Resident Starts Petition to Shift School District Boundaries

Arthur Murphy lives about a half of a mile from but his children won't attend there—unless he is successful in an effort to switch the school district boundaries.

Murphy, who lives with his wife and three children in the Granite Gate community off Whitewood Road in Murrieta, has started a petition to have the neighborhood and two other housing tracts switched from the Menifee Union School District to the Murrieta Valley Unified School District.

Murphy's Murrieta address falls in the boundaries of Menifee Union, which he said he learned of when he went to enroll his 5-year-old son in kindergarten. He said he was not aware of it when he bought the home in 2006.

"I tried to get my son into a Murrieta school. I was denied three times (by Menifee Union). The third time I took it to the Riverside County Office of Education and I was denied," Murphy said. "That is when I got on the phone to see what my next steps were."

He said he does not have a problem with Menifee Union, a kindergarten through eighth grade district. His concern is his proximity to Vista Murrieta High School. If Murphy's home was to remain in the Menifee district, his children would attend Paloma Valley High School, part of the Perris Union High School District.

"That's nine miles one way for my wife to drive," Murphy said. "That's 90 miles a week, when we have Vista Murrieta right here."

An official from Menifee Union could not comment on Murphy's predicament because of student confidentiality protections.

Menifee Union calculates its staffing needs based on population within its boundaries, said Jeanne Bargman, director of pupil personnel services.

"Schools within Menifee are built and staffed with the capacity to educate all children that reside within the MUSD boundaries," Bargman said. "We are confident that we can provide a quality education to all students."

Bargman went on to say there have been 209 approved transfers into Menifee Union for this school year, and 326 requests for transfers out. Of those requests for transfers out, 18 were denied by the receiving district, four were withdrawn, 10 were approved by the district on appeal, and 10 were approved by RCOE on appeal, she said.

Murrieta Valley Unified accepts inter-district transfers so long as it has space, according to Karen Parris, district spokesperson.

"They need to be released by their (home) district first," Parris said, of those who seek inter-district transfers.

After three attempts, Murphy said he followed up with RCOE to learn what his next steps needed to be.

Patti Crawford, Director II of pupil and administrative services for RCOE, said there is a strict process that begins with the complainant filing for a petition from the Registrar of Voters.

Murphy said he has garnered 52 signatures of 117 needed. According to California education code, the petitioner must obtain signatures from 25 percent of registered voters in the area in question. There are 468 registered voters in the three tracts Murphy is concentrating on, which stretch north from Clinton Keith Road to Linnel Lane, west of Whitewood Road.

After the signatures are verified, Crawford said the petition would go to a county committee. Public hearings would be held in affected districts. The committee would then determine if the school district reorganization met nine criteria. The environmental effects would also need to be reviewed, she said.

The committee would then vote. If the committee denied it, and unless both districts agreed, the issue would go to voters, Crawford said.

"It is likely they won't and it would go to an election," she said. "It could end up taking longer—a couple years."

Murphy said he is OK with waiting.

"My next step is moving, and I don't want to do that."