This is the earliest news report referring to a secession from WCCUSD (from 2000, a few months after John Swett dropped its annex plans) that is freely available online…*

Hercules Residents Push Drive for School Secession
Elizabeth Bell, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, October 21, 2000

(10-21) 04:00 PST HERCULES — A movement by Hercules residents to secede from the troubled West Contra Costa Unified School District is gaining speed, as a citizens group and city officials study joining a neighboring district or forming their own.

Some Hercules residents believe they would have better schools if they were not in the west county district, which has about 2,700 Hercules students out of a total enrollment of 33,000.

“West Contra Costa is too big, and they have a lot of issues on their plate,” said Ed Balico, a Hercules planning commissioner and City Council candidate who is on a committee of about 15 citizens organizing for secession.

The group is looking at forming its own district or joining the neighboring John Swett Unified District, which has 2,000 students and is losing money because of declining enrollment.

The city of Hercules is also studying whether Hercules could operate its own district, join with John Swett or negotiate a new relationship with the West Contra Costa district that would give residents more say in their local schools.

But Balico said that even if city officials decide against secession, his group will push ahead.

Secession is not unusual in California, where 77 school districts have split since 1975, according to the California Department of Education. Residents of the affluent Mission San Jose district are in the midst of a controversial attempt to secede from Fremont schools.

But seceding is difficult. Backers would have to get 25 percent of Hercules’ registered voters to sign a petition advocating secession or annexation into John Swett Unified.

The process could be shut down by the state Board of Education if it determined that the boundary change would create racial, financial or educational imbalances in the original school district.

If the proposal passes muster, the state will decide whether Hercules residents or the entire West Contra Costa school district would vote on it.

John Swett Unified expects to lose a quarter of its enrollment during the next decade, making it increasingly difficult to run a strong high school and middle school program.

“The possibility that we would become a larger district with some growth in population does offer a logical solution to that problem,” said John Swett’s superintendent, Michael Roth. But he said he would hesitate to do anything that would hurt West Contra Costa schools.

West Contra Costa school officials are not keen on losing Hercules, especially because the district will open a new middle and high school complex in Hercules next fall. The state paid for the school.

West Contra Costa school board President Glen Price worries that losing Hercules would hurt his district.

“At this point, it would be a much better investment of time and energy to work on the problems and issues we have in front of us,” he said.

About 43 percent of Hercules residents are of Asian descent; about 28 percent are white; 13 percent are black, and 11 percent are Latino. In the West Contra Costa school district, 34 percent of the students are black; 27 percent are Latino; 19 percent are white, and 13 percent are Asian.

West Contra Costa is still paying back the state $21 million, which saved the district from declaring bankruptcy in 1991. Price said if Hercules did secede, he would expect residents there to assume a portion of that debt.

West Contra Costa is trying to meet Hercules’ needs, Price said. If a $150 million bond measure passes in November, the district would rebuild two Hercules elementary schools — Ohlone and Hercules — which consist mostly of deteriorating portable buildings now.

Hercules parent Colin Coffey said he strongly opposes splintering from the West Contra Costa school district. He is happy with his daughter’s school, Hanna Ranch Elementary, one of the top schools in the district and the state.

“In terms of the economics of operating a school district and the political clout to gain access to state funding, a combined district of Hercules with John Swett would not be viable,” said Coffey. “It’s potentially going to be a very divisive issue for Hercules.”

* That is, through my research efforts, and without paying any pesky archive fees.