Keep This Conflict Local

They say timing is everything, an adage officials from two Santa Ana school districts can sadly attest to.

They were only minutes, perhaps seconds, away from securing a vote of the Legislature on Aug. 31 that would have forced the city of Tustin to turn over 100 acres of the former Tustin Marine base for a joint campus. But the clock struck midnight, ending the year’s legislative session. It’s tough to be beaten by the clock and political wrangling rather than on the issue itself. But that happened, and now the challenge will be to address the concerns of the district another day.

According to school officials, despite divisions in the Orange County delegation, they had the votes for passage of a bill giving them the school site. A majority of the state’s legislators obviously saw the plight of the Santa Ana Unified School and Rancho Santiago Community College districts, and the advantage of providing space for them at the former base.

Both districts are severely overcrowded, much more so than those in the Tustin or Irvine school districts and the South Orange County Community College District. They are neighbors of the base as Santa Ana is, and have been given several school sites.

In addition, the Santa Ana plan would create an educational first in the state--a campus that would take students from kindergarten through community college. The approach has the endorsement of John F. Dean, Orange County’s superintendent of schools.

Tustin argues that giving away any more land jeopardizes its development plan and economic forecast needed to satisfy federal requirements toward the local economy. While the city understandably wants to get going with its plan, others bordering the base have a legitimate claim on participation in redevelopment. What’s most unfortunate is that a plan couldn’t be worked out locally without involving Sacramento and Washington. There was once agreement back in 1994, but it fell apart when new federal guidelines for base reuse were adopted and Tustin revised its development plan.

But the overarching spirit of base reuse argues for inclusion. The idea is to return bases to localities by developing a plan that serves community interests best. Santa Ana has a strong educational case for a share of the redevelopment plan.

Every effort should be made to accommodate these plans. The city and school districts should sit down again and agree on an equitable school use of the former base.

These parties would be well advised to come to agreement rather than risking having one imposed. Why roll the dice and gamble? If Tustin and the schools can’t resolve this problem themselves, they could have to live with a plan determined for them by state legislators or federal officials.