Oak Park School District has lost its focus

In his Sept. 4 letter David Ross says out-of-district students are "needed to offer a comprehensive educational program in Oak Park schools."

That doesn't make sense. We were winning national awards when our enrollment was much smaller than it is now. It's only recently that the district has been aggressively marketing to families far and wide, filling more than 25 percent of our seats with students who don't live in Oak Park.

We're no longer an Oak Park district. We're a regional district. This wasn't the concept of the district's founders, or the idea most of us had when we moved to Oak Park.

We and everyone I know in Oak Park moved here to have our kids enrolled in a small, well-run, know-everybody district. We wanted our kids, from kindergarten to 12th grade, to be educated and socializing with their neighbors.

It's not that there's anything wrong with families from Woodland Hills, Simi Valley, Camarillo and beyond—it's just it's not what we wanted or expected when we bought our homes here. And none of us expected to be footing the bill for large numbers of students who don't live here.

We're always told that the quality of Oak Park schools is critical to our home values. But that argument only works if you have to live in Oak Park to attend the schools. Under the current district policy, families can live more cheaply elsewhere and get the full benefit of Oak Park schools without buying homes here or paying our excessively high property taxes. So the policy actually undermines the value of Oak Park homes.

There are many problems with Measure R. We're being asked to sign a nearly $30-million blank check to improve properties and classrooms that our enrollment doesn't justify. We're putting the cart before the horse. We need to close enrollment to those outside Oak Park and then reassess our strategic plan.

Vote No on Measure R and ask the Oak Park school district to stop spending our tax money to fund classrooms our kids don't need and won't use. It's worth the time and effort to get this right. Barbara B. Gray Oak Park