PERRIS -- Those who want to bring Paloma Valley High School into the Menifee school district vowed to press on with the lengthy unification process Thursday, despite a failing grade from a county advisory board.

The Riverside County Committee on School District Organization voted Thursday to recommend against unification to the state Department of Education, which has the final say.

The high school in Menifee is now governed by the Perris Union High School District, but Menifee area residents have been seeking for years to have the Menifee Union School District take control of it. The Menifee district now educates students in kindergarten through the eighth grade.

Superintendents of both districts said after Thursday's meeting they would discuss how to best proceed at a joint meeting June 19.

In October, the Menifee and Perris boards gave their approvals. Problems, however, arose with a March 2008 study prepared by a consultant, Caldwell Flores Winters Inc., of Cardiff. That report studied nine state-mandated issues on unification efforts, and determined the merger would pass muster with only five of them.

Two of the problems stemmed from higher property values in Menifee, meaning a big financial hit for the Perris district if it loses students who live in Menifee, and fewer high school students at Paloma Valley than mandated to balance the ages of students in a unified Menifee district.

That is important because the state pays high school districts more money per student than it pays K-12 or K-8 districts, officials said.

Yet, Menifee Superintendent Linda Callaway said after Thursday's meeting that she remains optimistic.

"Unification is clearly a very important issue to our Menifee community," she said.

What direction that movement will now take was unclear Thursday.

One Menifee school board member who has spearheaded the drive to bring Paloma Valley into the Menifee district said he believes the state can be convinced the move is feasible and will not adversely affect the students in either district.

The numbers are close, said Fred Twyman, who also teaches at Paloma Valley High School.

State education laws dictate that high school students should make up at least 25 percent of the students in a unified district, and the report showed that Paloma High students would constitute just shy of 24 percent of the Menifee district's students, Twyman said.

As for the financial aspect, he said Menifee had agreed to compensate the Perris district for the loss of students that now go to the Perris district's Heritage High School. But, he said, the consultant discounted that agreement, arguing that it was premature.

Also, Twyman added, the consultant stated in an earlier meeting that his approach was conservative and that the state has disagreed with his findings in the past.

"This isn't dead," Twyman said. "I still feel OK about it, and I'll still go to the state (to lobby)."

Whatever happens, it will not happen quickly, said Rollin Edmunds, a director with the county Office of Education. Even with the committee's blessing, the state does its own analysis and can take up to seven years to rule on a proposed organizational change in a school district, Edmunds said.

"Either way, it will be a while," he said.

Those who want Paloma Valley brought into the Menifee district could submit a new petition for that, or lobby the state to view the current one in a more favorable light, he said.

Edmunds said he was somewhat surprised by the report's findings.

"I'm surprised that the concerns were of such a magnitude," he said.

Committee member Bob O'Donnell, who also serves on the Menifee district board, echoed those sentiments during the meeting. He said two earlier reports did not raise nearly as many red flags.

"Since the late 1980s, this has been on the mind of the Menifee school district," he said. "… But the playing field keeps changing on us. In 2001, I wasn't hearing how (property tax) assessments and salaries would doom this. …This is what the community wants, but if we approve it and need to make cuts, that is an issue, too."

O'Donnell abstained on the vote, saying he was biased in favor of unification because he represents the Menifee community on the school board and the community favors unification.

Vic Giardinelli, who also sits on the committee and the Menifee board, said he agreed with O'Donnell and also abstained from Thursday's vote. Among the other five committee members present Thursday, the vote was unanimous in all but one area. The board split in voting on whether the merger of Paloma into the Menifee district would adversely affect the organization of county school districts as a whole.

Committee members Cynthia Clark, Ray Corral, Mary Ellen DeSilva and Charlotte Jones voted that it would have an adverse affect, while Rene Garcia, David Kason and Cathy Sciortino disagreed. Committee members Mike McKelroy and Robert Mainiero were absent.

Contact staff writer Cathy Redfern at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2621, or credfern@californian.com.