Cortines won’t seek to put permit policy in place until 2011-2012 school year
The Culver City Unified School District dodged a bullet Tuesday night, salvaged by a decision from the very man who fired across the district’s bow last month regarding inter-district permits.
In a reversal of his stated plan to eliminate the majority of permits that allow Los Angeles Unified School District residents to attend schools in neighboring districts, LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines announced during the LAUSD school board meeting Tuesday, April 6 that he is putting that new policy on hold until at least the 2011-2012 school year.
Cortines cited discussions with parents and affected superintendents from those districts who accept the more than 12,000 permitted students as the primary reasons for his short-term change in plans. Parents of currently permitted students will still be able to apply following the already established criteria, however first-time permits will be given a close look to avoid a mass exodus of students away from LAUSD before the new policy does come to fruition.
“I’d like to make it perfectly clear that LAUSD has made great strides in improving the educational options for students who reside within the boundaries of our school district,” said Cortines during the meeting. “We have award-winning magnet programs, a number of California Distinguished schools, and campuses with small learning communities and personalized instruction.
“However, to minimize the impact on students, I have asked staff to delay implementation of the new district-wide procedure. This will provide us with ample time to review the reasons for requests for transfers, analyze them and respond with solutions that may cause parents to reexamine the various educational options and opportunities that LAUSD has to offer.”
Cortines announced the new LAUSD procedure March 17, leaving those districts who receive permitted students with little to no options for how to handle dwindling enrollments during the 2010-2011 school year. That meant CCUSD faced the very real possibility of losing more than 1,400 students — the second-highest number among all districts that accept LAUSD permitted students. The result would have been an overabundance of staff and facilities for a smaller student body, and just as important, the loss of state funding that is tied in to a district’s enrollment figures.
Considering the ever-present clouds circling over education at the state level, Cortines’ decision provided a brief ray of sunshine locally.
“I was surprised but very pleased they backed off the move,” said CCUSD Superintendent Myrna Rivera Coté, moments after taking part in a previously scheduled gathering of parents at the district office to fill out permit paperwork. “I think LAUSD may have underestimated the wrath of the parents.
“I’m just very pleased that we’re where we are today as opposed to where we were yesterday.”
“It’s great news for the time being,” added Scott Zeidman, a member of the CCUSD Board of Education. “It’s wonderful for our permitted parents who aren’t going to be scrambling to have to find new schools for their kids. But I’m not sure it’s a complete and total victory.”
Zeidman’s hedge centers on two themes — the fact that the new policy is simply being delayed and not pulled altogether (Cortines plans to bring it back up for discussion with the LAUSD board in September), and his belief that CCUSD has been too reliant on permitted students and must find a long-term solution to its own budget woes that is not tied into securing income via an influx of pupils from outside the district.
“It’s a blessing for us. It gives us at least a year to begin the process of not bringing in new kids,” Zeidman said. “We love our permitted kids, but we can’t rely on permitted kids. … Twenty percent (of the district’s total enrollment) is too much.
“We’re very fortunate we got at least a one-year reprieve, because it gives us a chance to get our business in order.”
