Action Delayed on Rules for Splitting District

Bowing to pressure from groups seeking to divide the Los Angeles Unified School District, the State Board of Education postponed action Friday on regulations governing the proposed breakup and promised to hold hearings in Los Angeles before making a final decision.

The board action came on a 6-2 vote after breakup proponents from the San Fernando Valley and South-Central Los Angeles castigated the draft regulations as a disguised attempt to block, rather than facilitate, their plans.

“We find these regulations to be beyond the scope, excessively burdensome and excessively micro-managed to the point of becoming destructive,” said Stephanie Carter, spokeswoman for a group that is preparing plans to form several school districts in the Valley.

The proposed rules hold the key to the fate of at least five groups’ plans to carve pieces out of Los Angeles Unified. They require that any petition for a breakup election be supported by thorough analysis of the impact on student demographics and district resources.

Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Granada Hills) told the board that the regulations unrealistically ask parents to evaluate equitable distribution of school resources and compliance with court desegregation orders, the Americans With Disabilities Act and the federal Voting Rights Act--and to set policies for everything from magnet schools to protection of minority rights.

“These are highly specialized intricate legal details which no parents’ group can possibly attempt,” McClintock said. “To shift this burden from the government to parents is a rather obvious ploy to set an impossible standard.”

McClintock offered the board alternative regulations, which he said more closely follow the spirit of the 1995 compromise legislation that made breakup politically feasible for the first time. His proposal, he said, would allow consultation with parents and community activists and would include former Assemblywoman Paula Boland (R-Granada Hills), author of the breakup bill.

Board members largely avoided discussing the substance of the regulations, instead trying to assure breakup opponents that they are open-minded.

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Board consultant Greg Geeting said that no date had been set for the Los Angeles hearings and that none can be before the board’s next monthly meeting. Board members want to review McClintock’s proposal before settling on final wording to be presented to the public, Geeting said.

The rules are designed to help the board interpret the 1995 compromise legislation by Boland and state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles). Boland’s bill took away Los Angeles Unified’s veto power over breakup proposals and eased the petition requirements. Hayden’s companion bill requires 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.

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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 “by using either qualified volunteers or hiring a contract consultant.”

During brief public comment allowed on the proposal before the vote, breakup proponents traded barbs with representatives of the California Teachers Assn.

The cross-fire began when Clint Simmons, speaking on behalf of the Inner City School District Formation Committee, accused the state Department of Education staff of reflecting only the views of L.A. Unified and the teachers union.

“The real problem in California is the teachers union,” Simmons said. “It’s just like you have termites in a building, and you can paint over it, do whatever you wish. If you don’t get the termites out, the building will have to come down.”

Later, Lloyd Porter, representing the CTA, said sternly to Simmons, “I am not a termite.”