Question of Money: Is District Feasible? : Carson: Voters overwhelmingly say they want to run their own schools. But it’s unclear how much money is really needed--or whether the city can run things better than L.A. Unified.

Now that Carson voters have said they want a separate city school district, the focus will shift to whether the city can afford it, backers of a breakaway district said Wednesday.

Proposition E asked voters in the Tuesday election if the city should withdraw from the Los Angeles and Compton unified districts to form a Carson school system.

Voters said yes, 64% to 36%.

“What it is saying is the people in Carson are not satisfied with the way education is delivered to their children,” said Mayor Michael I. Mitoma, who requested the ballot question.

“I am excited about the results,” said Carolyn Harris, a parent activist and proponent of a new district. “It reaffirms my commitment and re-energizes me.”

The Carson vote was another blow to the Los Angeles and Compton school systems, which have been beleaguered by funding and morale problems. Most of the frustration in Carson stems from the Los Angeles district, which has 17 schools in the city and serves about 15,000 Carson students.

Advocates of a breakaway district contend the Los Angeles system, which has about 600,000 students, is too big. They say the district has been inattentive to their concerns, including inadequately supplied schools and complaints about the distribution of condoms and birth-control measures.

A recent city Human Relations Commission study concluded a Carson system of about 15,000 students would cost $60 million a year, with funding coming mainly from the state and federal governments.

But the report, which did not advocate a position on the issue, lacked a detailed explanation on whether that funding would be enough to actually improve the schools. It also did not fully explain how the funds would distributed or if Carson would be entitled to many of the state or federal programs that Los Angeles Unified receives.

Mitoma said the next step should be the hiring of a financial analyst to more closely examine the funding issues. The City Council plans to discuss the school issue at its meeting Tuesday.

Although the council does not play a formal role in the secession process, it can sponsor studies and forums on the issue, City Atty. Glenn R. Watson said.

The council can take a position on public issues, and indeed often does through resolutions. Under state law, however, the council cannot spend public funds to advocate one side of an issue, Watson said in his analysis of Proposition E.

Still, advocates of a breakaway district said City Council backing coupled with the results of Proposition E would provide a morale boost and send a strong message to Los Angeles and Compton that parents are frustrated.

“This is about disenfranchisement,” said Harris, who has a child bused to Los Angeles Unified’s Banning High School in Wilmington. “A lot of people talk about local control, but . . . I think it’s local accountability.”

She said she would continue to work on building a coalition of parents, teachers and administrators to discuss what form a Carson district would take.

Los Angeles Unified, however, maintains that anticipated reforms due in the district over the next year will address the concerns of parents.

Daniel Lawson, the Los Angeles Unified administrator for the area that includes Carson, noted the low turnout, 20% of the city’s 40,681 voters, and questioned how many of them have students in the district.

Nevertheless, he said he was not surprised at the result of Tuesday’s vote given the shaky “transition state” that the district is passing through.

But he reiterated his doubts that a breakaway district could do any better than Los Angeles Unified.

“I still have the major question of do people in Carson really understand what they are trying to do?” Lawson said Wednesday. “I can understand some issues and concerns they have but the question is, is it going to be any better--and who is going to make it better?”

“It’s like being an assistant principal,” Lawson added. “If you are the assistant principal you have certain responsibilities but you know you have someone in the back to ask questions and get support.

“When you become the principal you are on your own and you have to make the tough decisions. It’s OK for Carson to say we don’t like the Los Angeles district, but when you do it yourself, you are on your own.”