Cardenas Plans Bill on Breakup of District

A state lawmaker plans to introduce a bill that would require a districtwide vote for any effort to carve up the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The bill--to be carried by Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Sylmar) at the request of the teachers union--would significantly hamper the efforts of San Fernando Valley groups trying to break away from the district.

It echoes legislation passed last year in which legislators required a citywide vote in order for the Valley to secede from the city of Los Angeles.

Cardenas said his proposal “would apply the same issue of fairness” as the secession bill and predicted relatively swift passage.

But Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Northridge), a supporter of Valley secession, accused Cardenas of launching “an unprovoked attack not only on the parents of the San Fernando Valley, but the parents in South-Central, and everywhere parents want to take their schools back. He had a choice--to side with parents or side with the union. He chose the union.”

Currently, it is up to the State Board of Education to decide who gets to vote on the reorganization of a school district. That decision can be influenced by everything from political pressure to the racial makeup of a given district, said attorney Jesus Quinonez, who represents the teachers union.