By Torre Peña
The areawide school district boundary study for the Campbell Union School District and the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District is under way. The public will have an opportunity to express opinions on the highly charged issue at an April 26 forum held by the Santa Clara County Office of Education in the auditorium of Monta Vista High School, 21840 McClellan Road, Cupertino. The session takes place from 9 a.m. to noon.
Michael Winters will preside over the forum. Winters represents Caldwell Flores Winters Inc., the consulting firm hired by the Santa Clara County Committee on School District Organization at a cost of $23,000. Winters has said he is looking for input from all sides of the issue. If the forum is anything like past meetings of the SDO committee, he will get what he wants.
The district reorganization study was prompted by the recent flood of petitions to transfer property from the Campbell district to Los Gatos-Saratoga. In the past, the committee handled petitions to transfer property as they trickled in.
The committee decided to freeze petitions until a comprehensive study of the overall district boundary issue has been completed. At the last county committee meeting on March 26, December was targeted as the completion date.
Meetings in the past have been tense and, at points, divisive. At the last meeting, some residents were angry at the apparent slow pace of the study, since the issue has been a concern of residents for years. Others cautioned the committee to take as much time as they needed because their recommendations impact children and their education.
Many residents in Saratoga and Los Gatos hope to see district lines contiguous with city and town boundaries. Currently, district boundaries meander through back yards and across property lines in Saratoga, dividing neighborhoods in the same city into different school districts.
The academic reputation of the Los Gatos-Saratoga district has also drawn requests for interdistrict transfers to these schools.
On the other side of the issue, Campbell Union School District officials said that a reorganization of boundaries would create a financial burden on the district. An example is the ability to raise bond money, which is based on assessed property values. If boundaries are redrawn, the district could lose some of its economic base, officials said.
As the SDO committee wades through the emotionally charged issue, it is the members' job to keep school districts viable. Committee member Marlene Duffin said the committee will look at what is politically possible and in the best interest of education and students.
Tentatively, the study committee plans to identify eight possible reorganization scenarios. After a series of subsequent public hearings, the committee will adopt a final recommendation and present it to the state Board of Education.
However, the recommendation is nonbinding, and the state Board of Education could elect to take no action. If the state board does follow the recommendation, any district reorganization would most likely go before voters in an election.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, April 16, 1997.
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