Ethnic Mix in Possible Valley Districts Detailed

A new school district in the north San Fernando Valley would be poorer and more heavily Latino than a district proposed for the south Valley, but the gap is less extreme than some breakup opponents had feared, according to a preliminary report released Wednesday.

Although containing no conclusions or recommendations, the fat, two-volume “progress report” examined the feasibility of dismantling the nation’s second-largest school district and creating two new Valley systems.

The document “will change as we receive additional information,” said Pamela Johnson, secretary to the county Committee on School District Organization, whose 11 members are elected by school district governing boards. The panel will make a recommendation to the State Board of Education by June 7 about whether to put the issue before voters.

At three public hearings before the county committee, opponents of secession from the Los Angeles Unified School District argued that poor, minority students would constitute 80% or more of the north Valley district, while the south district would be dominated by Anglo, upper-middle-class students.

But the report, based on census figures, found that neither Anglos nor Latinos would represent a clear majority in either district.

The proposed north Valley district would have 118,093 students, with Latinos accounting for 48% and whites 36%. The per capita income in that area is $22,504. The south district would have 98,406 students, with Latinos accounting for 37% and Anglos 50%. The per capita income there is $27,957.

In both proposed districts, the percentage of Latino students would be less than in Los Angeles Unified, where they constitute 70% of the enrollment of 711,000.

Stephanie Carter, a leader of Finally Restoring Excellence in Education, or FREE, the grass-roots group leading the breakup effort, said that she had not studied the report in detail but that the preliminary findings came as no surprise.

“People had preconceived notions about how the two districts would look,” said Carter, one of a handful of people at the Wednesday morning meeting at the county education office in Downey.

Leaders of FREE have maintained that the proposed districts would be roughly comparable in ethnic and economic terms.

But Ana Soriano, a strong breakup foe, questioned the data. “If you really see the areas [in the proposed north district], you will see immigrants who are not affluent,” said Soriano, a mother of four in Sylmar. “Breakup would be awful.”

She also said FREE had failed to make north Valley residents aware of their plans. “People out here don’t even know about it,” she said.

The county is required by the state to make sure the proposed districts will not promote racial or ethnic discrimination or segregation, among other factors.

Several committee members requested more socioeconomic data.

“Over and over again, people are saying [the proposed districts] would be the haves and the have-nots,” member Rachel Chavez said.

Although county education officials said they have “a pretty good handle” on the data, they said they are still gathering information.

The report, compiled by the consulting group Caldwell Flores Winters Inc., was based on public comments and documents from the state and Los Angeles Unified.

District officials have not taken a stand on Valley school secession.

But Board of Education members, including President Genethia Hayes, said a reorganization plan unveiled last month would give schools less bureaucracy and more autonomy.