RIPON – The voter boundaries are all but set.

The San Joaquin County Office of Education’s Committee on School District Organization recently approved the Ripon Unified proposal for trustee area redistricting effective for the November election.

That same committee, in a separate action, agreed to change the voting methodology, from a trustee-nominating area with an at-large election, to a ‘by and from’ trustee area.

The latter won’t take effect until November 2014 since the deadline for the 2012 election had already passed.

Ripon Unified school board received an update on trustee area redistricting and voting methodology at last Monday’s meeting.

“We will need to educate our constituents on where the lines have changed,” Trustee Ernie Tyhurst said.

He was referencing the new boundaries where each trustee area is divided equally based on population from the recent U.S. Census and in compliance with the “one person, one vote” principle.

The magic number was 3,472 residents per boundary.

Tyhurst and Kit Oase did most of the foot work on the process, using their expertise and experience on the matter to save the district money that would otherwise go to a consulting firm.

“My disappointment was that no one showed up for the three public hearings (on trustee area redistricting),” Oase said. “No one came forwards against the change.”

Those seeking to challenge an incumbent come November must also live in the newly formed boundaries.

“Our intent is to have a public meeting in June for those interested in running for a board seat,” Oase said.