LOCAL ELECTIONS : Carson Vote May Aid School District Split

Top proponents of breaking up the Los Angeles Unified School District said Wednesday that their movement will be bolstered by an overwhelming advisory vote in the city of Carson to secede from the giant district.

By a 2-1 margin, Carson voters Tuesday approved an advisory measure calling for officials to begin a long and complex process to form their own city school system.

State Sen. David A. Roberti (D-Van Nuys), whose bill to break up the 640,000-student Los Angeles district into about seven units is headed for a Senate debate, said the Carson vote provides the first significant glimpse of voter sentiment on the breakup.

“The overwhelming vote in this ethnically diverse community is further proof that people want smaller, more accountable school districts,” Roberti said through a spokesman. “Carson may be the first brick to pull out of the LAUSD Berlin Wall.”

The Carson movement is rooted in a longstanding desire among many residents to have a stronger voice in shaping the identity of their schools and addressing such problems as faltering academic achievement and poor school maintenance. The sprawling district serves eight cities outside Los Angeles, including Carson, Gardena and Huntington Park.

The Los Angeles County Board of Education and the State Board of Education must approve the new district before the question is put before voters. Since Los Angeles Unified was formed in 1961, no city has seceded from it.

Carson Mayor Michael I. Mitoma, who initiated the advisory measure, said he intends to use the results to persuade public officials that people want to break away from the Los Angeles school system.

“This tells me that people in our city are very disappointed with the quality of education being delivered to children and we want the power to improve the situation,” Mitoma said. “This is a very clear directive from the electorate.”

Bob Scott, president of the San Fernando Valley United Chambers of Commerce and a backer of the district breakup effort, said the Carson vote drives home the point that feelings of disenfranchisement by the huge school district are not limited to Valley residents.

“The Valley is being bashed as the troublemaker, but this shows there is strong sentiment south of Mulholland Drive and that a great number of pockets of people are interested in getting local control,” Scott said.

The debate over the Carson measure was not marked by the racial animosity that Roberti’s bill has sparked. Numerous black and Latino groups in the Los Angeles district are fighting the Roberti bill, contending that it will create racially isolated school systems.

Supporters of a Carson district argued that through a small city school district--which would include 16 campuses, including one high school, and about 16,000 students--residents would be able to elect a more responsive school board.

“People don’t feel there has been any accountability to the residents of this city,” said Carolyn Harris, a secession leader. “We have been ignored by Los Angeles. Our schools are in disrepair, the paint is peeling, the asphalt needs resurfacing.”

Harris said that she and others are not convinced that Roberti’s bill will serve their interests or give them enough representation on the commission that the measure would create to devise a breakup plan.

Opponents of a Carson split argued that it addresses political but not educational issues.

“The fact is, even is we do get our own district, we will still have the same” labor and financial problems, said Roye Love, a Carson school activist.

School board member Warren Furutani, who represents Carson, said he would not object to a city decision to apply for secession. “A separate city breaking away from Los Angeles is different than breaking up the Los Angeles school district,” Furutani said.

It takes about two years to gain approvals to form a new school district. Carson leaders must either garner 25% of voters’ signatures or approval from the Los Angeles and Compton school boards. Carson is also served by one Compton public school.