School Breakup Proposal Clears Key Senate Hurdle : Education: Committee approves drastic easing of signature requirement to put issue before L.A. district voters. Opponents of measure vow to continue fight.

Paving the way for a public vote on the breakup of the beleaguered Los Angeles school system, the Senate Education Committee gave key approval Wednesday to legislation easing requirements to get the issue on the ballot.

The vote means that advocates of splitting up the massive, 708-square-mile Los Angeles Unified School District have their first realistic shot in 25 years at getting legislation passed to put their goal within reach.

The bill dramatically slashes, from 386,000 to 72,000, the number of petition signatures required to qualify the issue for the ballot in an election most likely to be held districtwide.

Breakup backers estimate that, at least in the San Fernando Valley, the lower number of signatures is attainable. In addition to the San Fernando Valley, the cities of Carson and Lomita are also seeking to break away.

Since 1970, when then-Gov. Ronald Reagan vetoed the last breakup measure to make it through the Legislature, disgruntled parents have sought autonomy from a district they view as too large to teach their children well.

School district supporters and teachers’ union representatives said they were disappointed by the committee’s 6-2 vote for the bill, pledging to do their best to kill it.

The bill (AB 107) by Assemblywoman Paula Boland (R-Granada Hills), must clear one more Senate committee and win full Senate approval before heading to Gov. Pete Wilson for his signature. Wilson announced his support for the measure last week, and the Assembly approved it earlier this session.

Backers of the bill were cautious in declaring outright victory, but called the Senate Education Committee “a major hurdle” and its “toughest test,” leaving the sense that, from here, the legislative battle was expected to be downhill.

“This is a great breakthrough for the parents and their kids,” said state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica), who as a member of the Education Committee played a crucial role in helping get the bill passed. “It means we’re on the threshold of finding a way to resolve a dispute that has deadlocked people for 20 years.

“And the process is going to be fair to everybody. You don’t notice us today denouncing anybody or perpetuating polarization.”

At a press conference after the committee vote, Boland admitted to an emotional attachment to the bill, which she said grew out of her two-decade involvement with the breakup movement in the San Fernando Valley.

“I’m almost at a speechless state because this is such a historical day,” Boland said. “It’s been a long 20 years that I have heard parents pleading for a way to have more say in their kids’ education.

“Once in a while up here you can really get excited when you realize that bureaucrats and politicians listen to the will of the people.”

Opponents were far less breathless in their assessment of Wednesday’s vote.

State Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles) said that if the San Fernando Valley manages to splinter off from LAUSD into a separate district, the urban areas she represents will be shortchanged under the state school funding formulas.

“Any time an area breaks off, that affects revenue for the whole district, particularly the lowest socioeconomic areas,” Watson said. “I intend to fight this; I intend to bring up these issues.”

Still, Watson, a member of the education panel, was absent from the debate Wednesday, at which committee Chairman Leroy Greene (D-Carmichael) provided a critical swing vote for the Boland bill.

Boland credited support from the governor, who has backed the bill without taking a stand on a breakup, with helping get the measure passed. For five years, she said, she and others have courted Wilson’s backing. “His coming on board was really a turning point,” she said.

But from the perspective of United Teachers-Los Angeles, the teachers union, Wednesday’s vote was a loss for parents pinning their hopes on the measure as a tool for improving the quality of their children’s education.

“This is a disappointment for L.A. residents because they are being led down a path,” said Bill Lambert, the union’s lobbyist. “Somebody has given them false hope to believe, if you have more school districts, you’re going to have better schools. I just don’t think that’s true.”

With 640,000 students, the Los Angeles school system is by far the largest district in the state, and the second biggest in the nation. Despite new classroom programs, student performance has not shown marked improvement and dropout rates remain more than twice the statewide average.

But legal advisers to LAUSD contend the Boland bill is the wrong vehicle for reform. Marcia T. Law, attorney for the district, said the measure could trigger a constitutional challenge because it singles out one school system.

In addition, she said, any change to election and voting rights laws is subject to strict scrutiny by the courts.

Ron Prescott, the district’s main lobbyist, said he will continue to press for amendments expanding the bill to include all districts statewide. Proponents say such a move would effectively kill the bill by mustering up opposition from other school systems.

One component of the bill that was expanded Wednesday to apply statewide is the elimination of school districts’ veto power over breakup proposals. Current provisions giving school systems this power were “archaic” and in need of repeal, said Greene.

As passed, the bill was very close to what Boland sought all along--a reduction in the petition signature threshold from 25% of all registered voters in the district to 8% of the district’s registered voters who cast ballots in the last gubernatorial election.

The lower standard is the same that applies to getting constitutional amendments on a statewide ballot.

In an effort to address concerns that racial imbalances may result from a district reorganization, Boland also followed through Wednesday on her pledge to formally hitch her bill to a companion measure by Hayden. Now, both must pass in order to become law.

The Hayden bill, which cleared the Senate and is in the Assembly, sets breakup guidelines that ensure racial and funding equality for all districts resulting from any reorganization.

NEXT STEP

AB 107, the Los Angeles Unified School District breakup bill approved Wednesday by the Senate Education Committee, now goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee. If approved, the bill by Assemblywoman Paula Boland (R-Granada Hills) then goes to the full Senate, where passage is expected. If the Assembly concurs with any Senate amendments, it heads for the governor’s desk. Gov. Pete Wilson has indicated that he will sign the bill if it reaches him.