Hercules Secession Could Hurt Schools

Jul. 16–The fight to wrest Hercules schools from the West Contra Costa district suffered a blow this week after a new county report said the result would be disastrous.

Merging Hercules schools with the smaller John Swett district would potentially destabilize educational programs, alter the Swett community and financially ruin both districts, according to a report commissioned by the Contra Costa County Office of Education.

West Contra Costa would lose about 10 percent of its 32,000 students — and state dollars — but likely need to keep some of its highest-paid teachers.

John Swett would buckle under the weight of a $31.4 million liability inherited from its larger neighbor, the report says. The obligations largely stem from a billion dollar debt racked up by lifetime employee benefits and a $28.5 million state loan following a 1991 bankruptcy.

“We’d be creating a district that was already in the hole,” said Ellen Elster, deputy superintendent of the county Office of Education.

In February, Hercules-based group For the Kids We Care submitted a petition to the office asking to secede from West Contra Costa, claiming that it was too large and inefficient to meet the needs of Hercules students. The petitioners want to join the Swett district, which had 1,844 students this past year.

The county will take public comment on its report until July 29. The county committee on reorganization, consisting of county Board of Education members, is scheduled to make its decision Sept. 14. If the committee denies the petition, any party may appeal the decision to the state Board of Education.

Longtime petition supporter and Hercules resident Bill Prather questioned the validity of the report, posted Thursday on the county office’s Web site.

“Liars figure, figures lie. What is the real cost?” Prather said.

According to the report by Caldwell Flores Winters of Cardiff, the proposal fails to meet three of nine state requirements for a so-called transfer of territory.

One criterion is that the newly created district be organized on the basis of a similar community identity.

The 22,000-resident John Swett area consists of a cluster of small unincorporated communities such as Crockett and Rodeo. Hercules, with more than 21,000 residents, functions largely as a suburb.

A merger would lump together fundamentally different communities, the report says, tripling the number of students in John Swett and “thereby substantially changing the character of the schools and community.”

Consultants also warned the secession would negatively affect West Contra Costa’s education programs.

Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, parents of students at designated underperforming schools may move their children to better-scoring campuses.

Hercules students generally score better on standardized tests than students at most district schools. The report says that eliminating Hercules as a choice would limit parental rights under the federal act.

The most significant hurdle the petition failed to clear is a financial one.

John Swett would gain about 3,500 students and, as a result, reap about $255,000 more per year from the state. However, paying down its newly inherited liability over 30 years would cost more than $1 million a year, leaving an estimated $800,000 hole.

That assumes the state grants the district a zero-interest loan. The figures also do not account for future retiree benefits, the report says, which stacks up to another $21 million.

“That’s a lot of assumptions,” Elster said.

Homeowners within John Swett’s boundaries, which include Crockett, Rodeo, Port Costa and the Hercules neighborhood Foxboro, would take on nearly $24 million in construction bonds. Property taxes would rise, the report says, though they would fall in West Contra Costa.

If the 173 teachers in Hercules become John Swett employees, they would lose about $1,245 in pay per year and their lifetime benefits, the report says. They would likely remain in the larger district and displace less-experienced and lesser-paid teachers, adding a burden on West Contra Costa’s finances.

If John Swett raised its salaries to keep them, it would eat $335,000 into the smaller district’s coffers.

West Contra Costa school board President Glen Price said the report confirmed many of the arguments he and the opposition made against the merger in the past.

“It’s always been difficult for me to see how an objective observer could find any benefit in the merger for students of John Swett or West Contra Costa,” Price said. “I just can’t get it.”

IF YOU GO: The County Committee on School District Organization is expected to vote on a Hercules petition at 5 p.m. Sept. 14 in the Contra Costa County Office of Education board room, 77 Santa Barbara Road, Pleasant Hill.

ON THE WEB: View the county report at www.cccoe.k12.ca.us

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