Despite Santa Clarita Valley governing boards’ approval of election changes in response to California Voting Rights Act concerns, an outdated county system won’t be able to handle the changes for at least another four years, officials said. “Our current voting system both the devices we use at the polls and, more importantly, the tabulations system we use... can not run a cumulative voting system,” said Efrain Escobedo, governmental and legislative affairs manager for the Los Angeles County’s Registrar-Recorder’s Office. “It’s just the limitations of the technology,” he said, referring to a voting system created in the late 1960s.

Hart district officials changed their elections with a 4-1 vote Wednesday, following a discussion at the Santa Clarita Valley high school district’s governing board meeting. The change wasn’t a popular choice among board members, but it provided them with a “safe harbor” from a potential lawsuit, said Hart district governing board President Steve Sturgeon. “All five board members basically testified last night that we should be able to vote at large -- it gives an opportunity for the entire population to choose who their representatives are,” Sturgeon said. “So this becomes a little more exclusive to an area, which was the intent, and we’ll see how it works.”

Santa Clarita officials questioned the legality of their own settlement in a California Voting Rights Act lawsuit in a briefing filed this week. The filing is a result of Santa Clarita officials’ uncertainty over whether their agreed-upon settlement is legal and feasible, said Joe Montes, Santa Clarita city attorney. “If cumulative voting is not permitted and we’re not allowed to change the election date, then the parties will have to confer again as to how the matter will proceed,” Montes said. “It could mean that the litigation resumes, it could mean settlement talks could have to resume -- that’s just too far off to speculate at this point.”

Two Ninja riders who suffered head injuries when the coaster derailed on Monday filed a lawsuit Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, a lawyer said Thursday.

Newhall School District governing board members directed Superintendent Marc Winger to “investigate the process of initiating a change to cumulative voting and even-year elections in order to address potential concerns under the California Voting Rights Act,” an official said Tuesday. The election change was approved at the governing board’s meeting in response to the district’s monitoring of recent CVRA lawsuits in the area, according to district officials. The Newhall School District will change its elections “assuming recent settlement agreements initiating the transition to cumulative voting and even year elections are held to be legally valid,” according to officials.

Santa Clarita Valley officials addressing what Senate Bill 1263 supporters call a “loophole” in charter school law garnered a victory Wednesday with in the bill’s passage in the Assembly Education Committee. Opponents of the bill called it an unnecessary statewide reaction to “a neighborhood brawl” in the Santa Clarita Valley during a committee hearing in Sacramento this week. The bill authored by Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, is a response to Santa Clarita Valley superintendents seeking to stop the alleged “shopping” of charter school petitions to the Acton Agua Dulce Unified School District’s governing board.

More than one year after dozens lost their homes in the Powerhouse Fire last June, federal officials say the cause was what many suspected all along -- downed power lines near a 96-year-old power plant Powerhouse No. 1. “The U.S. Forest Service determined the cause of the Powerhouse Fire to be electrical power lines creating a competent ignition source,” according to a U.S. Forest Service news release Monday. “All other causes were excluded.” All fire causes were considered, investigated and evaluated during the Powerhouse Fire investigation, officials said, which has lasted more than a year.

The Castaic Union School District is looking at a pair of separate legal actions at a special board meeting Monday night, district officials said. A lawsuit against another school district and the potential for changing the election of the governing board are two items of discussion on the agenda. The meeting was called to formally approve the district’s Local Control Accountability Plan, a state-mandated spending plan the school district reviewed at a public hearing on Thursday. The district will also be adopting a general fund budget of $21.5 million.

Hart district officials announced their intent to look at district-based elections for the junior high and high school district’s governing board Wednesday. Don’t miss a thing. Get breaking Santa Clarita news alerts delivered right to your inbox. The report out of a closed-door session announced the William S. Hart Union High School District would take steps toward the adoption of ...

Los Angeles County education officials put two more charter school approvals from the Acton Agua Dulce Unified School District on hold recently, in light of continued concerns about the district’s finances. A letter sent June 12 to school board President Mark Distaso was the second in a month, which sought to hold off on additional charter school petition approvals until the district’s budget and planned approvals can be reviewed by a Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team. “As with our stay of five board actions taken on May 22, 2014, and communicated to you in a letter dated May 30, 2014, (attached), we believe there is a high probability that these Board actions may be inconsistent with the fiscal recovery of the district,” the letter states.