San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) trustee John de Beck is suggesting beach communities break away from other city schools and form their own district. He unveiled a plan for schools on the Peninsula, the beach communities, Clairemont and adjacent communities to form what he called the San Diego Coastal Unified School District. He said the separate district would give more control to parents and community leaders. Because property taxes pay for education, de Beck said, and because a separate district would run more efficiently, the proposed new district could save taxpayer dollars. “In time, [a coastal district] would be able to say to the local people: ‘Either reduce your [property] taxes or keep them at the same level while other districts are setting them upward,’” de Beck said. De Beck presented the plan to administrators and parents in the Point Loma Cluster Schools (PLCS) Foundation during a neighborly budget forum in the Correia Middle School auditorium April 22. But cutting the district in half, as depicted in one version of a possible mapped-out district handed out to parents, takes a lot of work, de Beck said. Community organizers must collect signatures from 25 percent of registered voters in the proposed new district and hold a series of public hearings before the idea is placed before voters. De Beck said the district could be established by 2014 with “no problem.” Polly Traylor, PLCS Foundation president, said she likes the progressive thinking behind de Beck’s idea. “At least something like that has been discussed within our foundation so we can have more autonomy,” Traylor said. PLCS Foundation board member Shelli Kurth said the board has been looking for “solutions to make things more manageable.” While a separate district may be cheaper to run and provide more local control, parents are seeking solutions to the current district’s budget problems. The district approved a slate of budget cuts in March to save SDUSD an estimated $100 million. Cuts at the time included the elimination of busing students to magnet schools, slightly increased class sizes and mandatory work furloughs, among other reductions. Part of the plan included having two schools with fewer students share a single principal. Board trustees, however, took that option off the table during a meeting April 28, also agreeing to reinstate districtwide busing to magnet schools. This board’s original action to share principals represented a problem for Cabrillo Elementary School parent Julie Cramer. She said the district should directly include organizations like the Point Loma Cluster Schools Foundation in the decision-making process. “When it came to Cabrillo [Elementary School], we were out of the loop in what was clearly a decision that would most affect our cluster,” Cramer said. Asked by one audience member what parents should do to get their point across to other district trustees over future budget decisions, de Beck replied: “Go to the meetings … bang your fists, do whatever it takes.”