Ethnic Groups Ask School-Remap Delay : Education: Blacks and Latinos want voters to have a chance to pass City Charter amendments expanding the number of districts and eliminating at-large elections.

Latino and black representatives told San Diego school trustees Tuesday that they want any reapportionment of the school and community college districts delayed until voters have a chance to pass charter amendments expanding the number of districts and eliminating at-large voting.

The debate marks the first of many expected during the next six months over remapping of the two trustee districts to accommodate the rapid growth of nonwhite residents, especially Latinos.

The school board Tuesday wrestled with how to hire a population consultant, how to set up citizen advisory committees and how to balance legal advice with political realities.

Jess Haro, chairman of the Chicano Federation’s redistricting committee, asked school trustees to avoid the conflicts that dogged the San Diego City Council during remapping efforts last year that were aimed at creating a district with a Latino majority.

Both he and representatives of black organizations asked that the school and community college districts not go through a two-step process in which they redraw existing districts for a 1992 election, then possibly redraw and expand them from five to seven for a 1994 election if the charter amendments are approved next year.

City schools attorney Tina Dyer had told the board it must redraw boundaries for the first election following the receipt of final U.S. Census data. The government sent the final figures last week.

But Tuesday, Dyer said the board could delay reapportionment until 1994 and after the success or failure of the charter amendments, but that the wait would entail the political risk of an individual or group alleging in court that its constitutional rights to fair elections were being affected.

However, Dyer noted that the groups most likely to sue, such as the Chicano Federation, are the same ones urging the board to consolidate its process.

Community College board President Evonne Schulze told school trustees that the college board would like to dovetail its reapportionment efforts as closely as possible with the schools’ because both boards fall under the provisions of the City Charter. (The community college board became an independent entity in 1972 when the administration of kindergarten through 12th grades and community colleges was separated.)

But Schulze said her board also wants voters to consider a third amendment in 1992 that would put the community colleges under separate City Charter provisions as a way to establish full independence.

Next month, the two boards will consider jointly hiring a demographer to draw up scenarios and to hold public meetings, along with the appointment of a joint citizens advisory committee.