Leaving School District May Be Left to Voters : Education: Residents want their children moved from L.A. system to Culver City. No opposition has surfaced, but an election seems likely anyway.

A bid by Fox Hills residents to break away from the Los Angeles Unified School District and join Culver City schools will probably be decided in the voting booth.

Fox Hills is part of Culver City, but was left out of the Culver City Unified School District when boundaries were drawn decades ago, in part because no one lived there then.

Today, Fox Hills sends about 250 children to Los Angeles schools, primarily to three schools in Westchester--Cowan Elementary, Orville Wright Junior High and Westchester High. Fox Hills parents say they strongly prefer to send their children to Culver City schools.

Parent Janey Campbell sends her son to a Culver City school with a transfer permit that must be renewed each year.

“Culver City is a small town,” she said. “Everybody knows each other. We had the feeling of being left out. . . . We know nobody in Westchester in terms of children.”

Campbell said she and other parents who have spoken about the proposed secession to Fox Hills community groups have found eager support and no opposition.

The Culver City school board has already expressed willingness to accept Fox Hills children. Now, it is up to the Los Angeles school board, which is scheduled to discuss the transfer Monday.

Los Angeles school board member Mark Slavkin, whose district contains the schools that would lose students to Culver City, says he will support the Fox Hills movement, barring the emergence of an opposition group. He said his concerns that the transfer would throw off the racial balance of Los Angeles schools were allayed by district reports that the Fox Hills area is 78% minority--not significantly different from the overall percentage for Los Angeles schools.

But instead of approving the transfer outright, Slavkin predicted that board members will vote to have the matter decided in an election.

“It allows you to hear from every participating voter rather than a handful of people who are active on this single issue,” he said.

Also, it is good policy to require an election each time a community wants to break away instead of applying abstract criteria about why an election should or should not be held, he said.

The board may vote on the matter in two weeks. It would take four of seven board members to endorse the transfer. Then it would be up to Fox Hills residents to put together a petition with signatures from 75% of registered voters in the area.

The Los Angeles County Committee on School District Reorganization would decide whether to hold an election, and where to draw the boundaries of the election. Areas most likely to be included would be Westchester, Fox Hills and Culver City.

Campbell said the Los Angeles board should simply approve the transfer. Calling an election would waste money and be “very irresponsible at this time of fiscal crisis,” she said.

Culver City schools appear to be able to accommodate the Fox Hills children without great inconvenience. Supt. Curtis Rethmeyer said that there is room for additional students at Culver City High School, and the school district already plans to reopen nearby El Marino Elementary School in 1994.

The Los Angeles school board will discuss the transfer at 1 p.m. Monday. Speakers will be able to address the board during a session that starts about 5 p.m. People wishing to speak must call (213) 625-6273 by 10 a.m. Monday to get on a list, which is limited to 15 speakers. The meeting will be held at the s chool district headquarters, 450 N. Grand Ave., Building H, Room 160.