Senate OKs Free-Flow Plan for L.A. Community Colleges

Community college students from Los Angeles could freely attend schools in other districts under a bill approved on a 22-10 vote by the state Senate on Thursday and sent to the Assembly.

Under the measure, for example, the Los Angeles Community College District could not bar its students from attending schools in other districts, such as Santa Monica, El Camino or Compton.

The bill, carried by Sen. Robert G. Beverly (R-Manhattan Beach) at the request of El Camino College, was passed despite objections that the state’s urban community colleges would be hurt. The measure faces an uncertain fate in the Assembly, where the chairwoman of the Education Committee, Teresa P. Hughes (D-Los Angeles) opposes the free-flow concept.

The dispute over the free flow of students began last year after Los Angeles community college officials determined that 25,000 of their students were crossing district boundaries to attend outlying colleges, while only 6,000 suburban students were coming back into Los Angeles community colleges.

Faced with the continuing loss of students--and the state tax dollars that go with them--the Los Angeles district last fall canceled agreements allowing free flow, except with Long Beach and Santa Monica.

(Long Beach has only a few hundred transfer students and Santa Monica is allowed to accept the students from Los Angeles under a state law that expires in July, 1986.)

Beverly explained that he supports “free flow” because “very often a student (in the Los Angeles district) may live closer to El Camino than to any branch of the L.A. community college.”

Beverly went on to say that while in the past local property taxes paid for community college education, responsibility has shifted to the state, which should not be in the position of restricting student attendance at local community colleges.

He noted that no geographical restrictions are imposed on students who attend the state’s four-year colleges and universities.

Another supporter, Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim), asked, “If we really care about students, why prevent them from going to any community college they choose?”

Express Concern

However, other lawmakers, mostly from urban areas, were concerned about the effect of the Beverly bill on districts that might lose students.

Sen. President Pro Tem. David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) said he feared that the proposal would “consign urban community colleges to be parking lots for the poor.”

Sen. Ralph C. Dills (D-Gardena) said that if Beverly’s bill becomes law it will spark “free flight instead of free flow” with students leaving inner-city schools.

He also said it would create “unbelievable hardships” for urban districts.

Dills asked, “How can you (the districts) plan a budget, how can you plan how many teachers you’ll be needing?”