Surprise Enrollment Rise Renews Debate on School Closures : Education: Expecting a drop of 370 students, Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified Schools actually added 26. But officials say consolidation plans will proceed.

After plummeting for two decades, enrollment in Palos Verdes Peninsula schools rose slightly this fall, although district officials say the increase is not enough to forestall closures of under-used campuses.

The increase of at least 26 students over last year’s figures was particularly surprising because the district’s demographer, D. G. King Associates, had predicted in April that enrollment would drop by 370 students this fall.

To handle the difference, the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District hired two additional teachers and said more may be hired as the year progresses. District enrollment stood at 8,965 last week, compared to the 1989 year-end figure of 8,939. Based on previous years, the current enrollment is expected to go up slightly as the 1990-91 academic year progresses, district administrators said.

Administrators and school board members said they are delighted with the extra $3,000 per student in state funds that the enrollment increase will bring to the financially strapped schools. However, they said consolidation of school campuses is still a necessity because all the district’s school sites are under-utilized, except Ridgecrest Intermediate in Rancho Palos Verdes, which is near capacity.

The district’s intermediate schools gained 131 students this year, elementary schools gained 13 and the high schools lost 118. At Miraleste High School, which the board has proposed closing, enrollment of seventh- and eighth-graders rose from 200 to 246, although high school enrollment dropped by 42 students, from 608 to 566.

Board President Jack Bagdasar called the overall enrollment increase minuscule and said some form of consolidation will “absolutely” take place.

Board member Jeffrey Younggren called the increase “not enough of a trend to make sweeping statements about the future of this district.

“I don’t think it signifies a tremendous influx of students,” Younggren said. “I don’t think this kind of a rise indicates we can avoid consolidation. Fifty more kids or 100 more kids is not going to make a difference. We need 4,000 more kids.”

Enrollment in Palos Verdes schools has fallen steadily since it peaked in 1973 with 17,800 students. In recent years, five elementary and two intermediate schools have been shut, leaving 13 campuses. Since the late 1970s, the district has sold seven undeveloped school sites and leased three closed schools.

The job of balancing the district’s budget has also become increasingly difficult as state funding based on enrollment has declined. The board cut close to $3 million from its budget this year and dipped into the district’s reserve funds.

“We’re hoping that the decline has turned around,” said Supt. Michael W. Caston. “That would be the best thing to happen.”

Caston said board members would have to review consolidation options if the enrollment increase “becomes a trend and is not just a one-time glitch.”

Parents opposed to consolidation argue that the increase shows the district has been exaggerating its predictions of future enrollment losses to support its decision to close Miraleste. They see the increase as a signal that district enrollment has reached its nadir and is finally on the rebound.

“You don’t want to be closing school sites when enrollment is increasing,” said Nancy Bolton, a parent who opposes the closing of Miraleste. “I would hope that the board would view this as a turnaround in the whole situation. I would think that this would be a cause for celebration for everyone.”

Battle lines have been drawn in the district for the past three years over the proposed closing of Miraleste in Rancho Palos Verdes, on the east side of the peninsula. A group of east side parents, who formed the East Peninsula Education Council, filed a lawsuit against the district to stop the closure. A Los Angeles judge ordered the district in 1988 to produce an environmental impact report on the Miraleste closing and any other proposed school closures.

Critics say the report, which was made public in June, fails to adequately analyze the potential environmental and other disruptions that could result from closing the only high school on the peninsula’s east side. Public hearings on the report are to be scheduled later this fall.

Last fall, parents also sought to form a new school district on the east side of the peninsula to maintain kindergarten-through-high school education there. But state officials denied their request for an election.

Despite assertions by board members that school closures are inevitable, east side parents have argued that cutting administrative ranks would save the district more money and that the closing of public schools only drives more students to private schools.

District officials said they do not know what caused this year’s enrollment increase. However, Nancy Mahr, a district spokeswoman, noted that Le Lycee Francais de Los Angeles, a bilingual private school in Torrance, closed in June and some of its 100 students may have enrolled in the district.

In addition, she said tuition at area private schools increased this fall, possibly prompting some parents to enroll their children in the public schools.

At Chadwick School, where tuition ranges from $7,380 for kindergarten through sixth grade to $8,670 for high school, a few students transferred to Palos Verdes public schools, but no more than usual, said Director David Harman. He said Chadwick, despite its tuition increase, has a record enrollment of 718 students this fall and continues to maintain a waiting list.

District officials also said the enrollment increase may be the result of a recent decline in real estate prices throughout Southern California, widely perceived as creating a so-called buyer’s market. Bagdasar speculated that more families with children may be moving into the district.