250 Explore Forming Valley School District : Secession: A county official warns that breaking away from the Los Angeles system would be a long and difficult process.

Energized by a bitter dispute this summer over new school board boundaries, about 250 people attended a meeting in Van Nuys on Thursday to discuss breaking away from the Los Angeles school system to create a separate San Fernando Valley school district.

The crowd packed the Birmingham High School auditorium to learn what options may be available to those advocating secession from the Los Angeles Unified School District. County education authorities outlined the usual administrative process for breaking away, which includes obstacles some proponents believe could be overcome only with the help of special legislation.

“Let me warn you, it is a long, hard process, and that you will encounter a lot of problems because you’re tilting at empires,” said Nancy Jenkins, a member of the Los Angeles County Committee on School District Organization. The committee operates under the auspices of the Los Angeles County Office of Education.

Jenkins told the audience that the committee uses nine criteria to decide whether district restructuring is permissible. Proponents of a split would have to demonstrate an equitable division of property and facilities, a negligible increase in costs to the state and compliance with desegregation laws.

“Wouldn’t it be great if I could wave a magic wand and make it all happen? But that’s wishful thinking,” said Sandra Tays of the 31st District Parent Teacher Student Assn., which sponsored the meeting.

The drive to break up the district, which covers 708 square miles, was revived over the summer following an acrimonious redistricting battle that eliminated one of two school board seats based entirely in the Valley.

Designed to give Latino voters control of a second seat on the seven-member body, the map approved by the Los Angeles City Council in July splits Valley representation among four board members. Opponents of the new boundaries contend that it weakened the Valley’s influence on educational matters because only one of the seven board members now answers solely to Valley voters.

The often-debated idea of creating a separate Valley school district regained momentum alongside an ongoing drive to change the new school board districts through a ballot initiative. Indeed, many of those involved in the remap controversy have also thrown their weight behind the secession movement, including Valley civic and business organizations.

A possible split from the Los Angeles district has been bandied about for 30 years. However, such a secession, if pursued through the established legal route, faces formidable procedural obstacles, such as the need for the Los Angeles school board itself to approve the breakaway.

Only one board member, Julie Korenstein--whose political base is in the Valley--has publicly supported the idea. Korenstein attended Thursday’s meeting.

The county guidelines also include a strict requirement that a Valley split should not “promote racial or ethnic discrimination or segregation.”

Using statistics compiled last fall, a separate Valley school system of about 190,000 students--which would still be the second largest in the state--would have an Anglo enrollment of close to 27%. Supporters of a separate district argue that Valley schools would thus be sufficiently diverse within themselves to integrate their students.

But Anglo enrollment among the 460,000 youngsters remaining in the Los Angeles district would dwindle from 13% to 7.4%. Legal experts familiar with school desegregation cases say the drop would be strong evidence that a Valley secession would promote segregation in the remainder of the Los Angeles district.