Sentinel staff report–
Following a controversial City Council directive last year to look into the feasibility of Citrus Heights forming its own school district, the council will hear a much-anticipated report later this month from an ad-hoc committee that studied the matter for the past half-year.
According to publicly posted agendas on the city’s website, the Citrus Heights Education Committee has been meeting monthly, since July 2023, with it’s latest agenda indicating plans to present to the council on Feb. 22, 2024.
The agenda says the committee will first meet on Feb. 6 at City Hall, at 6 p.m., to recap the committee’s Jan. 23 meeting and discuss the upcoming presentation to the council.
As reported in December, the seven-member committee was authorized by the council in June 2023 and was originally slated to return to the City Council in early November to provide policy recommendations. During the June council meeting, the City Council appointed Jessica Fork, John Kane, Jeannie Bruins, Karen Mix, Thomas Scheeler, Robin Stout, and Laura Wilbur as members of the Citrus Heights Education Committee, but Scheeler resigned shortly after being appointed and was replaced by Jim Remick.
The committee’s key responsibilities have included analyzing Citrus Heights schools’ test scores, attendance records, extracurricular activities, and school capacity versus actual enrollment. Committee member Kane said the group “deep-dived” into the school district data for several months. The committee has also researched the process of creating a school district and evaluating the necessary budgetary resources.
In past council meetings, Citrus Heights city council members have been split on whether the city should focus on working with the San Juan district to improve local schools, or should instead pursue forming a new school district.
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