Villa Park Faced With Possible Closings : Residents Weigh Forming Own School District

Some Villa Park residents are considering forming their own public school system as one alternative if the Orange Unified School District closes two of the three schools there, Mayor Wayne Silzel said Friday.

Silzel also confirmed that some Villa Park residents are threatening a recall movement against the Orange Unified School Board if it closes schools in Villa Park.

The mayor said he deplores the recall threat but that he hopes the school board “will find other, long-range solutions” to closing the schools, thus averting any secession effort by Villa Park.

The Orange Unified Board of Education, which operates schools in Orange, Villa Park and part of Anaheim, has said it must close perhaps as many as four elementary schools this year because of declining enrollment and a $1.5-million budget deficit.

One school under consideration to be closed in June is Villa Park Elementary; other recommendations before the school board call for closing Villa Park High School by 1988.

Meeting With Council

The threat of closures triggered a gathering of 600 Villa Park residents Wednesday night at a City Council meeting. Residents noted that only Serrano Elementary would remain open in Villa Park if the school board closed the other two schools.

Silzel, in an interview Friday, said, “As a city, we can’t do anything about this situation, but we can present several alternatives to the (Orange Unified) Board of Education, and we plan to do that.” He said the city council will meet next week to draft a letter offering several recommendations to the school board.

A prime recommendation, Silzel said, will be for the school board to delay a scheduled vote on March 21 to close schools.

“We may be able to find other ways to solve the problem” said Silzel. “At our council meeting this week, one of the citizens’ recommendations was for a self-insurance program for the school district that might save it a half-million dollars a year.”

The mayor also noted that Villa Park businessman David Parker presented several proposals at the Wednesday night meeting on how the school board might save money, other than by closing schools. One of Park’s recommendations was that a citizens’ advisory committee be named to find financial solutions.

At the general meeting Wednesday night, Silzel confirmed that secession from the Orange Unified district is one idea being considered by some residents. He acknowledged that it would be very difficult for Villa Park to secede, however, since state law on splitting a school district requires a long, complex procedure that includes a referendum in all parts of the district.)

Yorba Linda Case

Yorba Linda, for instance, has tried unsuccessfully for more than 10 years to secede from the Fullerton Joint Union High School District. Yorba Linda now is trying to bypass the district-splitting procedure through a special bill soon to be introduced in the Legislature.

School-closing disputes triggered a recall drive against the Fountain Valley School Board in 1983. The effort did gather enough voter signatures to force an election, but the board’s removal was overwhelmingly defeated at the polls.

Silzel said he thinks the school board’s greatest concern with Villa Park is that many families will send their children to private schools if the Villa Park elementary and high schools are closed. The mayor said that many Villa Park parents are seriously considering private schools, and added, “the school board would lose everything it could save by closing one of our schools if only 50 of our students went to private schools.”

State law allots funds to the school districts by a formula that is based on daily attendance at each public school. Loss of students results in loss of that state aid, Silzel noted.