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The county committee nixes Vineyards territory transfer
The residents claim pocket is awkward
By Leigh Ann Maze
The Santa Clara County Committee on School District Reorganization voted unanimously against a territory transfer petition at a meeting at the Santa Clara County Office of Education on May 31.
The petitioners are a group of homeowners who live in the 165-unit condominium complex known as the Vineyards of Saratoga near the intersection of Saratoga Avenue and Highway 85. They want their homes transferred from the Campbell Union High School and Moreland School districts to the Los GatosSaratoga Joint Union High and Saratoga Union school districts.
Two children attending public school currently reside in the complex.
The committee is made up of 11 people elected by school boards throughout the county, including Saratogan Marlene Duffin.
The eight committee members present on May 31 voted against the transfer, mainly because they found it did not meet two of the nine minimum conditions for territory transfers, according to Santa Clara County Office of Education senior research analyst Larry Shirey.
The nine conditions are written in the state code of education, and the committee must find that each condition is met before approving a territory transfer.
The committee found the community-identity condition was not met. This condition states that the transfer will result in a school district being organized based on substantial community identity.
The committee also found that the territory transfer did not meet the property-values condition, which states the territory transfer is not primarily designed to result in a significant increase in property values causing significant financial advantage to property owners.
The committee's decision is final on the petition, unless the Vineyards of Saratoga petitioners decide to file an appeal to the state Board of Education, Shirey said. He has not heard anything from the petitioners regarding an appeal.
The committee previously heard arguments for and against the territory transfer at a March 22 public hearing.
Residents speaking in favor of the transfer on March 22, said they believe that the Vineyards of Saratoga is in an awkward pocket, surrounded on three sides by the SUSD. Several speakers cited the changing demographics in the traditionally senior community with more young people moving in. The argument was that children who live in the Vineyards are denied access to high-quality education in their own community.
All four superintendents from the affected school districts spoke against the territory transfer on March 22.
The superintendents based their opposition on a 1997 study of school district organization in the West Valley area. The year-long study was a response to the many territory transfer petitions the school boards received. It concluded that redrawing the SUSD boundaries to match those of the city of Saratoga was not feasible for financial reasons. The report also recommended against the piecemeal transfer of territories over time.
The SUSD boundaries frequently have been challenged in the past, because they do not include the entire city and often split neighborhoods. There have been six territory transfer petitions from neighboring districts involving the SUSD since 1994. Of those six, only one succeeded in changing the boundaries.
The school boundaries in Saratoga have changed very little since they were first drawn, more than 50 years ago, according to Shirey.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
