Bill to Aid Signature Drive for School Breakup Vote Is Defeated : Legislation: Assembly falls short of needed majority to allow backers of district split to gather fewer names.

A bill that would have paved the way for splitting up the massive Los Angeles Unified School District was defeated Thursday in the Assembly, severely diminishing the chances that the school breakup movement will make any headway in the Capitol this year.

Legislation by Assemblywoman Paula L. Boland (R-Granada Hills) would have reduced the number of signatures required to put the question of splitting up the 640,000-student district before voters.

State law requires that to place a school breakup question on a ballot, 25% of the registered voters in the district must sign a petition. Boland’s bill would have reduced that to 10%, making it easier for breakup proponents to reach that goal.

Boland passionately urged her colleagues to go along with her, saying, “This bill does not break up the Los Angeles Unified School District. It only lets the parents gather signatures to put it on the ballot. This is strictly democracy.”

Speaking against the bill, Assemblywoman Marguerite Archie-Hudson (D-Los Angeles) said: “Those of you who think that breaking up the Los Angeles school district will do something for the poor, you are sadly mistaken. This is a false signal again.”

Afterward, Boland vowed to continue championing the cause for San Fernando Valley parents who want to secede from the district because they believe that it is too large to operate effectively.

Boland said the Assembly’s vote “just kills the bill. . . . But I’m going to plow ahead with this issue. I refuse to give up, and I’m not going to let the parents down.”

Boland’s bill needed 41 votes to pass, but gathered 35 in support. Thirty-three were opposed. Although technically the bill could be resurrected in a conference committee, observers said the outcome would be the same if it returned to the Assembly floor.

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown long ago announced his opposition to the breakup, saying he fears that the plan might lead to segregation and fewer educational opportunities for minority students.

As prospects appeared dim for the bill’s passage, Boland blamed Democratic members of the Valley delegation for bowing to Assembly leaders’ desire to defeat the bill.

“I’m very disappointed that the Democrats who are in favor of the bill not only didn’t speak up for it, but they didn’t deliver any Democratic votes,” she said.

“I don’t know if it’s Willie’s power or (Assemblywoman) Delaine Eastin that wants to kill the bill,” Boland said, noting that the powerful chairwoman of the Assembly Education Committee opposed it.

But Eastin, who was not at Thursday’s vote, said she did not urge other members to vote the bill down.

“To be honest with you, if you check Ms. Boland’s record, she doesn’t get a lot of bills through,” Eastin said. “Until she deals with the issues of education quality in Los Angeles, she’s not going to get the support she needs.”

In fact, prospects look dim for any of the Los Angeles schools breakup bills remaining on the table in Sacramento, said Eastin (D-Fremont), a candidate for state superintendent of public instruction.

“It doesn’t look good, not unless they are in the context of a broader reform plan. The members ought to give LEARN a chance to work,” she said, referring to the education reform effort under way in classrooms.

Nevertheless, Boland said she will push hard for another bill she authored that is similar to the one defeated Thursday. The pending bill reduces petition signature requirements for districts of all sizes, not just those with enrollments of more than 200,000 students, as specified in the one killed Thursday.

Yet another bill--this one by state Sen. David A. Roberti (D-Van Nuys)--has been stalled by the Assembly Education Committee, which voted it down but granted Roberti permission to bring it up again later this year.

Roberti said last week that he had high hopes for Boland’s bill, but he was not giving up on his own. At any rate, he noted, earthquake relief legislation has shot to the top of his priority list, pushing other matters aside for the time being.

Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), who voted in favor of Boland’s bill, said he too was disheartened that it did not pass.

“We’re going to keep trying. It’s a good idea that may take some time,” he said.

As for Boland’s complaint that Assembly Democrats failed to help her carry the ball, Katz said: “I voted for the bill, I talked to other Democrats, I did the best I could. Paula never talked to me about working the bill.”

State Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica), who represents Encino, Sherman Oaks and Woodland Hills and has been a vocal advocate of school district reform, attributed Thursday’s vote to the influence of campaign contributions from the California Teachers Assn., which opposes a breakup.

“I never expected it to pass the Assembly,” Hayden said. “I think the Assembly Democrats have made an unwise decision to go along with the hierarchy of the school district and the CTA, and they need to look at the decentralization issue more carefully.”