February 14, 2025, the lawsuit takes aim at the school district’s at-large voting system which denies Hispanic voters an opportunity to elect school board representatives of their choosing. The Storefront is the community impact legal affiliate of Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors.
As of the 2023-24 school year, KISD was a majority-minority school district, enrolling 33,250 students, of whom nearly 25% are Hispanic.
Yet, all seven of the board members are white and non-Hispanic. The complaint cites three Hispanic and Spanish surname candidates who ran for the board in recent years—and lost. The complaint states that Hispanic teachers are underrepresented among KISD faculty, with 14% of teachers being Hispanic compared to a quarter of students who are Hispanic. Additionally, the interim superintendent and all five current assistant superintendents are white.
“The at-large election system used by Keller ISD denies Hispanic voters a fair opportunity to elect school board candidates of their choosing – those who would best represent the needs of the majority of children who attend schools in KISD," says William A. Brewer III, partner at Brewer Storefront and lead counsel for plaintiff Vallejo, a parent of KISD students.
Under the current electoral system, school board members are elected at large. Candidates run for “places” but do not represent any specific geographic area. The lawsuit requests a new election system complying with the Voting Rights Act and Constitution, including a cumulative voting system and a shift to on-cycle elections. A cumulative voting system, included in the Texas Education Code, enables each voter to cast a number of ballots, for any one or more candidates in the manner of their choosing, equal to the number of positions to be filled at the election.
As the complaint states, a significant achievement gap exists within KISD schools. On the 2024 STAAR exams, while 69% of the white students met grade level, only 51% of the Hispanic students and 40% of the African American students met grade level.
A current proposal is under consideration that would split the district in half, breaking off the more diverse west side in which Vallejo resides, would increase segregation, and leave a predominantly white and affluent Keller ISD to the east situated in Keller proper. Currently, five of seven trustees reside on the East Side of the district within the Keller High School feeder pattern.
The lawsuit says, “From the outside looking in, KISD portrays itself as a premier public school district lauded for its commitment to academic excellence and student success. Families move to the district attendance area in pursuit of high-quality education, believing KISD to be a model of opportunity and fairness. However, for Mr. Vallejo, a long-time resident and invested parent, this image is far from reality.”
The son of Mexican immigrants, Vallejo deeply values the importance of education and received a bachelor’s degree in advertising with a minor in business administration from The University of Texas at Arlington. He is personally invested in KISD and currently has a son in fourth grade and a daughter in first grade at KISD’s Bette Perot Elementary School. He specifically moved into the district boundaries and bought a home in Fort Worth in 2021, so his children could attend KISD – now at risk due to the proposal to split the district in two.
“I am bringing this lawsuit to improve political opportunity for local voters, and to help ensure that every child, school, and section of the community is represented,” Vallejo says. “The current controversy over potentially splitting the school district brings to light the underrepresentation of diverse voices on our board.”
The lawsuit further describes that, “The consequences of this systemic imbalance have been stark. The Board’s recent actions – particularly its rushed contemplation of detachment – represent an unprecedented departure from established procedures, while disregarding community input in a way that makes clear the at-large system has produced a Board indifferent to the interest of residents like Plaintiff. The result is not only a threat to the educational opportunities Plaintiff fought to secure for his children but also a direct attack on the value of his home and his stake in the District’s future.”
The Storefront has successfully challenged violations of the Voting Rights Act on behalf of other communities of interest in previous actions.
The Storefront successfully resolved Voting Rights Act cases with the Lewisville Independent School District in 2023, Richardson Independent School District in January 2019, the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District in 2015, and the Grand Prairie Independent School District in 2014. All districts now utilize remodeled voting systems. The Storefront also secured trial victories in Voting Rights Act cases against the Irving Independent School District in 2014, the City of Farmers Branch in 2012, and the City of Irving in 2009. Those lawsuits paved the way for the formation of new voting systems and the election of minority candidates.