Study to Be Sought on Breakup of L.A. School District

State Assemblywoman Marian W. La Follette (R-Northridge) said Friday that she will introduce legislation next week to study the possibility of breaking up the Los Angeles Unified School District, because a majority of registered voters surveyed favor such a plan.

The survey results, La Follette said, proved that there is enough public support for her to move ahead with a bill asking the Legislature to allocate $100,000 for a study of constitutional and economic questions connected with the possible breakup.

According to the poll released by La Follette, more than 50% of a group of voters living within the boundaries of the school district said they were in favor of replacing the giant system with several smaller districts.

La Follette said that if the poll had shown that parents were satisfied with the current structure of the district, she would not have supported a breakup study.

“This is not an issue that has grown out of my own personal desires,” La Follette told a press conference. “This has grown out of the frustration of parents, teachers and even principals in the district.”

The survey showed that 52% of the 400 respondents were in favor, 17% against and 31% unsure about dividing the district.

The Los Angeles school system is the largest school district in California and second largest in the nation, behind New York City. The district covers more than 650 square miles, operates 822 schools and special centers, serves 28 cities and employs about 56,000 workers. Its 1987 budget was $3.2 billion.

Supporters of a breakup said that it could provide opportunities for communities to come up with their own answers to issues such as overcrowding and bilingual education, she said. But opponents of the idea say it would create more problems than it would solve.

‘Blame the Victim’

“Society has changed, and the school districts have not been able to keep up with those changes,” said Jackie Goldberg, a Los Angeles school board member who represents the Hollywood-Wilshire area. “The system is under-funded and for (La Follette) to come up with this when she was part of the machinery that undercut funding is to miss the point and blame the victim.”

La Follette paid $14,000 for the poll, conducted Jan. 19 and 20 by Arnold Steinberg & Associates. Steinberg is a Sherman Oaks political consultant who has worked for many Republican candidates.

The random sample of voters was selected from each of the seven school board districts. About 25% of the respondents had school-age children living with them, while 43% of those questioned were over 65 and unlikely to have children in school.

Slightly more than 60% of those polled were white. Blacks made up 20% and Latinos 10% of the respondents. While this reflects the ethnic makeup of registered voters in the district, it does not reflect the ethnic makeup of students in district schools.

This fall, Latinos made up 57% of the district’s 592,000 students. Whites accounted for 17%, blacks 18% and Asians 6%.