Group to Launch Petition Drive for New School District

A group seeking to form a new school district in South-Central Los Angeles has received clearance to begin gathering signatures on a petition, leaders said.

The Inner-City School District Formation Committee is still negotiating with county school officials in the hope of trimming the 16-page petition, but expects to launch the signature campaign early next month, said co-chairman Clint Simmons.

The group was the first to file a petition taking advantage of 1995 legislation that made it easier for community groups to separate from the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The proposed Inner-City district, extending from Olympic Boulevard to the Century Freeway, would include about 125,000 students in 123 schools.

The proposal was stalled for about 18 months before the Los Angeles County Office of Education, which was demanding detailed legal descriptions of the new district boundaries.

That obstacle was removed last week after another group seeking to detach the San Fernando Valley from the Los Angeles schools obtained an opinion from Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren that state law does not support the requirement.

By then, the Inner-City group had produced the legal descriptions, Simmons said. Even though the lengthy text was no longer necessary, it was incorporated into the petition, Simmons said.

To limit duplication costs, Simmons said he hopes to be allowed to delete it.

The group is awaiting a determination from the Los Angeles County registrar’s office on how many signatures it needs to place its school breakup plan before the voters.