High School District Tells Opposition to Redondo Plan

The South Bay Union High School District has declared its opposition to efforts in Redondo Beach to form a separate unified system within that city’s boundaries for its elementary and high school students.

If those efforts succeed, the high school district will be broken up, causing a disruption in current programs and long-term disadvantages for students, district trustees said in a position paper adopted Wednesday night.

A better option, the paper said, would be to consolidate the elementary city districts in Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach with the high school district, which now serves students in all three cities. The high school trustees have made their views known before, but the adoption of a formal position appeared to signal the beginning of a more determined effort to head off the Redondo Beach plan.

Different Philosophies

“We are prepared to go out into the community and talk about the pitfalls in split unification,” district Supt. Walter W. Hale said Thursday. He said the district will oppose the Redondo Beach plan at county and state feasibility hearings.

Redondo Beach Supt. Nick Parras said: “Obviously, we have different philosophies (on the unification issue). Their position paper will have no effect at all on my board’s position.”

He said Redondo Beach is moving ahead with its plan to unify along city boundaries. A resolution passed by the board earlier this week, he said, calls for immediate steps to prepare a petition that would officially launch the unification effort.

If the effort succeeds, Manhattan Beach would be obliged to form its own separate system. The high school district would then be split between the two new kindergarten through 12th-grade districts.

Hermosa Beach would have the option of joining either of the new districts. But after briefly flirting with the idea of annexing Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach has taken the stand that it wants to stay just like it is now--an independent, one-school district with a current enrollment of about 700 elementary students.

Split Increased Revenue

Manhattan Beach Supt. Douglas Keeler said an annexation would have raised state funding for his district to Hermosa Beach’s higher level and the two districts would have split the increased revenue, with most of it going to Hermosa Beach.

Because it had a higher level of funding for each student when the state took over funding school systems, Hermosa Beach now receives $3,141 annually for each of its students, compared to $2,876 the state provides for each of Manhattan Beach’s elementary students. Under current law, the higher funding level would become the base-revenue rate for the new, larger school district.

However, such benefits from annexation will no longer be available after June 30 as a result of pending legislation, Keeler said. If the districts were to unify after June 30, an average would be worked out to determine the level of state funding. However, Hermosa Beach will keep its higher level of funding if it is not involved in unification.

In an interview Thursday, Hale, the high school superintendent, disputed reports that his board has been pushing for unification.

“The position paper didn’t say it, but my board would be just as happy if we all maintained the status quo,” he said. “But if there is to be unification, we strongly support a plan that would bring all four districts together.”