HomeMy WebLinkAbout42-06 • •
RESOLUTION NO. 42-06
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE TOWN OF LOS ALTOS
HILLS (LAH) PETITIONING THE SANTA CLARA COUNTY COMIVIITTEE
ON SCHOOL DISTRICT ORGANIZATION TO ADOPT A TENTATIVE PLAN
FOR THE REORGANIZATION OF PORTIONS OF THE PALO ALTO UNIFIED
SCHOOL DISTRICT (PAUSD), THE MOUNTAIN VIEW-LOS ALTOS UNION
HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT (MVLA) AND THE LOS ALTOS SCHOOL
DISTRICT (LASD) TO CREATE A NEW LOS ALTOS HILLS K-8 SCHOOL
DISTRICT THAT MAY FEED INTO PAUSD AND MVLA PURSUANT TO
CURRENT ATTENDANCE PATTERNS FOR GRADES 9-12, TO HOLD
PUBLIC HEARINGS ON THE PLAN FOR REORGANIZATION, TO
APPROVE THE PLAN AND TO SEND IT TO THE CALIFORNIA STATE
BOARD OF EDUCATION FOR ITS REVIEW AND APPROVAL AS PROVIDED
IN EDUCATION CODE SECTION 35720,35720.5.35721,ET.SEQ.
WHEREAS the California Education Code in Section 35500 states that "local
educational needs and concerns shall serve as the basis for future reorganization of
districts in each county";and
WHEREAS the Town of Los Altos Hills is a Santa Clara County community with a
unique history and identity, but divided among three school districts, as the result of
which the educational needs and concerns of its children are not being addressed;and
WHEREAS the two school districts, PAUSD and LASD, that were entrusted to provide
public, neighborhood elementary schools for the children of Los Altos Hills have closed
all four(4)of the elementary schools that served the community;and
WHEREAS this loss has had many negative effects on the children of LAH and on the
quality of life in LAH,including the following:
a) Displacement of elementary school-aged students from their community as all
LAH public school children must now commute to schools in other cities often
several miles from their homes and across at least one high-traffic expressway;
b)Loss of neighborhood support for the educational programs of children because
the children attend many different schools and families no longer know that there
are children of similar ages living nearby, thus normal support systems for the
school lives of children, from car pools to homework groups, cannot be
developed;
i S
c) Degradation of the overall quality of life for school-aged children to such an
extent that LAH is no longer considered as desirable for families as the
surrounding cities;and
WHEREAS the lack of elementary schools in LAH has caused an exodus of LAH
children and families out of the public school system (a comparison of the population of
school-aged children, based on the 2000 Census, with a count of students with LAH
addresses in the LASD/MVLA and PAUSD schools shows that only approximately 60%
of LAH children attend public school,while the California average is 90%); and
WHEREAS despite repeated requests, LASD and PAUSD have refused to reopen
elementary schools in LAH or to consider operating a schools cooperatively under a
Joint Powers Authority or some other combination, but continue to open schools in their
home communities,as evidenced by the following:
a) Within weeks of the passage of LASD's 2002 parcel tax measure,which was
advertised as the means of preserving all of its neighborhood schools (thus
demonstrating the sensitivity of administrators to the value of neighborhood
schools),LASD announced the closure of LAN's last school and the simultaneous
opening of an additional elementary school in Los Altos,serving a neighborhood
that already had an easily-accessible elementary school;
b)PAUSD recently re-opened an additional elementary school (Barron Park),
serving a neighborhood that already had an easily-accessible elementary school
(Briones);
c) Both districts have passed bond measures for the renovation of district schools,
for which the taxpayers of LAH are obligated to pay. No LAH campuses were
renovated.LASD's LAH campus was last in line for renovation and, although all
Los Altos campuses were renovated as planned,the money was all spent before
the planned renovations for the LAH campus could occur;and
WHEREAS there are fmancial incentives for both districts to perpetuate the degraded
service to LAH,as evidenced by the following:
a) PAUSD has kept its Fremont Hills Elementary school site in LAH closed for
the past thirty(30)years and has leased it to a private school,Pinewood School,
for which it now receives more than $1,000,000 per year. When the
previous Pinewood lease expired, it was re-leased without actively
surveying the neighborhood to learn how many families could use it if it were
returned to public use;
