County education officials back Bonsall district's unification plan

By: DARRYN BENNETT - Staff Writer | Tuesday, December 4, 2007 9:43 AM PST ∞

BONSALL -- The San Diego County Board of Education voted 3-2 Monday to recommend that the Bonsall Union School District be allowed to expand and educate students through 12th grade, even though a report prepared for the county by an independent consulting firm indicated that the redistricting would not meet three of the state's nine conditions.

State education officials have the final say on the proposal and are expected to consider the issue early next year.

Bonsall officials have said they want to 'unify' their district -- essentially turning it into a district serving both elementary and high school students -- because area parents have complained about the quality of education at the Fallbrook Union High School District campuses that most Bonsall teenagers attend.

Fallbrook administrators have said Bonsall's unification proposal would result in an attendance drop of hundreds of students at their high schools, deplete educational resources and siphon as much as one-sixth of the district's staff.

According to the final report prepared by the Cardiff consulting firm of Caldwell Flores Winters Inc., the unification proposal fails to meet three conditions for school redistricting required by the state education code.

The study's findings indicate that the proposal could "significantly disrupt" educational programs in the Bonsall and Fallbrook districts, increase school building costs and financially hurt one or both districts.

State education officials are reponsible for ensuring that all nine conditions are met before districts are allowed to reorganize.

Board president Robert Watkins and member Susan Hartley, who represents both districts on the county board, cast the dissenting votes. Hartley said she opposed the proposal for financial reasons.

"I think (unification) would substantially harm the (Fallbrook) high school district in a financial way," she said Monday. "That's a lot of citizens and a lot of students that it would impact."

Bonsall officials could not be reached for comment Monday.

The unification study said that removing as many as 526 students from Fallbrook schools could result in the elimination of some of the district's special programs, such as Advanced Placement classes, and that the proposed Bonsall district would be too small to offer such programs.

The report also says that a unified Bonsall district might not be able to offer competitive enough salaries to attract qualified staff for a high school and that a 600-student Bonsall high school would cost the Bonsall district $25 million to build.

For Fallbrook district property owners, the loss of state funds based on lost attendance at high schools would result in a 48 percent increase in annual property tax payments to cover debts incurred for school bonds, according to the report. The tax increase could also damage the district's ability to win voter approval for future bonds, the report said.

Still, Hartley said she understands the desire for a small high school in Bonsall that would offer a "different kind of program" from Fallbrook High, which serves 3,000 students.

"I just think it makes more sense (to build a new high school) through the Fallbrook district," she said.

Chester Gannett, assistant superintendent of business of the Fallbrook district, said he wasn't disheartened by Monday's vote.

"It's just another step in a rather long and complicated process," he said.

All of the report's findings and comments in favor of and opposing the proposal will be considered by state officials before they issue a decision, county education officials said.

County education officials commissioned the Winters study in August to determine whether the unification proposal meets state education code requirements. Among the criteria were showing that the district has enough students to attend a high school and that having a separate school wouldn't "promote racial or ethnic" segregation.

-- Contact staff writer Darryn Bennett at (760) 740-5420 or dmbennett@nctimes.com.

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