State Agency Opposes Schools Secession Bid

In a potential setback to the several groups trying to secede from the Los Angeles Unified School District, the state Department of Education has recommended against allowing the South Bay community of Lomita to carve out its own district.

The recommendation, released Monday, is contained in a report to the state Board of Education, which is scheduled to hear Lomita’s secession bid on March 11.

It was unclear how much weight the department’s recommendation will carry with the state board, which must decide whether to allow a local election on the secession attempt. If it votes to allow the election, the board also must decide which voters can participate--only those in the Lomita vicinity or voters in the entire Los Angeles district.

The state education department said Lomita’s departure “would likely promote discrimination and segregation of LAUSD schools” and would disrupt a magnet school and special education classes.

Although the Lomita secession bid involves only about 2,000 students in a district where enrollment is climbing toward 700,000, it has been widely watched. If Lomita gets the go-ahead from the state board, it could become the first group to break away from the Los Angeles district since Torrance left in 1948.

Lomita City Councilman Robert Hargrave, a leader in the secession drive since it began in 1985, said he was surprised and disappointed by the recommendation.

“This really disturbs me. It’s exactly the same as last time,” Hargrave said, referring to 1987, when the state board first rejected Lomita’s secession bid.

“We’ll just go plead our case and see what happens” at the board meeting next week, he said.