MAGNET PROGRAMS IN DOUBT : RACE-BASED ADMISSIONS COULD FALL TO PROP. 209.

Byline: Terri Hardy and Jeanne Mariani-Belding Daily News Staff Writers

Caught between Proposition 209's ban on racial preferences and a longstanding legal directive to end segregation, the Los Angeles Unified School District is uncertain about the future of its magnet programs.

As legal experts analyze the impact of Prop. 209, the Board of Education is expected to shelve, at least for the time being, any expansion of the popular magnet program.

And if it is eventually determined that the program is not exempt from 209, the district might be forced to scrap the racial quotas it uses for determining admission to the magnet schools.

``It's a big concern, one of the top topics right now,'' said Deputy Superintendent Ruben Zacarias.

``We've always hoped to expand magnets and now, even with all the money in the world, we may not be able to,'' Zacarias said. ``It's a legal issue now, one that's going to be resolved by attorneys.''

The magnets were created more than a decade ago as a means of complying with a court order that the district be integrated.

The goal was to create enriched education centers that would draw students voluntarily away from segregated neighborhood schools. Admission quotas based on race were established to ensure that the new schools were racially balanced.

The district currently operates 132 magnet programs, 41 of them in the San Fernando Valley, serving 43,000 students.

In today's Latino-majority district, it is Latino students who are disproportionately excluded from the magnet program based on their percentage of the overall school population.

Of the 43,000 students in the magnet program, 32.1 percent are Latino, 25.3 percent are African-American, 25.3 percent are white, 17.2 percent are Asian-American and 0.7 percent are American Indian.

By comparison, the district has 667,624 students overall, with a demographic breakdown of 67.3 percent Latino, 14.3 percent African-American, 11.3 percent white, 6.9 percent Asian-American, and 0.3 percent American Indian.

Proposition 209, passed last week by voters, forbids government agencies from giving preferential treatment to any group in public employment, public education or public contracting on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin.

Delaine Eastin, the state Superintendent of Public Instruction, said last week that she was uncertain what impact Prop. 209 would have on magnet school programs.

``Because magnet schools are in some cases based on racial components, we think there could be a problem based on 209,'' Eastin said Thursday in a speech to the Valley Industry and Commerce Association.

Eastin said her office has begun an analysis of which programs across the state might be exempt from Prop. 209, and which are not exempt and will have to be dismantled.

She said she is convening a statewide task force, including a representative from L.A. Unified, to study the issue and report back within 30 days.

Prop. 209 provides four exceptions to the ban on preferential treatment:

To keep the state or local governments eligible to receive money from the federal government.

To comply with any court order in force as of Wednesday, the day after the election.

To comply with federal law or the U.S. Constitution.

To meet ``reasonably necessary'' privacy or other considerations based on sex.

Several L.A. Unified officials said they believe the magnet program qualifies under the second exemption, maintaining compliance with a court order.

``I don't see any impact. We're following a court order and the integration programs are exempt based upon the wording in 209,'' said Theodore Alexander, an assistant superintendent of integration services.

``We operate 10 major programs and all of our programs are approved by the State Controller's Office based upon our court order,'' Alexander said.

But whether or not a court order was in effect Wednesday, and if so whether the magnet quotas are stipulated under it, could be a thorny legal question.

The Los Angeles Superior Court did in fact issue a historic desegregation order against L.A. Unified in 1970, and after a lengthy court battle, the California Supreme Court ruled in 1976 that the school district was required to eliminate segregation from its classrooms.

The Superior Court in Los Angeles then conducted hearings to develop a desegregation plan, a process that lasted years.

In 1981, the Superior Court issued a final order in the matter that underscored the school district's ``constitutional duty under state law to undertake reasonably feasible steps to alleviate school segregation regardless of cause.''

That order does not specifically stipulate that those steps must include racial quotas for admitting students into the magnet program.

``The underlying issues have been resolved. Judicial intervention is no longer appropriate,'' Judge Robert B. Lopez wrote.

``The people, who are the ultimate authority, must look to the School Board, as their elected representatives, to continue to discharge its duty under law,'' he wrote.

Rich Mason, chief counsel for the LAUSD, said the district will assert that the magnet program is exempt from Prop. 209 because it grew out of the court's desegregation order.

But he conceded some people ``might have the belief that we are no longer protected by the court because it ceased day-to-day jurisdiction in 1981,'' and said the district was bracing for a possible legal challenge.

Backers of Proposition 209 said their intention is not to dismantle magnet schools across California - only to make sure that admission is not based on racial preferences banned under the measure.

``We are not trying to cripple programs that are appropriate and that are part of what the courts have ordered,'' said Manny Klausner, vice chairman of the Yes on 209 campaign.

``However, we share the view of California voters that racial preferences are not only immoral, they undermine the principal that people should be judged based on merit rather than the color of their skin.

