School Districts

The state is taking over a Monterey County school district that was facing bankruptcy and lending it $13 million, state officials announced Wednesday. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed emergency legislation authorizing the loan to the King City Joint Union High School District. A state takeover is required by law once such a loan is granted.

Los Angeles County officials rejected a bid Tuesday from several Santa Clarita Valley school districts and a water district hoping to consolidate elections and avoid the kind of voting rights lawsuits that other local governments have been hit with. The measure failed on a 2-2 vote, with Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas abstaining. County election officials  opposed the change, arguing that shifting the districts to November even-year elections would exceed their ability to conduct elections.

SACRAMENTO - A group of Republican state lawmakers Wednesday proposed allowing school districts to spend education funds to train teachers, administrators and janitors in gun use. Responding to last month's mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., the lawmakers said arming school personnel would help protect campuses against violent intruders. "The idea is to create essentially an invisible line of defense around our kids," said Assemblyman and tea party adherent Tim Donnelly of San Bernardino.

Students who are sexually abused by school employees may sue public districts if their administrators ignored warning signs or failed to monitor the employees, the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled Thursday. The state high court's ruling revived a lawsuit against the William S. Hart Union High School District by a student who alleged that a counselor repeatedly abused him sexually. The suit said that school administrators knew or should have known that the counselor, Roselyn Hubbell, had a propensity for sexual abuse when they hired her at Golden Valley High School in Santa Clarita.

California school districts are slowly emerging from financial crisis, with the number in danger of running out of cash dropping by one-third over last year, state education officials announced Monday. "I can say with growing confidence that the worst of California's school funding crisis is behind us," state Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said in a statement. The number of school districts that won't or may not meet their financial obligations this year and the two subsequent years dropped to 124 from 188 last May, according to the report released by the state Department of Education.

Number of Schools Student Enrollment District 1987-88 1985-86 1987-88 1985-86 ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICTS Anaheim City 21 20 12,787 11,693 Buena Park 8 8 3,833 3,665 Centralia 8 8 4,177 3,913 Cypress 9 7 3,472 3,287 Fountain Valley 13 13 6,101 6,252 Fullerton 18 18 9,817 9,467 Huntington Beach 8 9 5,261 5,328 La Habra City 8 8 4,349 4,028 Magnolia 8 8 4,417 4,177 Ocean View 18 19 8,471 8,725 Savanna 4 3 1,752 1,565 Westminster 16 16 7,427 7,383 Yorba Linda 4 4 1,818 1,718 UNION HIGH SCHOOL

The Hueneme Elementary School District recently presented an award to Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) in recognition of his support for children of military personnel. More than 1,700 children of enlisted personnel attend public school in the Hueneme, Ocean View and Pleasant Valley elementary school districts. Most of the students live on the naval bases, which are exempt from state and local property and sales taxes that support public education.

The article "Moorpark Schools Enter Real Estate Realm" (Dec. 1) was a real eye-opener. In order to raise money now, we will have school districts selling their property at "rezoned" values. Wow! Wouldn't that be nice for the ordinary person? Rezone your unusable piece of property for development and--voila!--instant cash. Once again, however, "Joe Ordinary" wouldn't get such treatment at the hands of the government. But another government entity? Why, of course! What else would it like?

Re "Suspended Senior Returns to School on Judge's Order," March 4: Congratulations to Judge Robert E. Thomas for allowing Ryan Huntsman his day in court and his time at his school. School districts across the nation have taken a policy to end weapons and violence on campus and made it "carte blanche" for every school to control its school population. In Fullerton, a middle school had "zero tolerance" on hugs! We need to teach our children how to be good citizens, not humiliate them.

In a move that should benefit severely overcrowded and rapidly growing school districts, the State Allocation Board has adopted new rules that will more fairly distribute coveted school construction dollars on the basis of need. The old first-come, first-served policy was based on the speed with which a school district could acquire land and file a completed application. That policy punished crammed, expanding districts like Los Angeles Unified, Long Beach, Anaheim and Santa Ana.