PLACENTIA : Bill Rekindles Fight Over School Choice

More than 700 Yorba Linda students who are bused to Troy High School in Fullerton could have the option of attending a high school in their own district if an eleventh-hour amendment to a school-choice bill is passed before the Legislature adjourns Friday.

The amended bill has rekindled a longstanding controversy over where students from western Yorba Linda may go to public school once they reach the ninth grade. For years, the students have been bused to Troy, even though Placentia high schools are closer and Troy is outside Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District boundaries.

State Sen. John R. Lewis (R-Orange) amended language in the bill Monday to enable the Yorba Linda students to choose a high school within the Placentia-Yorba Linda district or stay at Troy, which is in the Fullerton Joint Union High School District.

“We’re not talking about making the kids go to our district,” Placentia-Yorba Linda Supt. James O. Fleming said. “We’re just talking about letting them have a choice. . . . Now they’re bused 8 or 9 miles away. They could probably walk to any three of our high schools.”

For years, students in the Yorba Linda School District finished eighth grade, then went on to the Fullerton district. Parents tried unsuccessfully to get a high school built in Yorba Linda, but Fullerton school officials argued that the population would not support it.

When that effort failed, Yorba Linda fought to secede and form its own high school district. But that effort was halted by court order after Fullerton school officials said they would be forced to close at least one high school if Yorba Linda students were withdrawn.

A settlement over western Yorba Linda students was a key point in the passage of a 1988 law that merged the Yorba Linda School District with the Placentia Unified School District. The Fullerton district agreed not to oppose the merger as long as the Yorba Linda students of high school age continued to attend Troy.

Fullerton school officials have long argued that without the additional students, they could be forced to close one of six high schools in their district. This year, 711 Yorba Linda residents, or about half of the school’s population, are attending Troy, said Supt. J. Kenneth Jones of the Fullerton Joint Union High School District.

The district would lose about $3 million in state and federal money, which is based on average daily attendance, if all of the Yorba Linda students transfer out, he said.

An aide to Assemblywoman Doris Allen (R-Cypress), who introduced the bill in January, said she opposes Lewis’ amendment. Her original bill, a more restrictive version of failed “school-choice” legislative bids considered previously this year, proposes allowing students to attend schools in the district where their parents work, rather than only where they live.

Fullerton school officials have been fighting the amendment through lobbyists, parent-teacher associations and unions representing teachers and classified workers.

“I object most of all to the way the amendment was introduced, at the eleventh hour of the Legislature,” Jones said. “It really avoids a process where we can have the input and public hearing this deserves. This is not following the normal legislative process.”

If it passes, the amended bill will go back to the Assembly.