The Greater Victoria School District (SD61) has had their proposal for school board trustees’ electoral reform approved by the BC government.
This reform will see the way school board trustees are elected shift from an “at large” electoral model to one with seven trustee electoral areas, or wards. These areas will be based on existing municipal and First Nations reserve boundaries.
According to SD61, this new model is already used by many school districts in the province, and is particularly common among those that span several municipalities.
Since the Province fired all nine elected trustees in January of last year, the Ministry of Education and Child Care appointed a sole trustee to fill their roles for the remainder of the term.
The nine trustees were removed from their positions because they ended the school police liaison officer (SPLO) program and failed to create a safety plan that would be acceptable to Minister of Education and Child Care Lisa Beare.
Following their removal, the appointed trustee, Sherri Bell, reinstated the SPLO program and worked with First Nations and the municipalities that are a part of SD61’s jurisdiction to advocate for a new trustee electoral model.
A proposal was then drafted and sent to Minister Beare for approval in September 2025.
In a letter dated January 8th, 2026, Minister Beare approved the submitted proposal and its new trustee electoral area (TEA) boundaries.
“While the Proposal would represent a departure from the principle of representation by population, it would improve equity of representation in the District by creating smaller TEAs around First Nations and around the Districts’ smaller municipalities,” said Minister Beare in her letter of approval.
“This will result in more effective representation for residents of these areas who have historically been underrepresented.”
Going forward, there will be nine elected trustees who will represent the seven areas of the district.
There will be one representing the Esquimalt Nation, one for the Songhees Nation, one for Highlands/View Royal, one for Esquimalt, two for Victoria, two for Saanich and one for Oak Bay.
See the boundaries of the new TEAs below:
School board trustees are elected at the same time as municipal elections take place. The first time the new electoral model will be utilized will be the upcoming local election on October 17th. .
