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Schools

School Enrollment Capped, Permits Limited

Despite severe budget cuts, the Board of Education has decided to curtail their permit policy for the upcoming school year.

The Board of Education approved an enrollment cap Tuesday night that limits the number of incoming permit students, taking a step to curb Culver City Unified School District's swelling numbers at the secondary schools and decrease the district's dependence on permit student revenue.

The new policy, which was approved at the Board of Education meeting and is effective for the 2010-2011 year, states that students on permit at the schools can continue their Culver City education, but prospective students who need permits will not receive them if a 500-student cap is reached for the applicant's particular grade.

The new rule is not applicable for Culver City residents, whose children will be admitted regardless of the number of enrolled students.

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"This is not our goal, this is a cap," said Scott Zeidman, Board of Education vice president.  "We don't want to shove 500 people in a class. As economic times get better, we will continue to lower and lower that down to a point where we can survive and get our schools back to a manageable level."

During the meeting, board members wrestled over the implications of the enrollment cap. Parent Robert Gray commented on a tabled aspect of the new policy that would yank permits from students who moved outside of the district during the school year.  

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"Kids shouldn't be penalized because we jammed the school full of kids who aren't from Culver City," Gray said. 

As a result, the Board shied away from making " a blanket rule," according to board clerk Karlo Silbiger, and decided that this particular item would be revisited at another time. During the meeting, he asserted that smaller schools have a tendency to be more "efficient and effective."

In the last five years, a permissive permitting policy has led to a 587- student increase in the number of out-of-district students in the city's middle and high school.  Right now, the 7th through 12th grade classes have more than 500 students each, and 6th grade is projected to have 467 incoming students for the 2010-2011 year.

The Board of Education began seeking to decrease their numbers after LAUSD Supt. Ramon Cortines threatened to discontinue the permits of all students who live within its boundaries but attend schools in other districts, including in Culver City.  Had his measure passed, it would have cost Culver City schools $5 million in lost revenue.

However, the LAUSD has cut numerous permits already, causing  Zeidman to suspect Culver City won't have a sufficient amount of applicants for in-coming kindergarteners or 6th graders.  But he still sees the conflict in having classes that are too large, and is attempting to find that balance.

"I don't want to see more than 500 children in a grade class.  I'm hoping never to get to that number," Zeidman said.  "We want to limit the number of permits so ... people can have a better feeling of being in a slightly smaller school as it was when I was a student there many many years ago."

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