Photo: File photo

Moyra Baxter, chairperson of School District 23.

The City of West Kelowna would like to see changes made to how school trustees are elected.

Currently, four of the seven trustees of School District 23 are elected from the City of Kelowna, one from Lake Country and the surrounding regional district area, one from West Kelowna and one from Peachland, the surrounding regional district area and Westbank First Nation.

Council voted Tuesday to send a letter to School District 23 and the Ministry of Education, asking that the entire Westside region, including West Kelowna, WFN, Peachland and the regional district area be represented instead by two trustees at-large.

Mayor Doug Findlater said the change would make a closer to equitable population representation.

According to 2016 census figures, population distribution is as follows:

• City of West Kelowna population of 32,655
• City of Kelowna population of 127,380 (31,845 per trustee)
• District of Lake Country + unincorporated population of 16,746
• District of Peachland + IR9 & 10 * unincorporated population of 16,437

Coun. Rusty Ensign, who made the motion, said the Westside change to two at-large trustees would give the region one trustee for every 24,000 population.