Valley Group Plans to Raise Funds for LAUSD Breakup Bid

The stalled movement to break up the giant Los Angeles Unified School District found new life this week as a San Fernando Valley group filed papers with the secretary of state to set up a committee to raise money for the effort.

The group--named Finally Restoring Excellence in Education, or FREE--is in its organizational stage, with its membership and structure in flux, said Stephanie Carter, one of two people who filed the document.

She said the group will be based in the San Fernando Valley.

“We’re just getting underway right now,” said Carter, a Tarzana resident who described herself as a former teacher and community activist.

Carter has been vocal in the past about the issue as co-chairwoman of another group called the L.A. Breakup Campaign.

Though FREE still needs to be organized, Carter and Dave Bauer--named in the document and listed with a Sacramento-area telephone number--filed the required paperwork to get the effort off the ground, Carter said.

The group plans to press forward with the once-vigorous drive to break up the second-biggest school system in the United States, which has 650,000 students.

“I don’t think the services are getting to the classrooms,” Carter said.

Just last month, the State Board of Education postponed action on regulations governing the proposed breakup and promised to hold hearings in Los Angeles before making a final decision.

The movement has been supported by various groups, primarily in the San Fernando Valley and South-Central Los Angeles. But it has stalled in recent months, due partly to waning interest, disorganization among activist groups and competition from the San Fernando Valley secession movement.

“We can do better with smaller school systems,” Carter said Thursday night.