Valley Group to Restart LAUSD Breakup Bid

Activists from a San Fernando Valley group once seen as leaders of the secession movement in the Los Angeles school district acknowledge that their efforts are lagging.

But after several stagnant months, leaders from Finally Restoring Excellence in Education, or FREE, say they plan to restart a petition drive this week. Their goal is to break away from the Los Angeles Unified School District and form two new school districts with an east-west boundary bisecting the Valley, roughly along Roscoe Boulevard.

The group needs about 20,800 valid signatures to prompt a study of secession, one of the early requirements before an election can be called. FREE has collected more than 20,000 signatures on petitions in the past year or so but believes twice that many will be needed to qualify.

Group leaders, who had hoped to have secession on the ballot this year, now say a vote might be years away.

“At this point, we’re reorganizing and trying to accelerate our efforts,” said FREE’s co-chairwoman, Stephanie Carter, a former teacher in the Lennox School District.

FREE vice-chairman Gary Thomas said the group plans to gather another 20,000 signatures beginning this month.

If the group succeeds in creating two San Fernando Valley school districts, it would take away about a third of the 697,143 kindergartners through seniors enrolled in the Los Angeles school district, the nation’s second-largest.

The group proposes enrolling about 100,000 students in each of the Valley districts, which would place them among the five largest in the state, according to the California Department of Education.

Supporters say the smaller districts would improve education, promote better accountability among school officials and give parents more control over decision-making.

Critics say the Valley districts still would be too large and would create overcrowding and waste as well. Los Angeles school board member Julie Korenstein said she’s not opposed to school secession but doesn’t think it makes sense to have two Valley superintendents, have two boards of education and duplicate other departments.

“It’s not cost-effective,” Korenstein said. “I don’t think the plan is valid.”

Although school secession efforts in the Valley have received more attention, efforts in the South Bay city of Lomita are farther along. Lomita goes before the State Board of Education next month to seek approval to form its own district.

Groups in Carson, Gardena and South-Central Los Angeles are also circulating petitions to break away, according to the Los Angeles County Office of Education.

In the Valley, however, FREE has suffered several setbacks, starting with the death more than a year ago of its attorney, Laurence B. Labovitz, who specialized in school reorganization.

In January, the group’s executive director took a job in South Dakota.

FREE leaders also say the activities of Valley VOTE, the group pushing for San Fernando Valley secession from the city of Los Angeles, have confused residents.

Some of FREE’s leaders--such as Thomas, former president of the United Chambers of Commerce, and H.F. “Bert” Boeckmann, owner of Galpin Motors--also support Valley VOTE. Secession from the city would have no direct bearing on a school district breakup.

The Valley’s school secession group is also trying to improve communication. Earlier this year, for example, the group sent out a news release claiming it had collected more than the legal number of signatures required to move the effort forward.

“We have crossed the legal threshold necessary to move the reorganization process forward,” Boeckmann said in the release.

But other FREE leaders, including Thomas and Carter, said the group hasn’t verified whether the names on the petitions are, in fact, registered voters from the Valley. All other signatures would not count.

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State law requires activists to collect signatures of 8% of those who voted within the proposed new districts during the most recent gubernatorial election at the time they began circulating petitions.

Once signatures are collected and verified, the 11-member Los Angeles County Committee on School District Organization would study the issue, hold public hearings and submit the proposal and a recommendation to the state. State officials would then study the issue further, hold hearings and, finally, decide whether to call an election.

FREE leaders said they hope to reach the state level by next year but acknowledge that they face delays, as well as strong opposition from United Teachers Los Angeles, the union that represents district teachers, nurses and psychologists.

“UTLA is not a fan of the LAUSD, but we don’t think breaking up the district is a good idea,” said Day Higuchi, president of UTLA, which has 41,000 members. “Problems wouldn’t go away. [A breakup] would cause more problems.”

Higuchi said students are best served with good teachers, safe schools and high academic standards.

Education experts said many parents want to hold off joining the secession movement until LAUSD Supt. Ruben Zacarias is given a chance to fulfill his promise to reform the district.

Zacarias’ promise to improve reading and math skills has “taken the wind out of [school secessionist] efforts,” said Theodore R. Mitchell, an education advisor to Mayor Richard Riordan and the former dean of UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.

“[Zacarias] has promised reform and should be given that chance,” Mitchell said.