In Search of a More Upscale School District : Education: Sierra Madre parents want to secede from the Pasadena district to send their children to more affluent Arcadia. An opposing group says the motivation is racial.

Should students be allowed to transfer from a poorer school district to a more affluent one?

This controversial question is being debated in the San Gabriel Valley, where a group of parents from Sierra Madre are pushing a proposal to switch youngsters out of the Pasadena Unified School District and join the more upscale Arcadia Unified School District.

About 450 residents attended the first of two public hearings on the issue Thursday before the Los Angeles County Committee on School District Reorganization.

The dispute, marked by charges of racism, carries important financial stakes for the 22,000-student Pasadena district, which receives state money based on the number of students it enrolls.

A group called Sierra Madre Parents for a Better Education wants its local elementary school, the Sierra Madre Elementary School, to secede from the Pasadena district and join the Arcadia district. Junior and senior high students attending Pasadena schools also would transfer to Arcadia.

Those in solidly middle-class Sierra Madre who favor the plan say they have more in common with Arcadia, their affluent neighbor to the south. The parents say the Pasadena district has growing problems of drugs, gangs and violence, and that its students score in the bottom third on state standardized reading and math tests.

Marc McMillan, whose three sons are enrolled in Pasadena schools, said Thursday he wants to spare his sons the poor education he believes they are receiving.

“I want better for my children than what I had. I want them to receive a solid foundation for college,” he said. “I have tried everything . . . short of moving my entire family. Nothing has worked. Now I support the only option I seem to have left. Let our children go.”

But Pasadena district officials, and a group that opposes secession called All Children Count, said the Sierra Madre parents’ fears are exaggerated and that the issue boils down to one of race.

About 90% of Pasadena Unified’s students are from ethnic minorities. Anglos and Asians together make up a majority of students in Arcadia. Most of the Sierra Madre students are Anglo.

George Van Alstine a Pasadena minister and community leader told the committee that secession would hurt efforts to ease racial tensions in Pasadena schools. “We feel it impacts the kind of progress we’ve made in Pasadena,” he said. “The issue of race is there.”

The state Department of Education is not expected to rule on the issue until the fall of 1990. A spokeswoman said it is not uncommon for groups to attempt to leave one district and join another.

“It’s classic,” said Susie Lange, public relations director for the department. “It’s not uncommon for rich people to look at the neighborhood and say, ‘I don’t want to send my kids to the school there.’ But if the impact is to further segregate one district at the expense of another, it will be denied.”

Sierra Madre Parents for a Better Education denied the allegation of racism and said they merely want what’s best for their children.

But Pasadena, which doesn’t want any more defections, has authorized $25,000 for an attorney to oppose the secession effort. A spokesman says the loss of Sierra Madre would lower the district’s Anglo population by up to 30% in some schools and require significant redistricting to comply with federally mandated integration levels.

Another concern is that Pasadena Unified would lose $1.8 million in state funds it receives based on the number of students enrolled. The loss would hurt existing school programs, said Bill Bibbiani, senior research analyst with Pasadena Unified.

Arcadia so far has remained neutral on the issue. But it says that its 7,500-student school district could absorb the students.

One variable is how many Sierra Madre students who attend private schools might cross over into Arcadia public schools if the redistricting drive is successful. Those favoring secession say there are 1,900 school-age children in Sierra Madre and that 1,200, including about 600 children in private schools, might move over into Arcadia.

But Arcadia officials are skeptical of that figure and say they need more information before deciding whether to support the secession.

School officials say that even if the secession drive is successful, there won’t be any changes until July, 1991.

Thursday’s hearing, organized by the Los Angeles Committee on School District Reorganization, is one of two state-mandated meetings to gather public comments.

The next is scheduled for Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. in Arcadia, after which the county board has 90 days to make a recommendation to the state Board of Education. The state will probably take another three or four months to rule. If it finds in favor of redistricting, the issue will then go before voters, with election boundaries to be set by the state.