A proposal to split Terra Linda High School from the San Rafael Schools and unify it with the Dixie School District has divided the city's educators and parents.
A group called Parents for Unification says it has collected enough signatures -- 25 percent of voters within the Dixie district's boundaries -- to force a hearing on the issue.
The unification of Terra Linda with Dixie would automatically trigger the unification of the San Rafael Elementary School District with San Rafael High School.
Karen Crockett, a mother of Dixie fourth- and sixth-graders, led the petition drive. She said the move for a unified Dixie district is promoted by her community's desire for "local control of the high school."
"We don't feel the present school board has a strong desire to be accountable to us," Crockett said. "We feel like we do such a great job with the Dixie schools. We want to extend the positive experience that the kids have there to the high school."
Unification, Crockett said, would stem a trend she's seen: parents leaving the public school system to enroll their children in private high schools after the eighth grade.
But others raise concerns about a split.
"If it truly would show that there is no harm to either high school and even benefit them, I don't think there's any parent who would oppose it. But there are so many questions," said Pat Whootton, mother of a San Rafael High junior. "The problem with this petition is it puts this on a fast track before the questions can be answered."
District officials from San Rafael and Dixie agree that the financial implications of a split are the most pressing questions.
The San Rafael Elementary and High School districts' boards commissioned school finance expert Paul Goldfinger to conduct a fiscal study of the split. He estimated that the two districts would see some increased revenue -- about $1.6 million -- under a reorganization.
That's because the state allots more funding per child in a unified school district than it does per child in an elementary district. High school-only districts get paid the most per student.
But Goldfinger found almost half of those gains would be offset by a loss of "basic aid" funding, which channels additional property taxes into the San Rafael High School District today.
Both sides agree San Rafael High School will lose its basic-aid status if it is combined with the elementary district. Parents for Unification says the district could apply for a waiver from the state Board of Education to prevent that automatic unification; district officials say no such waiver has ever been granted.
The loss of basic aid would have a dramatic impact on the district, said San Rafael's superintendent, Barbara Smith.
She raised the energy crisis as a case study, saying the district's natural gas costs may double and its electricty bills may rise 70 percent. The district's basic aid revenues are also going up.
"That money could help us absorb that major anticipated energy cost without having to reduce programs for children," Smith said.
Parents for Unification disputes some of the district's conclusions. In its financial analysis, it estimates the increased revenue would be $1.5 million after taking into consideration the loss of basic aid, which would lessen the impact of its loss.
Once the community settles the question of what the increased revenue will be, it needs to consider whether that amount is enough for two separate districts to maintain the same programs and class sizes that are at the high school today, said Colleen Ferguson, president of San Rafael's school board.
"Right now we enjoy economy of scale," Ferguson said. "If you have to duplicate staff and services, right there you're taking money away from students."
There's no question that operating a high school costs more per student than at the elementary level, said Dr. William Levinson, superintendent of the Tamalpais Union High School District.
High school teachers tend to demand higher pay, and high schools need more administrators to deal with discipline. Athletic facilities and a diversity of academic programs also cost money, Levinson said.
"It's not insurmountable, but it is a different set of expectations," Levinson said.
Mark Reagan, Dixie's school board president, said the district has employees who've worked previously as high school principals and curriculum directors. "Do we have folks right now who've had solid experience running high schools? Yeah, we do," he said.
The impetus for reorganization followed a controversy last year. In response to discussions about how best to spend the $13 million high school bond approved in late 1999, two parents suggested the district could spend the money more efficiently on students if it closed Terra Linda High.
Ferguson said the board never entertained closing the school. But many in the Terra Linda community are afraid that discussion might resurface, Crockett said.
"It really got the community upset that two parents who didn't live there would make a proposal to close the school," Crockett said. "Nobody wants to see their high school close."
The Marin County superintendent, Mary Jane Burke, has until early March to certify the petition's signatures. If she does, the Marin County Committee on School District Organization will hold public hearings and make a recommendation to the state Board of Education. If the state approves a reorganization, the matter will go to San Rafael's voters.
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