Not a solution to district fiscal woes

In his March 10 “Sounding Off” Evan Sorensen offers a fine-sounding

simplistic solution to the fiscal problems at the Huntington Beach

City School District, but he overlooks the complexities of the

situation.

Sorensen suggests that the obvious solution would have been to

sell all the surplus sites, and that the district should have already

started that process. But there are two big problems with this idea.

He acknowledges interim Supt. Duane Dishno’s position that the sites

should be retained in case we need more schools in the future. When

we consider that the community had enough children to require those

campuses only a generation ago, and that the demographer’s

projections only go out about 10 years, we can see that Dishno’s

position is wise. Furthermore, when we read other demographers’

projections for our region going out 25 years, we find that we face

huge population increases. Couple this with the fact that regional

planners and environmentalists are seeing to it that we stop

sprawling and start increasing density in existing built-out areas,

and it should be clear that we will most likely need these schools

again in the future.

The other problem that Sorensen is ignoring that I hope the

district is aware of is what happens when a school site is sold. He

quotes the value of $2 million an acre for the land. We should all be

clear that there is only one source for that kind of money:

developers. They may pay that if they get to build homes or retail

centers on the land. We will not get that kind of money from anybody

who would keep the sites under their present use. The closed school

sites are presently home to Little League Baseball and AYSO soccer

and provide precious open space for our community. If we build on

this land, that open space will never be replaced. If our community

sells off its last remaining open space to solve a short-term cash

flow problem, it is the first step toward blight, in my opinion.

Young families with a choice will not want to buy homes in a place

where their kids can’t play baseball or soccer. And when young

families stop coming, it’s the beginning of the end.

It is also wrong to think that the district will have cash in hand

right away if they decide to sell one of these sites. To change the

use for development the district or developer will have to prepare an

environmental report and hold public review hearings. The document

will be subject to scrutiny by those of us who do not plan on giving

up our open space. The process can take years. I imagine Dishno and

the school board recognize this, and that it would explain their

reticence to opt for selling a school site as a way to close the

budget gap.

As much as I support our public schools, our students, and our

teachers, I do not believe that selling off our open space and

recreational opportunities forever is a smart solution to the problem

we presently face.

* DERYL ROBINSON is a Huntington Beach resident. To contribute to

“Sounding Off” e-mail us at hbindy@ latimes.com or fax us at (714)

966-4667.