Bill to Dismantle School District Fails

In a setback to the drive to splinter the Los Angeles school district, a state Assembly committee Wednesday rejected a bill by a San Fernando Valley lawmaker that would have laid the groundwork for breaking up the mammoth school system.

A nearly identical measure remains alive in the state Senate, where it cleared its first legislative hurdle earlier this month.

Assemblywoman Paula L. Boland (R-Granada Hills) was able to muster only six of the eight votes needed Wednesday in the Assembly Education Committee for her bill, which would have established a commission to draft a proposal for carving up the school district into at least seven smaller units.

Six committee members lined up against the measure in a vote that fell mostly along party lines.

“We were going to empower the parents to vote to decide whether a smaller district would be better for their needs,” said Boland, a longtime critic of the present system.

“Again Sacramento wanted to play God, and they decided that they knew better than the parents and a lot of teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District.”

Boland accused dissenting lawmakers of caving in to the demands of California and Los Angeles teachers unions, both powerful lobbies that oppose a breakup.

Backers of splitting up the system now must turn to a bill by state Senate leader David A. Roberti (D-Van Nuys) that won passage two weeks ago in the Senate Education Committee.

The Roberti bill is virtually identical to the Boland measure, which differs only in its provisions ensuring Valley representation on the commission.

Boland said she will now devote her energies to helping the Roberti bill succeed in the Senate and then the lower chamber, where a breakup is opposed by Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco).