State Board May Order Hearings on School Breakup Regulations
The state Board of Education will decide today whether to hold local public hearings on proposed regulations that critics say could stymie efforts to break up the Los Angeles Unified School District.
The proposed regulations, prepared by the state Department of Education, would require strict standards of racial and socioeconomic parity among any new school districts split off from the Los Angeles district. State Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles) sponsored the legislation requiring parity to prevent poor and minority neighborhoods from being abandoned in a district breakup.
On Wednesday, eight speakers addressed the board meeting in Sacramento with contrasting opinions.
Representatives for Los Angeles city schools argued that groups seeking to split from the district should be required to show initially that they can comply with court-ordered standards on integration, special education and school funding.
Members of groups seeking to splinter the 650,000-student school district said the state education board would be harming their efforts if it approves measures that are too restrictive.
The board has already revised some of the proposed regulations, which must be made final before any split of the city school district can proceed.
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