Magnet School Transit May Require Overhaul : Education: Some fear busing changes could make it harder for students to attend classes far from home.

The large-scale expansion of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s magnet school program will require some parents to take their children to bus stops farther from their homes as officials reduce bus service to help pay for additional magnet campuses.

In the wake of a Board of Education decision late Monday to open 24 magnets--10 of them in the San Fernando Valley--district officials said they will have to overhaul the massive transportation program for the 37,000 magnet students. The magnet program costs about $376 million, $44 million of which is spent on busing.

Some parents and magnet school officials said they are concerned that the busing changes could make it more difficult for students to attend school far from their homes and that some students could drop out of the program.

The magnet program guarantees bus service to students who do not live in the school’s attendance area. About 29,000 magnet students are bused--often from one end of the sprawling district to the other--to attend the schools of their choice.

But district officials said the busing service has become too costly and would have prevented the magnet school expansion. By adding 24 new magnets, the district has created 8,000 new classroom seats. Changing bus service could save the district $2 million.

“We’d rather put the money in instruction than transportation,” said Richard Battaglia, the district’s magnet specialist. “It will affect all parts of the city and it will hit everyone equally.”

Added Assistant Supt. Ted Alexander, who oversees the district’s integration program: “Parents will have to get more involved in getting their children to school. It’s something we just couldn’t afford anymore.”

While district officials said they still are examining bus routes, they said there will be fewer pickup points and more students at each bus stop. Transportation times will not be extended, however, because bus drivers will use more main thoroughfares and fewer smaller, residential streets.

Currently, some students are picked up and dropped off in their neighborhoods and others must get to their local elementary, middle or high school to catch the bus to the magnets.

School board member Julie Korenstein, whose district has the highest number of magnet students, said she would prefer to maintain the current bus routes. But she said the reason is purely financial.

“I’d rather keep the transportation the way it is and expand the program, but we don’t have that option,” Korenstein said. “The money is finite.”

Some parents and magnet school principals say they are worried that it could become too difficult for some students to get to school, especially if they are in the younger grades and must walk to bus stops.

“If the bus stops are any farther, it could be too hard to juggle getting my kids to the bus stops and getting to work,” said Jeanne Guzman, a Sylmar parent who has four children at three magnets, Sepulveda, Nobel and Monlux. “If they change them (the bus stops), I might have to put my kids in the local schools and I wouldn’t be happy.”

Anita Bostwick, who lives in South-Central Los Angeles and whose son attends Monlux Fundamental Center in North Hollywood, said her son already walks about 13 blocks to the bus stop. “I definitely have problems with the distance,” she said.

Some magnet principals and coordinators say parents typically appreciate the convenience of the magnet busing service. Most home-to-school busing ended in the Los Angeles school district, and the only busing provided is to relieve overcrowding or for voluntary reasons.

“It really isn’t fair if they make a lot of changes,” said Diane Seligson, the magnet coordinator at Monlux, which will become a math, science and technology center next fall. “It could be very difficult for parents.”

Larry Rubin, principal at the Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies, which has 1,769 students and uses 38 buses, said he is concerned that parents might decide to leave the magnet program. “When you put roadblocks in their way, it’s always easier for people to just say ‘forget it,’ ” Rubin said. “You always run that risk. But it’s going to save millions of dollars.”

Still other magnet principals said the demand is so high that even longer bus rides wouldn’t deter parents.

“Some of these people would drive 10 miles each way to the bus stop to get their children here,” said Joyce King, the magnet coordinator at the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies.

“We have 2,000 people on the waiting list. They’ll find a way here.”