Compton Regains Control

Formally ending the longest and most extensive state takeover of a school system in California history, state Supt. of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin on Tuesday ordered the full restoration of local governance over the Compton Unified School District.

In a one-page letter faxed Tuesday to the president of the Compton school board, Eastin cited improvements in financial management and student test scores. She pointed out that the school board had hired “a proven leader”--veteran New Mexico educator Jesse Gonzales--as superintendent.

“Congratulations on the work you’ve done thus far,” Eastin wrote. “And I look forward to working with the board and the district as we continue to work on behalf of Compton’s students.”

The order takes effect three months from Tuesday, on Dec. 11, to ease the transition from state management to local control, said Doug Stone, a spokesman for Eastin. Eastin had been scheduled to travel from Sacramento to Compton on Tuesday to present her order, but the terrorist attacks forced her to scrap those plans.

Tuesday’s announcement had been expected since last month, when a report prepared by a state team assessing progress in Compton began to circulate.

The Compton district is the only one ever taken over for financial and academic deficiencies. In 1993, the state stripped the local school board of power after $20 million turned up missing in district accounts and test scores plunged.

In place of a local superintendent and a board, Eastin appointed a series of state administrators, who encountered lawsuits, physical threats and unrelenting opposition from local officials.

Local response to Eastin’s order was mostly muted.

Some school board members said the district has made steady if modest progress since Randolph E. Ward, an administrator from Long Beach, was appointed state administrator in 1996. Ward designed new financial controls, revamped maintenance of decrepit campuses and bathrooms, and hired principals credited with boosting test scores each of the last four years.

Last year, the state began returning local control in phases.

“Having local control is really important,” said Compton Mayor Eric Perrodin.

At least one critic was not mollified by Eastin’s order. School board member Saul E. Lankster II denounced the order as “a sham” and predicted that state officials would continue to manipulate the district behind the scenes.

“This is just what happened when Thomas Jefferson promised Sally Hemings that he would free her,” Lankster said. “Well, Jefferson didn’t free his slaves, and we are not free in Compton.”

Eastin’s order does not completely eliminate state involvement. Eastin has appointed Ward as a state trustee, and he can intervene to prevent financial harm to the district in the next two years.