Santa Paula High School Board hears report on unification process
By Brian D. Wilson
Santa Paula High School
Published: October 23, 2009
The Santa Paula Union High School District trustees heard a report Wednesday night on the unification process.
By Brian D. Wilson
Santa Paula Times
The Santa Paula Union High School District trustees heard a report Wednesday night on the unification process.
The idea of unifying the high school and elementary districts into one entity came up recently when the County Grand Jury issued a report supporting the idea. Since then the Santa Paula Chamber of Commerce formed an 18-member Education Research Committee to investigate the idea. The majority of the committee members do not belong to the chamber. They issued a 40-page report supporting unification.
High school trustees listened to a report on the unification process, presented by Ken Prosser, Associate Superintendent for Fiscal and Administrative Services for the County Schools office. He noted that the unification process takes time. A so-called “Friendly” unification (both school boards agree) would take between 12 and 18 months. If it’s a contested unification, the process runs much longer, up to three years.
The Ventura County Committee on School District Organization plays a major role in the approval process. The 11-member committee is made up of two members from each Supervisory District and one at-large member. They are elected by a 22-member committee of governing board representatives. Under the process a petition is submitted to the County Superintendent of Schools, and then forwarded to the School District Organization Committee. The committee holds public hearings and then sends its recommendations to the State Board of Education. The State Board makes the final recommendation. If approved the issue goes before the voters.
There are several petitioning alternatives. It can be done with 25 percent of the registered voters in each affected district or by a majority of the members of the governing boards of each of the affected districts. Another method is with 10 percent of the registered voters in either district or a majority of a city council, board of supervisors, or a governing body of a special district or the Local Agency Formation Committee (LAFCO).
The County Committee is required to hold public hearings within 60 days of receipt of a petition in the affected districts. After the hearings the Committee has 120 days to review and recommend approval or disapproval.
The school board took no action on the issue, but members did ask questions to clarify the process. There are no current plans for the SPUHSD to pursue the matter in the near future.
|
