03/23/2006 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

• and as chartered, have reviewed and evaluated a matrix of options to return public education to Town. Radford provided an illustration of the current school boundary map that divided the Town into two distinct school districts-Los Altos School District/Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District and Palo Alto Unified School District. The Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) K-12 served part of the Town while the Los Altos School District (LASD) served the other part of Town. LASD fed into the Mountain View/Los Altos (MVLA) high schools. Radford noted that the school boundary line had created situations where children on the same street often go to different schools. Radford identified the four (4) Los Altos Hills schools that had been closed by their respective districts. He offered that they were not closed by the Los Altos School District or Palo Alto Unified School District because of funding issues or lack of student enrollment and today,the closed campuses serve as revenue streams for both districts. Radford reviewed a spreadsheet titled "The LAH Revenue Profile" that provided the student counts, property and parcel tax revenues and the dollars per Los Altos Hills student that went to each school district. The total student count was 957 with $15,591.985 of property and parcel tax revenue and $16,293 per LAH student. Radford provided an overview of the PEC Survey of September 2004 conducted by Godbe Research whose findings had shown a willingness of Town residents to redistrict. • The professional, statistically-significant survey found that 65% of survey participants favored redistricting but there had not been a majority for a specific path. The complete report was available on the Town's website. Radford reviewed the Los Altos Hills current student population numbers that justified a Los Altos Hills K-8 neighborhood school: 450 K-6 students and 611 K-8 students. He proposed that the numbers were understated; 40% of the children in Los Altos Hills attended private school and he expected some enrollment from these numbers. The Committee concluded that.the student population, resident support and revenue profile supported a rationale for a K-8 school and had spent numerous months reviewing options for a school that included:joint district charter school,joint district neighborhood school, and the BCS returned to Los Altos Hills. The Committee had spoken with district officials but without a positive resolution. Radford noted that one success had been the legal stance that the Council had taken at the request of the PEC to stop LASD from a long term lease with commercial daycare providers at the Bullis site. He concluded that if Council had not moved forward with legal action, the campus would no longer be an option for Town residents. Radford reported that the Public Education Committee, at their March 21, 2006 meeting, had voted unanimously by a 10-0 vote with the Chair abstaining to recommend that the City Council issue a resolution to the Santa Clara County Committee on School District Organization to reorganize public education in the Town of Los Altos Hills by forming a • new Los Altos Hills school district. The Council resolution would call for the removal of the district boundary line that currently divided Los Altos Hills between the PAUSD and 5 City Council Meeting Minutes March 23,2006