During a Tuesday update from the county”s attorney regarding how to start the process of consolidating Lake County”s seven school districts, the Lake County Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution that supports the formation of a task force to consider the potential for savings to the county”s education system.
A resolution was placed on consent agenda for Tuesday, Jan. 20.
County Council Anita Grant told the board she met with Lake County Superintendent of Schools Dave Geck and discussed the consolidation.
Citing a 1975 resolution that transferred the responsibility for school district reorganization to the Lake County Board of Education, Grant said the board of supervisors was not the primary agency to oversee a unification process. She said the process could also be started by a petition signed by at least 10 percent of the voters in a district.
“Whether presented with a resolution or a petition the county committee (Lake County Committee on School District Reorganization) is then required to hold a public hearing, following which hearing the committee must determine whether to grant or deny the proposal,” Grant said.
The committee is the same body as the Lake County Board of Education. Grant said if the committee granted the proposal, Public hearings would then be held in each district to be considered for unification.
In addition, Grant said a study regarding the costs and effects on education system would have to be conducted.
Geck said in Sonoma County, a study conducted during the last two years about the benefits of consolidating 11 school districts cost $18,000.
“That”s $18,000 that could have been used to fund education. Sonoma achieved a $1.4 million savings. They lost equivalent funding for smaller districts, so they saw a net savings of about $205,000,” Geck said.
Lakeport resident Lowell Grant brought the request before the board Jan. 6, claiming that unifying the Lake County”s seven school districts could save the county millions of education dollars. He said the savings would come from cutting the salaries of school board members and superintendents.
“We”re talking about good people, but there are just too many of them,” Lowell Grant said.
The resolution passed by the board of supervisors appeared on the Jan. 20 consent agenda for approval, following a change recommended by parent and Lakeport Unified School District Board Member Robert Weiss.
The change will urge the task force to look into the possibility of consolidating the districts into several, or into one as Lowell Grant recommended.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com, or call her directly at 263-5636 ext. 37.
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