Wrong Cause, Timing for School District : * Costly Legal Work on Athletics Is Inappropriate When Education Is Suffering

At a time when thousands rallied last week to protest education cuts, and when hundreds of teachers are scheduled to lose their positions in Orange County, every education dollar counts.

Faced with the need to cut $2.9 million from its $100-million budget for the next school year, the Saddleback Valley Unified District is dismantling remedial reading courses and slashing science and music instruction for grade-schoolers. Meanwhile, the district’s superintendent, Peter Hartman, is leading the charge against a decision by the Southern Section of the California Interscholastic Federation that would allow Catholic high schools to play in three public school leagues. And who is doing the legal work for the appeal by Saddleback and other Orange County high school districts? The tony Newport Beach law firm of Rutan & Tucker, whose lawyers don’t come cheap. One wonders how many of the 82 teachers laid off by Saddleback could be retained on a law firm’s tab for a questionable legal effort.

When four Catholic high schools in Orange County--Servite, Mater Dei, Santa Margarita and Rosary--asked to be included in local leagues because rising transportation costs were draining their budgets, the Southern Section said fine. The new leagues are set to go into operation in the releaguing cycle for 1992-94. Fearing the worst, Saddleback Valley Unified and seven other school districts have objected to the Southern Section ruling. Their appeal was heard Friday by a three-member panel of the CIF, which will announce a ruling on the Southern Section’s decision this week. The matter could be headed for court and more legal expenses.

Saddleback and the other school districts are upset about the Southern Section’s ruling because they say parochial and public schools don’t operate on level ground. Catholic schools draw their students from wide geographic areas, while public schools have strict boundaries, and parochial schools can set their own tuitions. But many leagues--in San Diego, other areas of California and across the nation--successfully mix parochial and public schools in league play.

There is no reason why that can’t be so in Orange County, as long as everybody abides by the rules.

Dragging this matter through the legal system is costly and ill-timed. It’s an unnecessary financial expense as well for the CIF, which is supported by dues paid by districts statewide. The matter should be dropped, and the Southern Section’s ruling should be allowed to stand.