Northside ISD trustees voted Sept. 27 to adopt a new map outlining single-member districts.

NISD officials said population growth, particularly in far west San Antonio and Bexar County, drove a revision of district boundary lines to ensure population balance across the seven single-member districts.

According to NISD data, the district’s total population grew from 516,519 in the 2010 U.S. Census to 665,742 in the 2010 census.

NISD officials said, entering this new round of redistricting, the school district had a 77.5% population differential between the most and least populated single-member districts, meaning NISD was required by the Texas Education Code to go through redistricting.

NISD officials said the redistricted map achieves a 6.7% differential between the smallest district—District 4 with 90,931 residents—and the largest district, District 7 with 97,612 residents.

Attorney Robb Decker from local law firm Walsh Gallegos, which specializes in serving school systems, consulted with NISD officials on their redistricting efforts over the summer.

In an Aug. 2 board meeting, Decker told NISD trustees population growth in the San Antonio area has prompted redistricting in school districts containing single-member districts following the release of the 2020 census, including North East ISD.

“Literally every single school district that’s a single-member district, no matter how big or small in or around San Antonio, did redistricting this go-around,” Decker said.

NISD officials said the new map shifts San Antonio neighborhoods, such as Elm Creek, Mission Trace and Well Springs, from District 6 into District 5. The new map also moves bits of District 7 into District 6.

More significant swaps of land, however, are happening among districts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7, according to the new redistricting plan.

Decker said, in redistricting, a governmental entity cannot move individual streets to ensure proportional population balance among single-member districts.

“What that means is, when you want to make a little move, it has to be the whole census block that gets moved. Instead of changing 10 houses, you end up changing 150 houses, and that throws off numbers,” Decker said.

The new boundaries will be in effect when NISD calls its next regularly scheduled school board election in May 2023.