School board meets at California Community Foundation.

In a series of special meetings to address looming deficits, the LA Unified school board on Tuesday reviewed potential savings of $112 million or more, but no action was taken.

The all-day discussion was the third off-site meeting held by Superintendent Michelle King to address recommendations by the Independent Financial Review Panel to stave off deficits that could reach nearly half a billion dollars in three years. The panel’s report was presented to the school board in November.

Three areas of cost savings were discussed at Tuesday’s meeting, held at the California Community Foundation a few blocks from the district’s Beaudry headquarters. In the area of food services, the panel suggested ending the practice of dipping into the general fund by about $50 million a year; changes to warehousing and moving equipment could save more than $12 million a year, and improving payroll operations and financing techniques could save $25 million to $50 million or more a year.

Some of the school board members seemed impatient and wanted to see the cost-saving measures implemented as soon as possible.

“I obviously think that if we received information in November we should be acting on some of it now. Yes, I am concerned,” board member Monica Ratliff said. “I do have a sense that the superintendent has a plan and I know she has been implementing some of the suggestions that were made. There are other suggestions that we should have done ourselves a long time ago.”

In a slice of good news, Laura Benavidez of Food Services said the Breakfast in the Classroom program has made $9 million in net revenue since it was started districtwide. “We found more efficient ways of distributing the breakfasts to every student and saved money,” Benavidez said. The district receives 85 cents a meal, and every student gets breakfast at no cost.

However, the panel report suggested that the district stop subsidizing the food services programs from the general fund and keep the costs contained to the division, instead of draining $50 million a year from the general fund. The six district food programs that include breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner serve 134 million meals a year. King said that the higher costs of fresh fruit and vegetables and antibiotic-free chicken drive up costs for the district meals.

“Others have looked to us and our district on how to manage and deal with their menus and follow suit,” King said. “We have and are trying to be as efficient as possible.”

Another cost was adding an hour to three-hour shifts for cafeteria workers so they could get benefits, which was unanimously approved in 2008. The additional costs of the 1,700 employees resulted in a larger food services budget, said Chief Financial Officer Megan Reilly.

At one point there were 12 percent vacancies in food services, and now it’s 1 to 2 percent, Benavidez said.

This year 52 percent of the budget ($180.4 million) was spent on salaries and benefits while 48 percent ($168.1 million) was spent on food. That’s a total of $348.5 in expenses, and last year revenues were $321.1 million.

School board reviews budget saving ideas.

Some of the school board members said the food services program seemed to be on track, and there was little they could do to prevent spending money from the general fund.

Reilly pointed out that other school districts such as Long Beach and Bakersfield are in similar financial situations.

“While the Financial Panel suggests we immediately eliminate this $50 million, I look back and I don’t see how they expect us to do that,” Ratliff said. “It suggests careful menu planning, implementation of consistent production and controlling food costs, and it sounds like we are already doing those things. I don’t see how we can eliminate this.”

The staff also discussed saving $12 million by avoiding the moving and warehousing of equipment from a central warehouse. The idea was to explore a desk-top ordering system that eliminates warehouses and shifts the burden for storage and delivery to the retailer. The district stores high volumes of art, medical, physical education, custodial and maintenance supplies which it gets a lower cost because of bulk orders. The district had previously determined that over the last eight years they had a cost-effective model, and board member George McKenna pointed out that the warehouse employs 360 people.

Zimmer asked if some of the supplies could be sold to independent charter schools that the district oversees, and if those schools could join in the large orders for the district.

The panel report also recommended changes in the payroll system that could save $25 million to $50 million or more and improve effectiveness and efficiency. Reilly said 97,000 W2 forms come through payroll each year, with $225 million for teachers. The payroll department also receives 23,000 calls a year.

The district officials said they have explored outsourcing payroll systems and paying semi-monthly. They noted that payroll costs per check issued have decreased from $6.20 per check in 2013-2014 to $5.81 in 2014-2015, showing some savings.

Board member Richard Vladovic suggested that breaking up the district into smaller units would decentralize payroll and warehousing and create cost savings.

King said, “We have local districts and we are doing everything we can to decentralize.”

Vladovic added, “I don’t think we can sustain this organization if we continue to lose kids. Failure tends to breed more failure.”

Zimmer said, “I’m interested in being bold. We should have the single best customer service in the country.”

Pedro Noguera, distinguished professor of education at UCLA and facilitator for Tuesday’s meeting, suggested that Los Angeles is on the verge of either becoming a bankrupt school district or becoming successful.

