Classrooms play the numbers game

There are many new faces in the school hallways of Oak Park. Among them is Jessie Scharfman, a freshman at Oak Park High who lives in West Hills, but could have attended El Camino Real High School near her home.

"(El Camino) is such a huge school. I don't feel she can get a quality education there,"said Lisa Scharfman, Jessie's mom. "There's no individual attention . . . In Oak Park it's public education, but it's like a private school."

Joining Jessie are 242 other new students who live outside of Oak Park and are commuting to the Oak Park Unified School District. They are scattered among the district's six schools, as are the 350 other nonresident students who renewed their permits from last year. That brings the total number of interdistrict permit students in Oak Park schools to 593. It also raises last year's overall district enrollment figure from 3,750 students to 3,785.

Those figures include the children of nonresident Oak Park district teachers and employees, students who moved from Oak Park but continue to attend the district's schools, and independent study students.

Oak Park High School had the largest increase of interdistrict students with 67 new permits. Forty-six came to Medea Creek Middle School this year; 95 are split among Brookside, Oak Hills and Red Oak elementary schools, and 35 started Oak View High School or independent study.

The students come from many surrounding communities. Some travel from as far away as Oxnard and Burbank, Simi Valley and Moorpark, and some Westlake Village and Thousand Oaks.

"We did not go beyond what our capacity at our schools is," said Cliff Moore, the district's assistant superintendent for human resources.

S t u d e n t s were turned away from seventh grade science and math at Medea Creek and from the ninth grade at Oak Park High because those programs had reached maximum capacity, adds Moore.

"We are careful not to increase grade levels beyond what teachers can control," Moore said.

Certain classes have strict student/teacher ratios based on state mandate or collective bargaining agreements between the schools and the teachers' union, according to Moore. Those ratios vary based on the class. For example, ninth grade math and English classes at Oak Park High can only have 20 students per teacher. Other classes at both Oak Park High and Medea Creek may have up to 33 or 34 students to every teacher.

So far there have been no problems due to the increase in students, Moore said. The high school has some classes that are larger than they should be, but those problems are being addressed, he said.

"If classes are larger it's not because of the interdistrict permits. It's because of the decisions each site makes with regard to its staffing," Moore said. "If more kids come, we hire staff. We hired 35 certificated teachers this year."

There have always been nonresident students in Oak Park schools, according to Moore, but in the past couple of years a more aggressive marketing campaign has been used to attract these students to help offset declining enrollment, and that push will continue.

"I know there is some criticism in the community but it benefits the community," Moore said. "If you lose kids, then everyone in the district suffers. It's a complicated funding thing that a lot of people don't understand."

Moore explained that if the district loses 100 students it lays off about three teachers. Typically they are newer teachers whose salary levels are low. The district would save about $165,000 on those three teachers' salaries, not anywhere near enough to offset the $6,000 per student the district would get from the state. That $600,000 is a significant loss, said Moore.

"It has such a negative impact," Moore said.

Some, like John Rogers, dislike the interdistrict approachcomplaining of increased financial burden on residents and more traffic along Kanan RoadNonresident families are exempt from Oak Park property taxes.

"I don't think we're supporting a private school here, especially if they're not paying the parcel tax," said Rogers, a 20year Oak Park resident. "We ask them to pay but it's not mandatory."

Moore points out that 100 local families send their children to schools outside of Oak Park, yet pay Oak Park property taxes. In addition, a percentage of interdistrict families do make donations equivalent to the parcel tax that go directly to the Oak Park district, according to Lori Yacobian, a board member of Friends of Oak Park Schools, a nonprofit, volunteer fundraising organization that supports the district. Besides financial support, many interdistrict families volunteer in the schools, Yacobian said.

"We do ask them for donations on an annual basis because we (residents) pay on an annual basis," Yacobian said. "It's not like we're not benefiting at all from these students."

Some families gave substantially more than the tax rate, according to Doug Orens, treasurer for Friends of Oak Park Schools.

In response to a fundraising letter sent out by Friends of Oak Park Schools last year, 25 percent of interdistrict families donated nearly $25,000 to the OPUSD. A similar letter will be sent this school year.

"Most people want to point a finger at out-of-district students as getting a free ride," Orens said. "They do pay something, and even if they don't, the district gets $3 million from the state for them."

What's happening in Oak Park is not unique, according to Moore. Enrollment is declining in half of California's school districts. Last year, for the first time in 25 years, overall student enrollment in state schools decreased, Moore said. It's dropping in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Sacramento and other areas. With funding tied to enrollment, districts have lost millions of dollars, forcing them to look for ways to compensate. Interdistrict permits are just one approach.

"A lot more kids are leaving California. We are beginning to see a decline statewide," Moore said. "Maybe it's a red flag for California."