Bill May Force ABC Board to Hold Elections by District : Education: The legislation specifically cites ABC, offending officials. It says the board hasn’t adequately represented minorities.

The Legislature has passed a bill that would force new board elections in the ABC Unified School District on the grounds that the school system neglects minority students from outside Cerritos.

The bill, if signed by the governor, would require ABC to divide into electoral districts by January, 1992, and elect board members by district rather than at large. The switch would virtually guarantee the election of more board members from outside Cerritos.

Six of seven board members currently reside in Cerritos, which also has the largest population and the most school-age students of the eight cities served by ABC. The district covers all of Artesia and Hawaiian Gardens, nearly all of Cerritos and parts of Norwalk, Lakewood, Santa Fe Springs, Long Beach and La Palma.

The bill, authored by Assemblyman Pete Chacon (D-San Diego), would require district elections in school systems with at least 24,000 students and a school population that is at least 25% minority. Eight school systems meet those conditions, including nearby Montebello Unified, Hacienda La Puente Unified in the east San Gabriel Valley and Garden Grove Unified and Orange Unified in Orange County.

ABC was added by name because the district has 21,000 students--3,000 below the minimum enrollment established in the bill. The references to ABC are not flattering.

At-large elections in the ABC district have “resulted in a lack of representation on the board of residents in certain parts of the district and of residents who are members of ethnic minorities,” the bill reads. “As a result of that lack of representation, the district has not accorded appropriate attention to the educational needs of all pupils in the district.”

In at-large school elections, voters can cast ballots for all board seats on the ballot, regardless of where they live. The legislation would allow a voter to choose only from candidates who live in that voter’s district. The bill does not specify how the districts would be created.

The references to ABC so angered school district officials that the board voted 4 to 2 last week to oppose the legislation. “This is a real slap at the employees of the district and the board,” said board member Dixie Primosch, who voted to oppose the bill.

Board member Catherine Grant called the bill “false and libelous.”

Chacon amended the bill on Aug. 29 to include ABC at the request of officials from Artesia, Norwalk and Hawaiian Gardens, legislative consultant Jon Ballesteros said.

Hawaiian Gardens City Council member Domenic Ruggeri was among the lobbyists. “Having no representation on the board since its inception is the real issue,” Ruggeri told ABC board members at last week’s meeting. “Having one of the largest Hispanic minorities in the district is the issue. Having a seven-member district board . . . which is composed of six of seven members from the same city is a real major issue.”

Even though Hawaiian Gardens has not been represented on the board, past board members have included blacks, Asians and Latinos. The current board has one Asian and one Latino member. All live in Cerritos except Dean Criss, a resident of Artesia.

The Hawaiian Gardens contingent cites high dropout rates and low achievement test scores as examples of how students, particularly Latinos, from the city are being neglected. At Artesia High, which serves Hawaiian Gardens, the dropout rate is 5 percentage points higher than the rate for the district as a whole, according to ABC statistics.

The results of achievement tests do not show as clear a difference. On average, Cerritos High students scored higher than Artesia High students on the most recent California Assessment Program tests.

But there is another way of looking at the statistics. The scores also include breakdowns of student performance adjusted for social and economic background. In many categories, the scores of Artesia High students compared favorably with students from similar backgrounds in other parts of the state.

At the elementary level, sixth-graders at Furgeson Elementary in Hawaiian Gardens performed well below state and district averages in all subject areas last year. The tests were given in English and many Furgeson students have a limited ability to speak English.

“My feeling is that the school district has put most of its efforts into gifted children,” Hawaiian Gardens Councilwoman Kathleen Navejas said. “The attitude is that . . . Hispanic or minority (students) will be below average. But if it’s not expected for them to do well, the students won’t try hard.

“Remember that movie, ‘Stand and Deliver?’ If you believe students can’t do anything, they can’t.”

ABC Supt. Larry L. Lucas said the district policies did not create the higher dropout rates and lower achievement test scores in Hawaiian Gardens. He said that students from similar social and economic backgrounds performed similarly regardless of where they lived within ABC boundaries.

“I feel we should be doing a better job,” Lucas said, “but it is not a Hawaiian Gardens issue, it is a district issue.”

Lucas said many families in Hawaiian Gardens move frequently, “so unfortunately we are not able to keep these kids for a number of years. We need to continue to raise expectations for these kids, and we need to find ways to get the parents more involved.”

ABC budgets the same amount of money for all its students, Lucas said, but Furgeson Elementary actually receives more per student because more Hawaiian Gardens students are eligible for grant programs.

Navejas also expressed concern over cuts in district nursing services, closure of the Artesia High pool, reductions in industrial arts programs at Artesia High and crowded conditions at Furgeson, ABC’s largest elementary school, where two portable classrooms were added this year.

Lucas said budget problems forced officials to reduce nursing services throughout the district, but that schools in Hawaiian Gardens still receive more medical assistance than other schools in the district.

He said the Artesia High pool was closed because of a filter problem, and that the high school’s industrial arts programs were reduced because fewer students were taking the classes.

At Furgeson, class sizes are the same as at other schools in the district, he said.

Lucas said he would not take a position either for or against election districts. He added that district officials were uncertain how these electoral districts would be formed should they become mandated.

Board member Grant said she worries that electing board members by district would create board fiefdoms in which members would take care of their areas, but lose sight of larger needs.

The teachers union supports the idea of election districts, but is against the legislation, Assembly Bill 1002, because it specifically finds fault with ABC, said Richard Hathaway, president of the ABC Federation of Teachers. Hathaway said he interprets the bill’s language as an indirect criticism of district teachers.

Board President Robert Hughlett opposes the bill, arguing that school board members or school district voters should decide whether members should be elected by district.

The Legislature also passed a bill recently that would allow for a local referendum on the issue if 5% of an area’s registered voters signed petitions favoring such a ballot measure. The legislation, Assembly Bill 1107, also was sponsored by Chacon.

ABC board member Sally Morales Havice said she is ready to lend her support to the idea of electing the board by districts. “It will become a reality,” she said. It’s just a matter of time.”

Comparison of Population Figures

Some officials from Artesia, Hawaiian Gardens and Norwalk have complained that Cerritos residents have dominated the board of the ABC Unified School District. They say that ABC’s minority children, primarily Latinos, from cities other than Cerritos have suffered as a result. Six of the seven current board members live in Cerritos. Following is a population and ethnic comparison of Cerritos to Artesia and Hawaiian Gardens. *

1990 Registered Number of City Population Voters Children Artesia 15,464 5,125 4,333 Cerritos 53,240 24,720 14,761 Hawaiian Gardens 13,639 3,396 4,836

Ethnicity by Percentages

% % % % American % City Anglo Black Asian Indian Latino Artesia 42 2 15 0 40 Cerritos 36 7 44 0 13 Hawaiian Gardens 20 4 9 0 67

* The district also serves portions of Norwalk, Lakewood, Santa Fe Springs, Long Beach and La Palma.

Source: The Los Angeles County registrar of voters office, ABC Unified School District and the 1990 U.S. Census.