“We don’t want to be Chicago or Detroit or Philadelphia,” Noguera said. “There are growing districts like Miami and Denver. We need to figure out what is different. We need to look at other models.”

King said that she is putting together a long-term strategic plan for the district as well as using the board’s input at these meetings for next year’s budget that will be voted on by the school board at the end of the month.

“We need to know where to put the dollars, we have to be strategic,” King said. “We cannot do it all.”

Estimated cost per special education student, from LAUSD.

Special education students present one of the biggest costs for LA Unified, but administrators are considering ways to capitalize on the district’s successes with that population.

Half of the school board’s all-day special budget session at USC on Tuesday was spent discussing the costs of dealing with students with mild and severe disabilities.

Special ed is identified as one of the three major deficit drivers on the school budget, along with pension costs and retiree benefit costs. The discussions included better methods of labeling students with disabilities, how to lower costs working with those students and possibly suing the state and federal governments to help pay for them.

The estimated annual cost to educate a student with disabilities is $8,275 more than a general education student. A general education student costs $11,798 per year, so a student with disabilities costs a total of $20,073.

Michelle King with special education students.

The second-largest school district in the nation also has the largest population of special education students in the country, at 72,973 students, excluding those in independent charters.

“We face issues and challenges for this population with inadequate funding from the federal piece and the state piece,” said Superintendent Michelle King.

Chief Financial Officer Megan Reilly said that only 60 percent of the $1.5 billion in costs is covered by the federal and state money. She said, “There is a perception we have the money to cover all our special education students, but we don’t.”

School board President Steve Zimmer, who has personally lobbied both Washington, D.C., and Sacramento politicians for a more fair share of the special ed money, said the district is at the forefront of trying to get the necessary money to cover the costs.

Board member Monica Ratliff suggested, “Why don’t we sue?”

LA Unified chief attorney David Holmquist said he would take another look at the possibility of doing that but said, “I don’t think a lawsuit will solve this problem.”

This is the second of five meetings King is holding to report to the school board members on the budget situation, and to ask for guidance in shaping next year’s budget that must be voted on in June.

All of this falls on the backdrop of an Independent Financial Review Panel that issued a report last November spelling out harsh financial realities coming up in the next few years and offering suggestions to stop looming deficits. Some of the school board members expressed a need to react to the specifics in the report more directly.

“I would like to know what the numbers are if we don’t do something recommended in that report, and so we can say we can’t do this for this reason, and, in order to achieve that it would take A, B and C,” said Ratliff. Board members Monica Garcia and Richard Vladovic agreed.

“When we do really a great job we don’t have to market it, people want to come,” Garcia said. “And even though we do have inadequate support from the government and despite really hard circumstances this organization has remained committed and never abandoned these kids in the most need. We should feel some level of pride that we survived the great recession and did not back down to our commitment toward this population.”

Even with the numbers of students enrolled in the district decreasing, the percentages of students with disabilities have increased. In 2002-2003 when there were 737,739 students in the district, 11.5 percent or 84,819 students were labeled with disabilities. Today, in the 2015-2016 school year, 72,973 students, or 13.8 percent of the 528,056-student population, have disabilities.

In the last complete school year, 2014-2015, one out of every 38 general education students were referred for an initial assessment for special education. A total of 86 percent of those were found eligible for special education services.

There are some students with disabilities who are under-served in the district and some that may be over-referred and should be back in the general population, said Sharyn Howell, the executive director of the Division of Special Education for the district. Charter and private schools, and even children from other states, have come to LA Unified for their special needs children.

About 48 percent of the English learner students are also special ed students partially because the testing involves reading comprehension. Howell said, “Many of the strategies that work with English learners also work with students with disabilities and vice versa.”

The district is working to integrate students into the general population as much as possible. “Some of the underserved and some of the over-served are in the same neighborhood,” Howell said. “If somebody at the school wants to identify one way, they will find a way.”

Nationally renowned educator Pedro Noguera, who was hired by the district to help facilitate the meeting, suggested that the district look at how to build on the public goodwill it has with handling special needs children. “I know families that have taken their kids out of private schools and put them in LAUSD because of the special education programs,” he said, suggesting that the board look at the high special ed numbers as a positive.

Students with severe disabilities in red, with the overall special ed population in blue.

Meanwhile, special ed contributes to the drain on the school’s general fund. Reilly said special ed takes up 16 percent of the general fund, but by 2020 it will be 20 percent.

