PRC staff has accumulated a lot of experience in local electoral and school redistricting. Usually, a need to redistrict (re-zone) existing boundaries arises when changes in service population take place as happens, for example, when a new school is open, or when an area's population change affects a fair electoral representation.
Since July 2001 we have completed the redistricting (zoning) studies of Board of Directors (School Board) zones for the following clients:
Oregon law (Oregon Revised Statutes, 2001; http://www.leg.state.or.us/ors/home.html) mandates that boundaries of electoral districts are updated once the latest federal decennial census data becomes available. Currently such data is available down to the Census block level from the Census 2000 Redistricting Data (P.L. 94-171) Summary File. The law determines the zoning requirements for various kinds of electoral districts (e.g., Local Administration of Education, ORS 332.132, Zoning process).
We have worked with a number of Oregon school districts to help them design new school attendance area boundaries. Such projects frequently require that long-term attendance area enrollment forecasts be developed prior to redistricting decisions; they were completed for:
Requesting studies:
The cost of the electoral redistricting studies largely depends on the availability of relevant boundary
data in a digital form, and the number and complexity of redistricting scenarios and maps produced in the course of the study. When digitizing of paper maps to create desired boundaries (e.g., boundaries of existing Board zones, voting precincts, neighborhoods, school districts) is involved, the costs go up. The typical cost ranges between $1,500 and $4,000.
For more information or to request a study, please contact us.
