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SUPPORTIVE ARGUMENTS FOR A UNIFICATION
PLAN THAT INCLUDES AN AREA-WIDE TAX

Two distinct trends in school district organization support the proposal to
divide the Hart Union High School District into three unified districts and
to fin ance the newly constituted districts to a large extent with an area-
1dde tax .

The first of these is an increasing interest in creating or maintaining small
or moderate sized administrative units. Efforts to equalize support for
educational programs regardless of geographic residence of pupils is the
second.

The initial attempts of the Legislature to encourage consolidation of school
districts required unification along high school district boundaries. For
several years considerable interest was expressed in the Legislature in
requiring even larger unified districts. In subsequent years, however,
there has been an inexorable movement in the direction of support for the
formation of smaller unified school districts. Legislation now permits
breaking up high school districts into several unified districts. The past
Legislative session provided further evidence to support the strength of
this trend. AB 833 allows the State Board of Education to approve splitting
a high school district into two or more unified districts when prescribed
criteria cannot be applied literally and an exceptional situation exists.
Senate Bill 242, subsequently vetoed by the Governor, would have divided
the Los Angeles City Unified District into twelve administrative units, each
with their own local board .

There is an increasing concern about making government more responsive \O
the people by providing communities ready access to decision making bodies.
The potential and predicted population growth within the boundaries of the
Hart Union High School District, the size -- 356 square miles, and the
exist ence · of SE~veral clearly definable population centers are arguments
strongly favoring the division of the District .

Efforts to equalize the ability of local school districts in California to
finance education are well known and widely accepted . Current methods of
distributing state support are based on equalization formulas.

Numerous attempts have been made to write legislation that would further
equalize educational support through a State-wide property tax. Equaliza-
tion taxes are currently mandated in areas that have defeated unification
proposals. This is now the case in the Hart Area. In fact, for all intents
and purposes, two-thirds of all support for elementary and secondary edu-
cation in the total area at the present time is supported in a manner analagous
to what would occur if the proposed legislation were enacted.

Over the next several years it is highly likely that wealth patterns cur-
rently identified will shift . Growth in population in the area.may very well
be uneven placing severe strains on each of the proposed districts at dif-
ferent times over the years. An area-wide tax, in addition to equalizing
educational opportunity for all the pupils, will aid in long range educational
planning making it more highly probable that resources will be wisely used
for the benefit of all. ,