King said the district already began intervention and prevention work with a Student Support and Progress Team (SSPT) and with Accelerated Learning Academies (ALA) for select K-3 programs to identify at-risk students who might be non-readers. The district is creating a system of regular reporting to identify referrals and assessments and finding ways to reintegrate special needs students into the general population as much as possible.

Parent trainings were done in 208 schools this year to focus on referral, assessment and training procedures, according to King. Also, they want to make sure that students are not being assessed or put into restrictive settings due to factors such as ethnicity, so reports will be done by grade, gender and ethnicity.

“I get the feeling that there may be different levels of services based on socio-economic issues, so that parents who can afford to get attorneys will get more services than those who can’t afford attorneys and that’s not fair,” said Ratliff. “I worry that groups get less service.”

From LAUSD

King said the district has taken steps to solve those concerns and deal with disproportionate identification.

“We are training parents to help them know when their child is ready to reintegrate into the general education, and make sure those kids are not left without anything and still have supports to be successful,” King said.

Zimmer said that costs could come down if the services that are contracted out are done within the district. “I want to look at ways to bring some of these services in house since we do some of the best work and a lot is outsourced,” Zimmer said. “I know from my own experiences and working with families there is a wide range of effectiveness and customer satisfaction. If you bring costs down and bring it in-house and provide a career path for some of our folks in this work you will get better outcomes. I think there are other areas where we can have internal initiatives to lead to their outcomes and save some money in the process.”

Zimmer mentioned, for example, that a student with autism may have a one-on-one aide that is hired from an agency outside the district.

Ratliff pointed out successful programs like the Lowman Special Education Center in her district in North Hollywood. “If it could exist for every school, people would be thrilled,” Ratliff said. “Charter schools can’t afford to do this, and it’s highly successful. We have to learn how to do those kind of programs with less revenue.”

Solar panels, water recycling, light bulb replacements and other programs will help off-set some of the extra costs of water and power, said District Chief Facilities Executive Mark Hovatter.

“We will try to encourage less consumption, but if we use the same amount now, our costs will go up $24 million in five years,” Hovatter told the Budget, Facilities and Audit Committee meeting on Tuesday. The committee had asked how LA Department of Water and Power increases approved in March by the Los Angeles City Council will impact the school district.

The new cost challenge comes as the district’s deficit is expected to be about $100 million by the 2017-2018 school year and hit $450 million in three years.

Electricity makes up about 80 percent of the district’s utility bill, which is about $128 million this year, Hovatter said. And those costs are increasing with the earlier start to the school year, as well as the expansion of summer school programs, he said.

“Parents love summer school, everybody loves summer school and we want that to continue, but do we need to tell them there are 14 days that might have rolling blackouts and do we have plans for when that happens?” said budget committee chair Monica Ratliff as she looked over Hovatter’s report. He said some schools have generators, and principals of summer schools are trained for such events.

Hovatter said the district already tried to mitigate some of the energy cost increases by starting a solar program a few years ago. They have installed 66 of the planned 68 solar panels in 64 school sites that will generate $5.7 million in energy cost savings this year, he said.

“We are well under way with the solar program,” he said. “We also are getting a big bang for our return when investing in efficient lights.”

The district is replacing most light bulbs with more efficient LED bulbs so that an 18-watt bulb will light the same area that once took 100 watts.

Mark Hovatter, chief facilities executive

Although the cost savings are modest, the district received honors for saving about 40 million gallons of water through its plumbing retrofit.The district is saving $200,000 a year as a result. The DWP awarded the district with a Sustainability Award for being one of the “top five water management customers” last year.

So far 13 district schools have purple pipes, carrying recycled non-potable water for use in irrigation. Van Nuys High School was the first school in the expanding program.

Schools have also replaced pipes, so they no longer need to be flushed for lead, saving about $2 million, and they also have underground cisterns and retention basins to collect and save water at schools. Some of the underground collection wells help recharge the stormwater run-off and funnel out oil from the groundwater.

School board member Scott Schmerelson noted one way to save on the electric bill: “I see all the time when I go to schools the doors wide open and air conditioning blowing out to cool off the whole Los Angeles area. We need someone to tell them to close the doors.”

Chief Financial Officer Megan Reilly

LA Unified expects this to be its best budget year in a decade, school officials said Tuesday, but board members urged immediate action to address a deficit in three years that could reach half a billion dollars.

“This is the healthiest year in the past decade,” Chief Financial Officer Megan Reilly said in a report to the school board. “For the first time since 2008, this is the first budget without a need for a fiscal plan.”

