Secession Could Put 8,000 Out of School, Study Says

The San Fernando Valley’s school secession plan would leave at least 8,000 Los Angeles students with no place to go unless schools on the Westside and Harbor areas convert to year-round schedules, a top Los Angeles school administrator said Thursday.

The proposal to split up the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second-largest, and form two autonomous Valley school systems would leave the pared-down Los Angeles district “instantly overcrowded,” particularly in the middle and high schools, said Gordon Wohlers, the district’s assistant superintendent for policy, research and management.

On Wednesday, the Los Angeles County Committee on School District Organization released a report on the feasibility of dismantling the district under a plan by Finally Restoring Excellence in Education. The group seeks to form two 100,000-student districts in the Valley.

The report will play a significant role when the 11 county committee members make a recommendation next week to the state Board of Education on whether to put the breakup plan before voters.

The two-volume report acknowledged that a split could promote ethnic segregation and warned that a prospective loss of desegregation funds could cause substantial financial problems for the remaining Los Angeles school district.

“Not only is there not enough room for the boys and girls,” Wohlers said, “but taking them out of the Valley would break up the instructional flow for these children.”

Already, with 711,000 students, Los Angeles Unified needs to build 10 high schools and five middle schools in crowded neighborhoods downtown, as well as along the Wilshire corridor and in the southeast and South-Central areas of the city, Wohlers said. Thousands of students from those neighborhoods ride buses to Valley schools.

Interim Supt. Ramon C. Cortines said that if the Valley formed its own school districts, other parts of the city would follow suit, making the report’s analysis of the remaining district inaccurate.

“It would trigger a major domino effect,” Cortines said. “People in all parts of the city would be trying to form school districts.”

The group’s proposal is one of a half dozen in the city, including breakaway efforts in the Eastside and Harbor areas. The state is also reviewing a plan by the city of Carson to split from L.A. Unified.

The group’s leaders declined to comment Thursday.

In November, Valley VOTE, the group behind an effort to achieve Valley cityhood, expanded its campaign to develop a comprehensive plan to split from the district.

Richard Close, chairman of Valley VOTE, said Thursday that those efforts are on hold until the county and state decide on the plan.

Although complex, Close said, the busing problem could be solved, perhaps by allowing students in the remaining the district to attend schools in the two Valley districts.