Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore the impact of the CVRA on school board elections in Riverside County for school districts that have changed the election format for their school boards from at-large elections to elections by trustee areas.Methods. This study used face-to-face interviews to explore the research questions. The interviews were with current school superintendents who personally experienced the central phenomenon. Purposeful sampling was used, and the case study methodology by Baxter and Jack (2008), Creswell (2013, 2014), and Yin (2003, 2005) was followed. An interview protocol was used to ensure a high degree of standardization. To address validity and reliability, the researcher used methods of triangulation (Golafshani, 2003), as well as member checks with the participants to verify the accuracy of the data, and interrater reliability during both stages of data collection and analysis (Creswell, 2012).Findings. The findings include impacts to representation on the school board from across the district under the new format, impacts to the participation from interest groups on school board elections, impacts to incumbent candidates, and changes to the amount of campaign spending for school board elections under the new format.Conclusions. The conclusions from the study revealed that the CVRA in Riverside County has impacted school board representation from across the trustee areas of the district, and it has also impacted participation from interest groups. In addition, it has made incumbent candidates harder to defeat, and the amount of money spent in the election of school board members has been reduced.Recommendations. Future studies could use a larger sample size and a larger geographical area. In addition, future studies could also use different populations such as school board members or registered voters and not only school superintendents. A further area of study could be the impact of social media on school board elections. Lastly, one additional recommendation for future research is in the impact to school boards when trustee area seats are left empty or open because not a single person from the trustee area is interested in being a candidate or running for the vacancy.