Annexation Plan for Yorba Linda, Placentia Schools

Members of Citizens Against School Annexation (CASA) are well aware of the problems that Placentia Unified is experiencing and do not feel it is in the best interest of the Yorba Linda School District to get caught up in the fiasco via the proposed annexation.

Even more disturbing, however, is the fact that PUSD officials continue to promote the annexation to the community by side-stepping the underlying issues.

Those who read your Aug. 23, article were given yet another example of PUSD’s rhetoric on finances: Superintendent James Fleming (apparently in an attempt to promote the illusion of financial well-being) stated that his “district has a $3.5-million building fund,” and that PUSD “plans to build two schools.”

Fleming fails to mention that a recent PUSD staff report concerning its 5-year capital resource allocation plan states, “In order to build two elementary schools within the next 3 years it will be necessary for the district to investigate other sources of funding or debt financing because the level of developer fees does not appear to be such that it could support the construction of two schools during that time period.”

Fleming additionally failed to mention that according to a July, 1988, board report, “in the past few years a reduction of students in the western part of the district and an equal increase in the number of students in the eastern part of the district have placed a significant strain on the district’s ability to adequately provide for all our children.”

James Fleming also fails to mention that two schools, Travis and Rio Vista, were so crowded last year that PUSD faces a penalty because those schools exceeded the maximum class size limitations.

Placentia Unified, of course, must be viewing the annexation of the Yorba Linda School District schools as a solution to its population imbalance, and YLSD reserves as a way to avoid deficit spending.

Since PUSD officials fail to address these problems in conjunction with the annexation proposal, Citizens Against School Annexation was organized to alert the public.

CAROLYN D. CLARK

Citizens Against School Annexation

Yorba Linda