Reilly also reported that the district had reduced by more than $200 million a projected budget deficit in two years.

Last June, the district was projecting a $340 million deficit by the 2017-2018 school year, and in December that prediction was changed to $225 million. Now that deficit is expected to be less than $100 million. It’s possible it may be as low as a $72.2 million deficit, Reilly reported.

While Reilly reported that the district will have an unassigned ending balance surplus of $129 million this year, she warned that the budget benefited from one-time payments from the state totaling about $170 million, which was owed to the district, and that those funds cannot be depended on for long-term fiscal stability. “On a cautionary note, waiting for one-time funds to plug up that hole is not good for the ongoing deficit,” Reilly said.

The general fund’s balance is projected to be $1.2 billion as of June.

But after congratulatory statements from other board members, Monica Ratliff asked about a slide that had not been presented that addresses a potential $450 million deficit in three years due to declining enrollment and increasing fixed costs, including pension costs, legal liability and other post-employment benefits.

Student enrollment is expected to decline in 2018-2019 by three percent.

Ratliff, who chairs the Budget, Facilities and Audit Committee, urged the board to address the deficit and wanted more transparency.

Board member Richard Vladovic also called for immediate attention to the projected deficit.

“That is a half a billion dollars,” Vladovic said. “I recommend that the superintendent deal with that now. I’m very concerned. We have to note that 86 cents of every dollar goes to people, that’s for salary, health benefits and more.”

“I don’t want to do anything now that will be hurting people years from now,” Ratliff added.

Addressing that deficit in three years, Reilly said, “We have two years to get there. We have to address it, but there is a rosier outlook now with campaigns and programs.”

In presenting the Second Interim Report plan, Reilly said the district will be able to meet financial commitments for the next two fiscal years, through 2017.

“The second interim suggests an overall improvement of the multi-year outlook,” Reilly said.

“This year’s second interim has a stable outlook,” said Superintendent Michelle King. She credited an increase in revenues from the More-than-a-Meal free meal campaign and improved student attendance, which alone increased revenues by $60 million.

King said that perfect attendance in the district could bring in an additional $250 million annually. King warned that there are 80,000 students who are chronically absent. But she said she is encouraged by the report and added, “Together, anything is possible.”

Board member Monica Garcia was happy to hear the district won’t have to send teachers pink slips, which has been standard practice over the past few years. “It is nice that California has increased support for our kids, and we need more and we could do better,” Garcia said.

King agreed. “We don’t want to get into the position of doing Draconian cuts.”

While pundits are describing it as another conservative budget from Brown, K-12 education funding looks to get a boost, with an increase to $51.2 billion from $49.8 billion in the last fiscal year.

The budget will need to be negotiated with state lawmakers and approved by the legislature and readjusted in the spring as updated state revenue numbers roll in. The new fiscal year begins July 1.

The budget increases school spending per student to $10,591 in 2016-17 — a boost of nearly $3,600 compared with 2011-12 levels, according a post on Brown’s website: “The budget provides a fourth-year investment of more than $2.8 billion in the Local Control Funding Formula, which focuses on students with the greatest challenges to success, bringing the formula to 95 percent implementation. The budget also proposes a $1.6 billion early education block grant that combines three existing programs to promote local flexibility, focusing on disadvantaged students and improved accountability.”

The increase for education won praise from around the state. Among the reactions:

• “It is safe to say this will be the second best year for schools in a decade,” said Kevin Gordon, an education lobbyist, according to the Los Angeles Times.
• “We are glad to see that the continued economic recovery once again allows the California state budget to make noteworthy investments in our children and schools,” said James P. Steyer, founder & CEO of Common Sense Media.
• “We commend Governor Brown for continuing a strong legacy of ensuring California’s students and education system have the resources they need and rightfully deserve. By increasing funding for our schools, Governor Brown is once again demonstrating that an investment in our students is an investment in the future of our state,” said a statement from Students Matter.
•  “This is a good news budget for our students, teachers, parents, communities and businesses. The Governor is continuing to devote more revenues to high-quality learning that prepares children for 21st century careers and college, including an additional investment of $300 million in career technical education that emphasizes hands on learning,” said State Superintendent of Instruction Tom Torlakson.

The dark cloud hanging over the flush educational budgets of the last few years is Prop 30, a tax increase that has flooded the state with additional billions for schools but is due to begin sunsetting this year unless voters approve an extension that may be on the ballot this November.

