Oak Park Schools Expect Fall Enrollment Decline

It wasn’t long ago that anxious parents would line up for hours outside Oak Hills Elementary School the morning of spring registration, eager to ensure their child could secure a space in the nationally recognized school.

For the first time in nearly a decade, Oak Hills and the other two elementary schools in the high-performing Oak Park Unified School District are expecting a dip in fall enrollment. The projected decline, of about 110 students, is in part the result of stagnant growth in the upscale community along the Los Angeles-Ventura County border, school officials said.

To help make up the difference and avoid future cutbacks in staffing and programs, school officials are in the somewhat unfamiliar position of welcoming a much larger number of students into Oak Park’s elementary schools from other school districts. Historically, the number of student transfers into Oak Park’s elementary schools has been tight.

“This is a really unique opportunity,” Oak Hills Principal Anthony Knight said.

But it’s not one without controversy.

Parents--most of them with children at the city’s Brookside Elementary School--have strongly opposed the school board’s decision to allow up to 110 additional transfers next year. They argue that the move could drag down the district’s high test scores and is unfair to residents who pay higher property taxes to live in the Oak Park district.

Decision Follows 6 Months’ Review

Susan Allen, president of the PTA at Brookside, said when she and her husband moved to California from Canada they chose Oak Park after meticulously studying which town would offer her children the best public education.

“It’s very hard when they say that doesn’t mean as much as $4,500 we can get from some kid from out of district,” she said, referring to the per-pupil funding schools receive from the state.

Despite those objections, the school board last week decided to accept applications from elementary school students from outside Oak Park next year, with the permission of the students’ home districts. The vote followed a six-month review process, which included a temporary moratorium on all transfers.

“Some of the parents have legitimate concerns,” school board President Jim Kalember said. “But the bottom line is, you can’t run a district on donations.”

Knight said he welcomes the chance for more students to attend Oak Hills, the recipient of one Blue Ribbon Award--an honor given by the U.S. Department of Education to the top schools in the country.

“We’re talking about a premier elementary school here,” he said. “This is the year to get in if you want to come to Oak Hills.”

Decisions on how many outside transfers will be allowed into Medea Creek Middle School and Oak Park High School, which are facing different enrollment projections, will be made at next month’s board meeting, officials said.

When the policy change was proposed in December it generated intense local opposition, even spawning a Web site where parents aired gripes and opinions.

Much of that has died down at the schools other than Brookside, officials said.

“My e-mail traffic has dropped dramatically,” Kalember said.

The Oak Park school board reviews its enrollment projections each year and declares certain schools open or closed to outside transfers, in accordance with the state’s open-enrollment and school-choice laws, Oak Park Supt. Marilyn Lippiatt said.

Of the 105 out-of-district transfers in Oak Park schools this school year, about 30% are children of district employees, said Robert Fraser, an assistant superintendent. Next year’s anticipated 110-student elementary school deficit is in addition to those 105 students, who must renew their status each year.

More than 90% of the students who choose to attend Oak Park schools are from Conejo Valley Unified and Las Virgenes Unified, both neighboring school districts in the mostly affluent suburban Conejo Valley, Fraser said. Less than 3% are from the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Enrollment at Oak Park schools, peaking this year, will start on a downward trend for at least the next three years as the community becomes built out, Lippiatt said. Typically adding 150 students each year, the district gained only 65 in September and will drop to just 15 new students this fall, officials said.

Other Districts Also Losing New Students

The numbers of new students are also shrinking in other Conejo Valley districts, though neither Conejo Valley Unified nor Las Virgenes Unified are predicting enrollment declines for next year. For instance, Thousand Oaks schools expect to admit 200 to 300 new students in the fall, down from up to 700 in recent years, Supt. Jerry Gross said.

In Oak Park, the slowing of elementary school enrollment could result in cutbacks in those grade levels, officials said. No layoffs are expected next year, as five teachers had already planned to leave at the end of the spring semester, Fraser said. If the transfer students don’t show up, those jobs will remain unfilled.

Oak Park officials will approve new transfer requests based on space availability and plan to let parents know their child’s status by the end of June, officials said.

If there are more applicants than spots available, officials will decide who gets in by lottery, Fraser said.

Fraser said because the final enrollment depends so much on factors impossible to predict, he said he has no idea whether the transfer applications will fill the shortfall. About 25 students have applied so far, and the application period closes at the end of May.

“We’re not posting fliers on billboards,” Fraser said. “Those who are interested will give us a call.”