SAN GABRIEL VALLEY : Vote on New School District Tentatively Ruled Invalid

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge Tuesday tentatively ruled invalid a 1992 vote approving the creation of the San Gabriel Unified School District.

Judge Diane L. Wayne tentatively ruled Tuesday that voters in the Alhambra High School District who live in the city of Alhambra should have been allowed to vote along with residents in the city of San Gabriel in the April, 1992, election that pulled San Gabriel out of the district.

“If San Gabriel wants another unification vote, it must include the people in the Alhambra district,” said Mia E. Montpas, an Alhambra schools attorney.

San Gabriel Unified officials dismissed the ruling, saying it was issued before oral arguments and that the judge had promised to re-examine it. The 1,300 San Gabriel high school students still attend school in Alhambra but are scheduled to attend a new school in their hometown in September. The San Gabriel district has 3,500 pupils in kindergarten through the eighth grade.

Wayne tentatively ruled that it was unconstitutional to deny Alhambra voters a say when the secession would have a significant impact on their district’s state revenue.