The California Federation of Teachers called the need to extend Prop 30 “the elephant in the room,” adding in a statement. “The CFT is working with a coalition of unions and community organizations to place a renewal of Prop 30 on the November ballot. The governor’s budget proposal, and his state of the state message, represents the right moment for the governor to acknowledge that without a Prop 30 extension, the progress we have made over the past few years will be in jeopardy.”

Los Angeles’ schools are alive with the sound of music, or at least, they will be come fall when LA Unified’s new-and-improved arts budget is put into practice.

Last week, the school board approved the district’s 2015-2016 spending plan, which allocates $26.5 million to arts education, said Rory Pullens, executive director of arts education for the district. This funding represents a $4 million increase from last year and an overall vast improvement from the “years of decline that we’ve been existing in since the economic downturn,” he told LA School Report.

Some of this money will go toward hiring instrumental music teachers so schools that already have instruments can bring them out of storage and put them into the hands of students, he said. Locations that aren’t so lucky will get money to purchase violins, cellos, guitars and other pieces need to put together an orchestra, as well as to provide teachers the professional development they need to be effective.

“The most important factor in a child’s education is who that teacher is and how qualified and equipped they are,” Pullens said.

The upcoming school year also marks the beginning of the Industry Adopt-A-School program, established by Pullens to connect LA’s robust arts and entertainment businesses to LAUSD students.

“It is our students who are ultimately going to be their workforce of the future,” he said.

This partnership not only establishes apprenticeships and connects industry mentors with kids and teens but also aims to bring professional equipment, such as lighting and sound gear, into schools for the students to train on. By establishing industry ties now, arts education will have a better chance at flourishing even when funding begins to lag. 

LAUSD shouldn’t be operating in a silo, said Pullens, so he plans to also showcase students’ artistic development by bringing them out of the schools and into the community through public art festivals.

Much of the arts overhaul comes as a result of the district’s new “Arts Equity Index,” created to identify the schools most in need of arts education.

“We haven’t forgotten you…your students are just as valuable as any other student,” Pullens said of these neglected schools.

After much wooing by the LAUSD, Pullens came to Los Angeles last year under a one-year contract. He was recruited from his position leading the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington D.C., where he employed the help of celebrities like Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon to raise funding for the school.

Pullens has since signed a new one-year agreement with LAUSD that will keep him in Los Angeles until at least 2016.

But despite the added injection of cash —the general fund will grow by more than $700 million over last year, a 12 percent increase — district officials warn the good times will expire in just two years. While district officials project surpluses in 2015-16 and 2016-17, rising expenditures will lead to a $333.4 million deficit by 2017-18.

In a memo to LA Unified Superintendent Ray Cortines and school board members, Chief Financial Officer Megan Reilly explained that drastic cuts to programs would be necessary to balance the budget for that year. However, “If implemented, it would be difficult for the District to retain any semblance of good educational programs for our students,” she wrote.

Here are a few highlights from Cortines’ proposal:

• The budget reflects an additional $311 million in one-time funds
• LCFF spending is up by $419 million. About $170 million of that is allocated for students living in poverty, requiring special education services, or foster care students.
• It reflects salaries compensation increases for bargaining units that have settled for a total of $345.8 million in 2015-16.
• $170 million have been allocated for spending on programs to make schools more equitable, including “Board priorities such as an A to G and Zero dropout initiative, and Dual Language and Magnet program expansions.”

The budget will be formally presented to the school board on Tuesday, June 16.

Gov. Jerry Brown reveals his revised budget

* UPDATED

Gov. Jerry Brown’s revised budget, which directs billions more toward schools over the next few years, has brought smiles to the faces of educational leaders around the state.

The overall amount includes an additional $3.1 billion for the current academic year and $2.7 billion extra for next year and could mean as much as $400 million for LA United this school year, according to the district.

Applause and cheers has been rolling in, but as the district said, “Half of these funds are ongoing and half are one-time only. This money has already been allocated for programs and personnel. The additional state funds resolve the deficit for the next school year.  However, even with the new revenue assumptions, the District continues to face deficits in the following years.”

