Advocates of LAUSD Breakup to Lobby Panel

Advocates of breaking up the Los Angeles Unified School District plan to appear before the California State Board of Education today hoping to forestall adoption of regulations they see as a disguised attempt to keep the district whole.

The state board, the agency which will decide whether any plan to carve up the nation’s second largest school district goes to the voters, is scheduled to consider rules for evaluating how breakup proposals would affect school demographics.

Opponents say the regulations would force any group trying to secede from the district to buttress its application with massive studies beyond the capability of grass-roots organizations.

“The status quo educational establishment was unable to defeat this in the Legislature. Now they are trying to do it through sleight of hand,” said Scott Wilk, aide to Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Northridge).

Wilk said McClintock will be joined by breakup leaders from the Valley and from South-Central Los Angeles to urge the state board to reject the new rules.

The rules are designed to help the board interpret the 1995 compromise legislation that made breakup of the LAUSD politically feasible for the first time. Legislation by former Assemblyman Paula Boland (R-Granada Hills) took away the LAUSD’s veto power over breakup proposals and eased the petition requirements.

At the same time, a companion bill by state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles) required that any proposal adhere to strict conditions that would prevent harm to students and teachers. Those conditions include socioeconomic diversity, geographical compactness, equity of resources, compliance with court-ordered desegregation and adherence to labor contracts.

As the board approaches a decision on the first breakup proposal, filed by residents of the small city of Lomita, its members sought guidance on how to interpret those conditions, said staff member Pat Cladeck.

The proposed regulations suggest that petitioners extract information from the U.S. Census Bureau data “by using either qualified volunteers or hiring a contract consultant.” The regulations suggest the cost would be from $1,500 to $5,000 for each study.

“I don’t think they’re going to be able to comply with that criteria,” Wilk said.

Now, he said, breakup petitioners only have to submit a statement of rationale, a legal map and a legal description of the proposed new district.

Times staff writer Nancy Hill-Holtzman contributed to this report.