``The larger challenge is for efforts to be made to eliminate the massive obstacles which impeded low-income, inner-city children from obtaining a quality education,'' Klausner said.

Pending an analysis of Proposition 209 that may have to be resolved in court, L.A. Unified officials said they do not plan to revamp the magnet program or eliminate the racial quotas.

``Given that the roots of the magnets are in the desegregation court case, I don't see how you'd eliminate them,'' said Jeff Horton, president of the Los Angeles Board of Education.

But a proposal to consider expanding the magnet program will be shelved until the issues are resolved, officials said.

``Attorneys and staff seem to be coming to the conclusion that it is wise to preserve the status quo of the magnets - rather than take any risks by expanding the program,'' said Board of Education member David Tokofsky.

Zacarias agreed, saying: ``Our lawyers are going to continue looking at this, but in the meantime it's status quo - nothing changes.''

Several lawsuits already have been filed over Proposition 209.

The American Civil Liberties Union and a private San Francisco law firm filed suits trying to block 209's implementation. A third suit was filed by the Pacific Legal Foundation and Ward Connerly, who chaired the 209 campaign, seeking to force three state agencies to comply with the mandate.

Although L.A. Unified was not named in any of the lawsuits, it could still wind up in court, said Mason, the district's legal counsel.

``The lawsuits potentially involve our (desegregation) program,'' which includes the magnet schools, Mason said. ``They could adversely impact the district's program.''

As the court battles begin, LAUSD officials say they fear other fights to come, including the loss of the district's desegregation funds.

The district spends $420 million a year on desegregation programs, including preschool programs, busing students from overcrowded campuses, and the magnet schools. The magnets comprise just under a quarter of that spending.

``We have fears that 209 may be used by those who would like to take the desegregation money away,'' Horton said.

About 80 percent of the district's desegregation budget comes from the state, and substantial cuts would create a serious financial crisis, school officials said.

``Big cuts would mean the end of all magnet programs,'' Zacarias said. ``It would have a tremendous negative impact on education.''

Lisa Kalustian, a spokeswoman for Gov. Pete Wilson, a chief proponent of Prop. 209, said the governor has ``consistently funded desegregation programs and supports magnet schools.''

Kalustian said talk that magnet schools might be dismantled is ``premature, and in some cases unfounded.''

``Magnet schools operating under court order are protected,'' Kalustian said. ``They are exempt from 209.''

L.A. Unified's magnet program is highly popular, with a waiting list of thousands of students hoping to get in each year. Among the specialty curricula offered are medicine, performing arts, and environmental and agricultural sciences.

The district also operates magnet programs that offer an advanced curriculum for gifted and highly gifted students.

The major factor for admission to these programs is race, with the gifted programs also requiring an academic test established by the state.

District officials said the preferences favor white students, who once were a majority in the district but now constitute a small and shrinking minority.

``The chances of a white student getting into a magnet are twice as great as a minority student. We only have a 12 percent white student population in the district, but we have set aside at least 30 percent of the seats,'' Alexander said.

``Most of our magnets are 70 percent combined Hispanic, black, Asian and other non-Anglo students, and about 30 percent white. It varies from school to school but that's about the standard percentage,'' he said.

``Ideally, we would like to have 60 percent minority, 40 percent white.''

Race is not the only factor for admission, which is based on a point system. Students get four points if they come from overcrowded or segregated schools; four points if they have a sibling in the program they are applying for; four points if they are continuing on to the next level in the program; and four points for each year, to a maximum of 12 points, that they have been on the waiting list.

Students are placed in two categories - white and nonwhite - and are admitted based on the point system, with white students competing only with white students and minority students competing with other minorities.

The success and popularity of the magnet programs has resulted in lengthy waiting lists averaging 20,000 to 22,000 students each year, Alexander said.

The waiting time varies, depending on the school. At the Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies in Reseda, for example, which has the longest waiting list of about 1,600 students, the average wait is about two years, said Larry Rubin, the school's principal.

``The more predominant the ethnic group is in the community, then the longer the waiting period will be for those particular ethnic groups,'' according to Alexander.

Magnet programs have evolved over the years, and have become more than just an integration program. Many parents see them as simply as better schools with a higher commitment to achievment and student performance.

``The program orginally was started, of course, for desegregation. But it has taken on a life of its own because of its academic success,'' Alexander said. ``Children are achieving. Our magnet school scores are higher than the average school.

``They work because you have winning teams.

``You have parents who want their children to be there, you have children who want to be there because they have an interest in that particular area and you have teachers and administrators who want to be there,'' Alexander said.

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Photo: ``We've always hoped to expand magnets and now, even with all the money in the world, we may not be able to.''

- Ruben Zacarias, deputy superintendent