SCHOOL BREAKUP PLAN FAVORS 2 VALLEY DISTRICTS : GROUP URGES TWO, NORTH-SOUTH SCHOOL DISTRICTS.

Byline: Terri Hardy Daily News Staff Writer

A group of San Fernando Valley politicians and community activists unveiled plans Saturday to break away from the mammoth Los Angeles Unified School District and split the Valley into two, north-south districts.

``The San Fernando Valley has cried out for a long time for the dismantling of the LAUSD,'' said former state Sen. Paula Boland, who is leading the Valley's breakup drive.

It took 14 months of community hearings and intensive planning to hammer out details and bring together the individuals that would lead the breakup group - Finally Restoring Excellence in Education - or FREE, said Boland at a news conference at Granada Hills Elementary School.

Under the breakaway plan, the Valley dividing line would run across the Valley along Saticoy Street and Roscoe Boulevard.

The first step to officially leave the LAUSD is expected early this week when the map is filed with the Los Angeles County Office of Education for approval.

A breakaway plan, map and signed petition must be approved by the county and state before it is put before voters. Under the process, 8 percent of San Fernando Valley residents who voted in the 1994 election would need to approve the plan, organizers said.

Preserve equality

Boundary lines were drawn up to comply with state laws requiring any new district to preserve racial equality, as well as to equitably divide school sites and create manageable areas, said Stephanie Carter, a parent activist who will serve as FREE's co-chairman with Bert Boeckmann, owner of Galpin Motors Inc. located in the Valley.

Carter said state laws ensured that the popular magnet programs, charter schools, and open enrollment policies would exist in new districts.

``We wouldn't suddenly evict students, this is no Berlin Wall,'' Carter said.

The Los Angeles Unified School District is unwieldy and bureaucratic, with its more than 650,000 students and $4.89 billion budget, said Assemblyman Tom McClintock, R-Granada Hills, a member of FREE's executive committee.

McClintock said over the years, standards in the nation's second-largest school district have plummeted. And, he said its size limited accountability and public access.

Geographically, the Los Angeles district is the size of the state of Rhode Island, has a budget larger than 14 of the nation's states and its student enrollment would make it the 12th-largest city in America, McClintock said.

``If Superintendent Sid Thompson held a meeting of all his employees, Dodger Stadium would be too small - five thousand people would have to stand in the parking lot,'' McClintock said. ``It would be comical, except that it has destroyed educational opportunities for our children.''

Jeff Horton, president of the LAUSD's Board of Education, said it was untrue that smaller districts run more efficiently, pointing out that the percentage spent on the district's central office operations is smaller than any other in the county.

And, he said he was waiting to see how the breakup group proposed to increase student achievement.

``Before embarking on such a contentious, time-consuming process, they should figure out how this will improve education in the end,'' Horton said. ``I think the right solution is to decentralize the district so parents have access. We're already doing that, and it's the right way to go.''

Breakup battleground

Officially, LAUSD administrators maintain a neutral stance on the breakup issue. They provide statistics and relevant laws to the public, and have not begun to study the ramifications of dismantling its 709-square-mile school system.

Boland, however, said the district's lawyers continue attempts at the state level to make breakup attempts more difficult.

And Boland expects they will wage costly legal battles against FREE's breakup attempt.

Because of this, Boland said she is uncertain how much money FREE will need to raise to carry the breakup movement through the lengthy approval process.

Laurence Labovitz, a Los Angeles attorney who is providing legal counsel to the group, said a ``normal'' breakup effort would take about a year.

Gary Thomas, president of the United Chambers of Commerce of the San Fernando Valley, said he will be leading the Valley's breakup fund-raising drive.

The business leader said he supports the breakup movement because local employers are concerned that students attending LAUSD schools are not adequately prepared for jobs.

``They can't read business documents . . . or do basic arithmetic,'' Thomas said. ``(Education) is the single most critical issue facing us today, we can't afford the cost of failure.''

Parents who for years have supported leaving the LAUSD said they were enthusiastic about the proposed plan.

``I'm very excited about the possibility of getting our own school district,'' said parent Lisa Keating.

Already, groups from South Los Angeles, Carson and Lomita have filed their own breakaway proposals.

Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson, who represents the northwestern portion of the Valley, said at the news conference that the breakup movement was another example of the public demanding more local control.

``There's a trend to return the government to the people,'' said Bernson in his support of the breakaway plan. ``It's gotten to a point where people don't have a voice in their government.''

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MAP: PROPOSED SAN FERNANDO VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICTS