District Reforms Vowed; Breakup Drive Gains Steam

Overcoming the first obstacle to breaking up the 710,000-student Los Angeles Unified School District, a grass-roots group learned Monday that it had exceeded the minimum number of petitions needed to begin a long review process that could culminate with a vote of the people.

Finally Restoring Excellence in Education, or FREE, collected 20,962 signatures on petitions advocating two independent school systems in the San Fernando Valley, according to the Los Angeles County Office of Education. It needed at least 20,808 valid petitions.

“We’re in business,” said Paula Boland, FREE co-chairwoman and a former assemblywoman credited with creating legislation needed to dismantle the nation’s second-largest school district. “There’s no time to celebrate; we have to get busy.”

FREE representatives are preparing to meet Wednesday with the 11 elected members of the county’s Committee on School District Reorganization at the education office’s headquarters in Downey. They will discuss the group’s plan, which calls for two 100,000-student districts, with an east-west boundary bisecting the Valley, roughly along Roscoe Boulevard.

To begin the breakup process, FREE collected signatures from 8% of the residents who voted in the last gubernatorial election, as required by state law. The county verified the petitions Monday, ensuring that those who signed are registered voters. FREE has 60 days to hold at least one public hearing.

After the hearings, the county committee will submit FREE’s proposal along with a recommendation to the State Board of Education, which would decide whether to call an election.

No community has left the district since Torrance in 1948. Lomita has tried to break off and form its own 2,000-student district but failed twice, in part because the state board believed the new district would be too small.

The proposed Valley districts would be among the five largest in the state, according to the state Department of Education. FREE members say the new systems would be large enough to wield clout in Sacramento but small enough to respond to the community.

The Los Angeles district is too big, Boland said. “Breaking up the district is in the best interest of the children. [School officials] can’t reform the district. They keep tripping and falling on their faces.”

Valley activists, such as Boland, have advocated a school district split for more than a decade. FREE formed two years ago but experienced several setbacks, including losing its executive director and being overshadowed by the city secession drive.

FREE is among half a dozen or so organizations--from the South Bay to the Eastside--working to carve up the district. Activists across the city praised FREE efforts.

“It’s good for schools in the Valley and in the whole district, because it starts the process,” said Richard Close, chairman of Valley VOTE, a secession group that recently expanded its campaign to include a regional school breakup effort, called the All-District Alliance for School Reorganization. “It also puts pressure on Sacramento, because [elected officials] can no longer ignore what’s happening with Los Angeles schools.”

Los Angeles school board member Caprice Young, who represents portions of the Valley, said that although she understands the frustrations, she has urged school secessionists to work toward reforming the district.

“We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity right now,” Young said, referring to an alignment of board members, district officials and the public committed to improving the school district.

Last month, Ramon C. Cortines, who will become interim schools superintendent Jan. 15, outlined a preliminary reorganization plan that would divide the district into eight to 12 semiautonomous mini-districts, each with its own superintendent. Currently, the district has three assistant superintendents overseeing 27 clusters of schools.

Young said the plan, which Cortines discussed with school administrators Monday, should give schools and parents more authority, autonomy and accountability at the local level.

“If we’re unable to fix the problems,” Young said, “I’ll be lining up myself [with the breakup effort].”