Group’s Chief Urges Board to Honor Enrollment Deal
The president of SchoolPower, a fund-raising group that donated nearly $500,000 to Laguna Beach schools this academic year, urged the school board Tuesday to honor its $6.6-million agreement with the Irvine Co. and enroll as many as 342 students from a planned development along Newport Coast.
“I encourage the board to look at this strictly from a business perspective,” said Wendy Offield, the president of SchoolPower. “This helps us provide some stability to our district.”
Despite the group’s influence and fund-raising muscle, none of SchoolPower’s top volunteers have publicly taken a position on the controversy until now.
In February, the school board voted to accept the Irvine Co.’s offer and enroll the students unless the district could obtain a boundary transfer so the new homes would sit in the neighboring Newport-Mesa Unified School District.
A group of parents oppose the additional students, fearing that the district’s overcrowded schools cannot accommodate the added students.
Laguna school officials also are looking for more money from the Irvine Co. and the city of Laguna Beach to recoup lost revenue that would result from turning down the agreement. A final decision is expected June 9.
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