MUSD board prepares to take on unification bid alone

Board members of the Menifee Union School District say they plan to accelerate unification efforts. File photo

By Doug Spoon, Editor

There have been no discussions in the last 16 months between officials of the K-8 Menifee Union School District and the Perris Union High School District about MUSD’s desire to take two of PUHSD’s high schools into a Menifee Unified School District.

There is no indication the two districts will discuss the issue any time in the near future, either. That’s why MUSD is planning to move forward alone in the unification application, one board trustee told Menifee 24/7.

“We’re trying to organize so we will have everything put together when the fight comes,” said Jackie Johansen, president of the MUSD Governing Board. “We need to make our case so ironclad that we could take a few hits and still have a solid win.”

Creating a Menifee Unified School District with control of its own high school(s) has been a goal of MUSD proponents since 1995, when the opening of Paloma Valley High gave Menifee the first high school within its city limits. At the time, Menifee’s population and thus the resources of MUSD weren’t large enough to warrant such a move.

With the opening of Heritage High in 2007 and Menifee’s incorporation in 2008, the dream appeared closer to reality. Officials of PUHSD and MUSD agreed upon an application to the State of California for Menifee’s district unification, including bringing Paloma Valley into a newly unified Menifee district. The two districts shared the cost of a feasibility study on whether Menifee could satisfy a majority of nine criteria the state considers when approving such unification.

The finding of a consultant hired by the County Committee on School District Organization was that Menifee met only four of the nine criteria. Unification at that time did not take place.

Fast forward 12 years. PUHSD Governing Board members have backed away from discussions of another application, which would unify Menifee and gave its district Paloma Valley and Liberty High School, which will open in August 2021. Under that plan, Heritage High would remain in PUHSD along with Perris High School.

Meanwhile, MUSD officials believe their district has advanced to the point that approval of a unification application is much more likely than before. They would prefer to have PUHSD’s support, but they have decided that if they must go it alone, so be it, said Johansen (left), while admitting it would cost the district as much as $400,000 to complete a process that could take two years or more to complete, including the feasibility study.

“Unfortunately, that would come out of a budget that’s supposed to be going toward the education of our students,” Johansen said. “But if we can justify that the overall outcome is worth the expenditure … we have a large enough budget now that we can move funds around to cover this.

“The last time [MUSD applied], Menifee was still small enough that we couldn’t afford the expense. We had probably half the budget we have now. It’s not like we were insolvent, but our budget was not large enough to sustain the hit. I feel confident we would meet the criteria now. Not having the support of PUHSD will hurt our case, but the state is pushing for more unification in districts, and that could be in our favor.”

During a joint study session involving both district boards in July 2018, board members from both sides agreed to further discussion of a new unification application. But during a PUHSD board meeting in September of that year, board members suddenly expressed opposition to further involvement in such an application.

"My proposal is to stay away from this," said Jose Luis Araux, PUHSD board president at that time. "If that's what Menifee wants to do, let them pay for a study. We cannot spend the money in giving away two high schools."

At that same meeting, PUHSD board member David Nelissen said he had serious concerns about Menifee’s failure to meet the nine criteria in the 2008 application, and that any new study should be funded solely by MUSD.

"I think we need to find out what the numbers would be," Nelissen said. "We would also have to fulfill the nine criteria. We need to see if we would even be close."

Asked about the unification after a PUHSD meeting this week, Araux and Nelissen said their position has not changed.

PUHSD board members discuss Menifee unification at a September 2018 meeting. File photo

The lack of movement on unification has been criticized by many Menifee residents on social media. A common complaint alleges that because their high school taxes are paid to a district based in Perris, there is not a fair share of funds spent on Menifee.

Candace Reines, deputy superintendent of PUHSD, disputes this argument. She said residents are welcome to examine district expenditures listed on the district website. She said she was confident PUHSD board members would take another look at Menifee unification if MUSD paid for a study that showed it met all or most of the state criteria.

“Our school board is of the opinion that based on the most recent study that was done … that it [any new study] should be done through the elementary school district to present the high school district with any updated information,” Reines said this week. “If something were to change with the criteria, of course we would be interested in hearing that.

“The overarching concern of our school board is to be concerned with all of our students, not just a portion of our students. They believe the nine criteria were put in place for that reason, so that all parties are protected. A step in the right direction would be for them to see all the criteria being met. If new information were made available, I would say they would be open to hearing the information. I can’t speak to their decision in that case.”

In the 2008 study that didn’t support unification, five of the nine criteria were listed as not being met. They were:

Equitable division of property: Further study would be needed to determine whether, with a new high school added to the mix, that criteria could be met.

Preserve a racially integrated environment: Again, a new study would answer this question. The previous study indicated that the remaining enrollment of PUHSD following such a Menifee unification would trend toward 70 percent Hispanic.

Sound education performance: There has been debate about whether teacher salaries and curriculum would be adversely affected in one or both districts.

School facilities cost: Two bond measures passed since 2008 and the addition of Liberty High School have obviously changed the numbers here. Further study would be needed.

Sound fiscal management: Again, only a new detailed study would determine whether either of the districts would experience financial problems as a result of unification.

These are the issues Johansen and her fellow MUSD board members will address in future meetings, she said this week.

“It’s important to get the public involved,” she said. “I’d like to see an item on a public ballot asking residents if they want us to be unified. That would show everyone what our constituents want.”

During an MUSD meeting days after the PUHSD board members expressed opposition in 2018, then-MUSD board member Jerry Bowman had harsh words for officials of the other district.

"When they discussed the bond in 2012 (the $153 million Measure T, which passed), there was a promise that unification would happen with the new high school," said Bowman at the time . "There was always 'not if, but when'. That promise has been thrown away. If you can't trust that promise, you can't trust them.

"We need to do what we can to get at least a start to this on our own. Obviously, they have rallied the troops against unification."