© 2016 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate
(Sept. 23) – Coppell Independent School District’s election system discriminates against the area’s largest ethnic group by preventing proper representation on the school board, a lawsuit filed Thursday in Dallas federal court alleges.
The complaint, brought by Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors’ public service and pro bono affiliate, the Brewer Storefront, alleges Coppell ISD’s at-large voting system makes it impossible for Asian Americans, who make up 41 percent of Coppell’s student body, to elect one of their own to the school district’s seven-member board of trustees.
“CISD board elections are characterized by racially-polarized voting in which the predominately white voting bloc votes in a way that regularly defeats the Asian American community’s candidates of choice,” the complaint says. “Thus, based on the totality of past and present circumstances, the CISD electoral system impermissibly dilutes the Asian American vote and stymies that community’s ability to participate fully in the election process.”
The lawsuit is the latest in the Brewer Storefront’s streak of legal battles in North Texas challenging various municipalities and school districts. The Storefront has secured a favorable outcome in each case.
“When you deny over a long period of time a significant portion of any community an opportunity to participate, it actually rips the community apart,” Bill Brewer, lead counsel in Thursday’s lawsuit and founding partner of the Brewer firm, told The Texas Lawbook in a previous interview. “All the evidence is there that the extent to which any new group is invited to participate, and begins to participate, [will] thrive. And frankly, before you know it, we’re all just people living in the community together.”
Previous wins include securing a single-member district for the election structures of Grand Prairie’s city council and school district, Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District, Farmer’s Branch city council and Irving’s school district and city council. Those wins have helped Hispanics, which make up a significant portion of each community, obtain voting seats.
The lawsuit filed Thursday names Dr. Pankaj Jain, an Asian American U.S. citizen and professor at the University of North Texas, as the plaintiff. Dr. Jain has lived in Coppell with his wife and two sons since 2010. One is currently in the fourth grade in Coppell ISD, while the other attended Coppell ISD through the 10th grade, and began the 11th grade this fall at the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science at UNT
Jain filed his lawsuit after he and another Asian American unsuccessfully ran for seats on the CISD board in May.
“Our client believes that Coppell ISD is unfairly denying the local Asian American community an equal opportunity to participate in the electoral process,” Brewer said in a written statement. “Our hope is that the school board’s leadership will recognize its responsibility to embrace a more inclusive future – one that provides representation for the largest demographic group enrolled in the school system.”
CISD did not immediately return requests for comment on the lawsuit.
This school year, Asians for the first time became the largest demographic making up the student body in Coppell ISD schools, the complaint says. Asians comprise 41 percent of the student body, while Caucasians make up 39 percent.
Jain believes if an Asian American were to be elected to Coppell’s school board, he or she would better be able to represent the interests and growing needs of Asian American children enrolled in CISD schools.
For example, there is a scarcity of Asian dual language programs at CISD. According to the complaint, none are offered despite a majority (392) of the district’s English language learning students being Asian American and speaking one of the five common Indian languages.
Meanwhile, the program’s 336 Spanish speakers are offered instruction in their native language, the lawsuit says.
“A prevailing view among many members of the Asian American community is that the academic curriculum is not sufficiently rigorous, nor is it reflective of the demographics of the district,” the complaint says. “The lack of Asian American representation on the board has [allowed] and continues to allow elected officials to remain unresponsive to the needs of the Asian American community.”
Jain asks the court to grant a permanent injunction that would prohibit CISD from using an at-large electoral system and to order CISD to devise a more inclusive election plan.
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