By Traci Newell

Justus

Superintendents and school board members from the three area districts that would be affected by a new Los Altos Hills K-8 district issued a joint statement Aug. 30 saying a new district is not needed.

Representatives of Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District, Los Altos School District and Palo Alto Unified School District discussed their concerns about the Hills City Council’s effort and said in a press release afterward:

“The three districts agree that Los Altos Hills students are currently receiving an excellent education, and many Los Altos Hills residents are concerned about disrupting existing district boundaries.”

Margot Harrigan, president of the Los Altos School District Board of Trustees, said the purpose of the meeting was to establish that the districts were on the same page and to work toward compiling a report for the Dec. 7 public hearing of the Santa Clara County Committee on School Organization.

The December hearing, which is open to the public, will be held at the County Office of Education building in San Jose at 4 p.m.

“They (the committee) have to decide whether there is merit in moving forward to develop a new K-8 district,” said Tim Justus, superintendent of the Los Altos School District.

Harrigan said the group agreed to meet twice more in September to discuss myriad concerns on how redistricting might affect their respective districts.

Justus said some of the main concerns include the financial impact on each district and the removal of options for some Los Altos Hills families.

“The concern is that redistricting does take away some options that parents in the Hills currently have,” Justus said. “All the children are currently getting good educations in their schools.”

Harrigan said primary argument from Hills’ residents is that there is no school in Los Altos Hills for their children to attend.

“Los Altos is clearly dedicated to opening a school in the Hills,” she said. “There will be a school there.”

The Los Altos School District voted in June to reopen and renovate the Bullis-Purissima campus in Los Altos Hills. The district hopes to open the school for the 2008-2009 school year.

Rumblings of discontent began in Los Altos Hills in the 2002-2003 school year, when the district announced its plan to close a local elementary school - after it had passed a parcel-tax increase and renovated a new additional elementary, Covington school. Citing funding cuts and lower enrollment, the district targeted Los Altos Hills’ only remaining public school, Bullis-Purissima.

If redistricting were passed at the county and state levels, neighboring school districts in Palo Alto, Los Altos and Mountain View could lose a significant amount of revenue and students.

Numbers projected by the Public Education Committee report the Los Altos School District could lose up to $3.5 million and the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District $3.7 million. Los Altos could lose 350 students, Palo Alto could lose 429 students and Mountain-View-Los Altos could lose 179 students.

“The parents in Los Altos and Los Altos Hills have a choice of the very best public schools in California,” Harrigan said. “Forming a school district that will take away resources from those communities just doesn’t seem necessary to me at all.”