High Desert Districts Look at Secession

A growing number of Antelope Valley elementary school districts, smelling blood in the water as the region’s high school district sinks in a sea of money problems, are looking into the possibility of taking over its role by setting up high schools of their own.

The Palmdale and Lancaster school districts, which together have about 27,000 students from kindergarten through the eighth grade, this week joined the smaller Soledad-Agua Dulce Union School District in pursuing individual district plans to secede from the Antelope Valley Union High School District.

The Palmdale proposal in particular brought an angry retort Wednesday night from high school officials. They accused their Palmdale counterparts of “bashing” the high school district and trying to take advantage of its financial problems, an accusation Palmdale officials denied.

The salvos are the latest round in a fractious dispute over school district turf in the Antelope Valley area, which is served by one district that runs five high schools, and nine districts that operate elementary schools.

The Palmdale, Lancaster and Soledad elementary school districts now believe they are large enough to run their own high schools, their officials say.

If local voters approved the change, it would deprive the present high school district of as many as three high schools, about half its students and a proportionate share of its state funding.

High school board member Charles Whiteside called the rush for unification “a horrible situation,” and said the elementary districts have looked at the high school district’s financial woes and concluded that “now is an ideal time to try to nibble away at the district.”

High school district board President Sophia Waugh agreed. She shot back at Palmdale officials, saying incoming freshmen from the Palmdale elementary schools had the lowest evaluation test scores in the high school district last year.

Palmdale Supt. Forrest McElroy said the high school district’s poor financial condition could actually hinder his district’s bid to grow, because state education officials might insist that Palmdale remain in the high school district to avoid aggravating its financial crisis. But Lancaster Supt. David Alvarez said many people have lost confidence in the high school district and believe others could do better with its schools.

Of the three unification bids, the Soledad-Agua Dulce district’s is the furthest along, with a unification election set for November. The district, which does not have an existing high school within its boundaries, would have to build its own if voters there approve the change.

Officials of the 16-school, 15,500-student Palmdale elementary district are aiming for a late 1993 or 1994 election. They said they would inherit one or two existing high schools and would have to build one or two additional schools. Long-term plans would double the district’s schools to about 33 and raise the enrollment to about 34,000, they estimate.

Officials in the Lancaster elementary district, which has about 12,000 students and 14 schools, would inherit one existing high school and a planned site for another. But Alvarez said his district had no set timeline for proceeding and must first conduct a feasibility study on the proposed unification.