Panel to Consider Putting District Breakup to a Vote
A county education committee is expected to meet today to decide whether to recommend that a plan to split the San Fernando Valley from the massive Los Angeles Unified School District be put before voters.
The 11 members of the county Committee on School District Organization are set to hear a proposal by the Valley citizens group Finally Restoring Excellence in Education. The group is calling for the creation of two 100,000-student districts with Roscoe Boulevard serving as the primary boundary between them.
The hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. at the county education office headquarters in Downey.
By far the largest district breakup proposal in the works, the two new Valley systems could radically change the racial balance and financial viability of the 711,000-student Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second-largest public school system.
A feasibility report issued last week has stated that the plan met most of the state’s breakup criteria but could promote ethnic segregation and lack sufficient funding.
The committee members have refused to comment on the report.
After the hearing, the committee’s recommendation will be forwarded to the California Board of Education, which will decide whether to call an election.
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