Click to enlarge.

Newhall — The State Board of Education, near the close of a two day session in Los Angeles, approved unification of the William S. Hart Union High School District. This action, submitted by Ronald W. Cox, associate State Superintendent of Public Instruction, was approved in a matter of minutes. It had been under study for many months.

Next step will be setting a date for registered voters of the Newhall-Saugus area to approve or reject the unification. A date for the election is expected to be set soon.

Provides Added Aid

If the plan is approved, it will mean the area will be placed under one unified district, kindergarten through high school and operated by one administration.

The district would then qualify for and added $15 per pupil, in addition to other state support provided by the Unruh school bill of 1964.

Plans for the proposed unification were submitted by the Los Angeles county committee on school district organization.

All ten members of the State Board met last Thursday and Friday at the Serra Building in Los Angeles, to consider merging of more than 100 elementary and 20 high school districts.

Proposals Tabled

There are four elementary school districts in the Hart Union High School District. Primary purpose of the unification is to improve the tax support and to equalize the tax effort among the various school districts in the high school district. This move eliminates small units, boosts efficiency and thus sets up one board of education in charge of the educational program, backers said.

The state board also tabled the proposed division of the area in the Antelope Valley Joint Union High School District into three unified districts.

Other actions, taken during the board meeting, involved approval of:

• Unification of the Coalinga Joint Union High School district, the Sanger Union High School district, and Selma Union High School district, all in the Fresno area;

• Unification of the Madera Union High School district with the Hopland Unified district in Mendocino.

The state board also:

• Rejected division of [the] La Puente Union High School district into three unified districts.

• Rejected unification of the area of Los Alamitos Elementary School district;

• Rejected unification of the area of Ripon Union High School district, San Joaquin;

• Approved combining Fullerton and North Orange County Junior College districts, and rejected proposals to transfer the Camp Angelus are of the Bear Valley Unified School district in San Bernardino county to the Redlands Unified School district.