Public hearing on school districts’ unification to be held March 17
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Published: March 10, 2010
Unification friends and foes will have the chance March 17 to weigh in at the first public hearing centered on melding Santa Paula’s largest elementary school district and the high school district.
The hearing, sponsored by the Ventura County Office of Education/Committee on School District Organization, will start at 6 p.m. at the Santa Paula Community Center, 530 W. Main Street.
The initial public hearing sprang from a City Council resolution asking that the unification of the Santa Paula Elementary School and Santa Paula Union High School districts be examined. The Council made the move after months of failed attempts to get the two districts to meet to address the issue and no signals from SPESD trustees that they would even pursue the issue. A then SPESD Board president did tell the council that district trustees believed voters should decide the issue.
A Chamber of Commerce Education Committee Report that recommended student education would benefit from unifying the city’s two largest school districts - a move that would also potentially save costs that could be directed back into the classroom - spearheaded the unification effort. The Chamber Education Committee members were primarily private citizens and not Chamber members.
The local report was released at about the same time as a report by the Grand Jury that examined countywide educational issues and finances, and which recommended that all schools in the Santa Clara River Valley unify into one district. The local report was presented to the council last year, and the body took the lead in trying to facilitate meetings between the two districts to discuss the issue as well as move forward with putting the issue on the ballot for voters to decide.
“We’re looking forward to the meeting,” said Ginger Gherardi, chair of the local Schools Unification Committee, “and we hope the county Committee on School Organization finds in the best interest of this community to go forward with the unification study.” Moving forward with the study, she added, will “ultimately let the voters decide if that is something that is desirable in Santa Paula.”
With the council at the helm of the effort the process will take longer, be more expensive and involve more oversight on the state level; if the districts decide to move forward with the study the process will be smoother, minimize state involvement and cut costs. Local unification efforts do not include the area’s smaller school districts, Briggs, Mupu and Santa Clara.
Critics of unification believe the cost-savings aspects must be closely examined, as well as educational benefits.
According to the meeting legal notice, at the March 17 meeting “It is expected that the Santa Paula City Council and affected school districts will provide formal statements at this meeting.” There will also be a public comment portion, and written statements will be received for inclusion in the public record either at the meeting or prior to the gathering. Such written statements can be sent to Ken Prosser, Secretary, Ventura County Committee on School District Organization, 5189 Verdugo Way, Camarillo, CA 93012.
|
