The Tomahawk School Board is looking at reapportioning their board seats.
As population trends have changed, the voter representation model hasn't.
For the past 50 years, the Tomahawk School Board has used the same model to determine which representatives represent which apportioned area.
The district has 9 board members who all represent a different area.
Over the years, population trends have shifted.
In the 1960’s, 49% of the population was in the city of Tomahawk, but nowadays, that’s down to 33%.
Regardless, the city still has 4 representatives.
Other areas like the townships of Nokomis, Little Rice, and Wilson have increased in population, but they still only have one representative.
The Reapportionment Subcommittee wants to change that.
This is David Long, treasurer for the Tomahawk School Board.
“It kind of made sense then, now maybe it doesn't make quite as much sense,” he said.
The Subcommittee is examining several different representation models, particularly the 3-3-3 model.
“That basically parses the district up into three different areas and then there will be three representatives for each area. That way, we can stagger the election cycle so that at any given year, one of the seats for that area is up for reelection,” he explained.
“We think the models we're looking at obviously make a lot of sense and they're going to provide for a lot better, more equitable representation throughout the district. But again, we just want to make sure everybody's on board before we make any change,” he said.
This isn’t the first time Tomahawk has looked at reapportionment.
That’s why Long says they’re approaching it more deliberately this time.
“We want a lot of input, we want a lot of communication about this,” he said.
There are numerous public meetings planned ahead of the vote in September.
On March 14, the Tomahawk School District is holding a special meeting on reapportionment plans.
