Wilson Backs School District Breakup Bill : Education: Administration supports legislation that would make it easier to put measure on the ballot by lowering number of signatures needed.

Anticipating a key test in the state Senate next week, the Wilson Administration is poised to throw its support behind a bill easing the way for a breakup of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

But the governor will refrain from taking a stance on the breakup, believing that it is an issue for local voters to decide, said Maureen DiMarco, Wilson’s secretary for child development and education.

The bill, carried by Assemblywoman Paula Boland (R-Granada Hills), would lower the number of petition signatures needed before the breakup could be placed on an election ballot.

The legislation also voids the school board’s veto power over such a proposal, eliminating its ability to quash a breakup effort.

Boland’s bill has advanced through the Assembly, but faces a tough hearing Wednesday in the Senate Education Committee. After clashes during the bill’s first hearing this week, panel members put off further talks and a vote until Wednesday.

DiMarco said she will send a representative to praise the goals of Boland’s bill to committee members.

“The governor supports that there be a more manageable threshold for the people of Los Angeles to decide what they want to do,” DiMarco said. “He hasn’t taken a position on the actual breakup issue--that is for the people to determine what’s best for them.

“At this point, he is basically supporting making that process more workable,” she said.

The bill would lower the threshold of signatures needed to put the issue before voters. Now, signatures must be gathered from 25% of registered voters in a territory seeking to split off from a district. The Assembly measure would reduce that number to 8% of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election from the same area.

Estimates of the numbers of needed signatures would vary from territory to territory, but local education activists say the lower percentage is significantly easier to achieve.

In an attempt to bridge differences among the Senate panelists, some senators floated a compromise proposal: Requiring signatures from 10% of the registered voters in the entire district.

But that plan was quickly rejected when Boland’s supporters realized that it would mean gathering well over 100,000 signatures, an obstacle viewed as insurmountable for a grass-roots effort.

In recent years, parents who are disgruntled with the quality of education have intensified their campaign to split off from the mammoth, 708-square-mile Los Angeles district and create smaller districts that could be more responsive to community needs.

School district lobbyist Ron Prescott said the district opposes such efforts and told senators that Boland’s bill represents an unfair attempt to single out the district. School district officials are attempting to amend the bill so that it applies to all state districts.

“We can’t kill that bill, we know it,” Prescott said. “We are trying to get legislation passed that makes sense and gives the community what it seeks.”

Support for the measure has split primarily along party lines, with Republicans siding with Boland and most Democrats aligning themselves with teachers’ unions against the bill. A notable exception is state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica), who has a companion measure ensuring racial and funding equities if Boland’s bill becomes law.

Wilson’s support was not unexpected, given that he needs to reach out to Republican constituents while running for President.

But Boland said it came as welcome news. “I was really a little surprised that it came that soon,” she said, noting that the bill may not yet be in its final form. “I’m certainly hopeful that it’ll be a boost.”

Craft reported from Sacramento and Shuster from Los Angeles.