b) LASD has contravened LAH ordinances in leasing the Bullis-Purissima site to
private day-care providers. District efforts to return the site to public use have
stressed district-wide use, such as a magnet school, special education, or district-
i •
wide, all-day Kindergarten, rather than use it as a neighborhood school like those
it provides in all of the rest of its Los Altos neighborhoods;
c) Currently an unprecedented percentage of LAH's children attend private
school, approximately 40%, which is financially advantageous to MVLA and
PAUSD under California's school funding provisions. (Because "Basic Aid"
funding ensures that a school district receives all district property tax earmarked
for education, regardless of the number of public-school students that attend its
schools,an increase in dollars per student can be achieved if more students attend
private schools.When LAH projected a return of some number of private school
students upon reopening a neighborhood elementary school in LAH during a
public session of the PAUSD property subcommittee,PAUSD's superintendent
said that the district did not want private school students to return to public
education for exactly this reason. LASD's former superintendent expressed
dismay that Bullis Charter School -- founded by LAH parents—was attracting
children to return from private school);
d) LAH taxpayers are obligated to pay taxes to the school districts,while the
districts do not recognize an obligation to provide the same level of educational
service for LAH children that they provide for children in Los Altos and Palo
Alto; and
WHEREAS the proposed reorganization will benefit the children of LAH in the
following ways: returning to them all the educational, social, and emotional benefits of
neighborhood elementary schools that are available to the vast majority of the children in
these districts; increasing children's sense of belonging to a unified community;
increasing parental involvement in schools and community; increasing community
support for schools;and increasing accountability of schools to the LAH community;and
WHEREAS LAH's voting population is such a small fraction in both districts that LAH
voters are unable to have significant influence with the districts to remedy the long-
standing deprivation of the educational services synopsized above;and
WHEREAS this reorganization has a high likelihood of successfully remedying the
situation for LAN's children,particularly in light of residents' success in founding Bullis
Charter School,which ranks among the top twelve (12) of over 8,000 California schools
in API scores after just one(1)year of operation;and
WHEREAS LAH desires to minimize disruption to current high school attendance
patterns.
NOW,THEREFORE,BE IT RESOLVED,THAT The City Council of the Town of
Los Altos Hills hereby petitions the Santa Clara County Committee on School District
Organization to:
1)Grant this petition;
•
2)Develop a tentative plan for creation of a K-8 school district within the Town
of Los Altos Hills that satisfies all legal requirements for the reorganization of school
districts;
3)Define the boundaries of such elementary district to include as much of the
territory of the Town of Los Altos Hills as the County Committee deems feasible and
appropriate to satisfy all legal requirements;
4) Work with the State Board of Education and all affected school districts to
design appropriate waivers and/or special legislation to ensure that the children of the
new elementary school district feed into PAUSD or MVLA, as of right,pursuant to
current attendance patterns for grades 9-12. If that arrangement is deemed by the
County Committee to be impossible through waiver, special legislation,or practice;then
the arrangement shall result in creating an LAH K-8 School District with high school
services provided by PAUSD;
5)Hold public hearings and study the tentative plan for the creation of a Los
Altos Hills School District pursuant to sections 35721 and 35720,et. seq.;
6)Approve such tentative reorganizing plan;and
7) Send such tentative plan to the State Board of Education for its review and
approval.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that The City Council of the Town of Los Altos Hills
further petitions that the County Committee act on this petition in a timely manner to
enable the question of the reorganization, if approved by the State Board of Education,to
be presented to the voters at an election as soon as possible but no later than June 2008.
PASSED AND ADOPTED this U da of 2006.
Y
Bree - , Mayor
ATTEST:
Karen Joserk