Here are some statements from local and state leaders:

• LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines: “The governor’s commitments to education and career preparation are strategic investments in California’s future. Today’s announcement of increased financial support for schools will help improve the lives of students in the Los Angeles area. We will prioritize these new resources to make our students college and career-ready.”
• LAUSD board member Bennett Kayser: “More is better. The State never should have treated public education like a piggy-bank to be raided when times got tough. We have set high standards for our students and our staff at LAUSD but 49th in the nation in per-pupil-funding does not provide us with the means to achieve those goals. We must continue the fight in California to raise the level of investment in our children through public education.”
• LAUSD board member Mónica García: “Welcome news from Gov. Brown!  Our communities seek greater investment from the state and encourage the Legislators to join Gov Brown in beginning the road for accelerated ongoing investments in our learning environments.”
• State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson: “Governor Brown’s May Revision continues the great progress we have been making to better fund California’s public schools and better prepare students for careers and college in the 21st century. I applaud the Governor for his leadership on education.”

• Education Trust West: “We thank Governor Brown for increasing the investment in the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) and applaud his overall commitment to increased education funding in his proposed 2015-16 state budget. The additional LCFF funding is critical to meeting the needs of California’s neediest students by fully implementing the new funding formula that Governor Brown championed. However, we are disappointed by the Governor’s decision on funding for the implementation of new state standards. The May Revision proposes one allocation of funds that school districts could use for two purposes: either implementation of new standards, or payment for previous unreimbursed mandates.”
• California Federation of Teachers President Joshua Pechthalt: “More than $6 billion in revenues beyond projections present an opportunity to build on the progress we have made in public education since the passage of Prop 30,” said , “and the Governor makes a good start with the May Revision. However, we have a long way to go before we restore the programs in education and social services we lost to a decade of budget cuts. Whatever basic stability we have achieved is due to Prop 30, and that needs to be recognized by making its revenues permanent and seeking fair, new sources to fund California’s future.”
• Students Matter: “At Students Matter, we agree that schools need more resources and praise the Governor for his leadership on this important topic. In fact, our lawsuit, Vergara v. California, is based in part on the case law established by the Serrano cases, which addressed the state’s public education financing system and established precedent recognizing that California’s students have a fundamental right to equal educational opportunity under the law. But we also know that funding alone won’t address the multifaceted challenges faced by our students. We must also solve for the systemic educational quality issues that are propagated and reinforced by California’s current Education Code.”
• CTA President Dean E. Vogel: “The governor’s revised state budget plan keeps the promise to California’s students and the promise of Proposition 30 as approved by voters. His continued commitment and repayment of the debt owed to California’s students, schools and colleges keeps us on the road to recovery. After years of more than $20 billion in devastating budget cuts and thousands of educator layoffs, that recovery is still in the beginning stages. Critical student programs are beginning to be restored, but our class sizes remain the largest in the country, we rank 46th in per-student funding, and dead last in the number of school counselors and librarians. The May revised budget, which includes the repayment of all school deferrals is another important step in the right direction.”
  

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  *Clarifies amount of money expected for LA Unified, according to the district.

Gov. Jerry Brown

With expectations of a windfall from the state when Gov. Jerry Brown announces his updated budget tomorrow, various interests in LA Unified are eager to learn if the added dollars will reach them.

It’s not likely.

Despite the possibility that the district’s cut of the added revenues could reach $300 million or more, Superintendent Ramon Cortines waved a cautionary flag at the school board meeting yesterday, reminding people that the district is still facing a $200 million deficit and there’s that big new deal with the teachers union to fund.

“The district has not operated correctly in the last several years because of enrollment declines, et. cetera,” he said, throwing cold water on any fanciful notions that other programs would receive a boost. The teachers union, for example, is pressing to rescind layoff notices recently sent to 609 members.

The governor’s office is expected to announce the new money tomorrow. The largest amount is likely to go for public education, and as California’s largest school district, LA Unified is anticipating about 11 percent of whatever amount is announced.

Predictions range from $2 billion more to spread around the state, to $3 billion.

“While we have not been given details from the administration, we have also been led to believe that it will be a lot more money than we expected,” Edgar Zazueta, the district’s chief lobbyist, told LA School Report. “I think the amounts are going to be the headlines this week.”

LAUSD CFO Megan Reilly

It turns out LA Unified’s money woes aren’t so bad — for now, anyway.

Shortly before the end of the calendar year, Superintendent Ramon Cortines and other district officials were forecasting a deficit of $320 million, sometimes closer to $350 million. But that was before Governor Jerry Brown proposed his new budget.

Now, the district’s revised estimated shortfall is a quarter of the original — about $88 million.

Megan Reilly, Chief Financial Officer for the district, told school board members yesterday much of the difference is being made up by an increase of $240 million in Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) revenue, which aims to return district funding to 2007-08 levels.

“LCFF makes up 76 percent of our total general fund,” she said.

That means per pupil funding next year will go up to $9,322 from $8,403 this year. Still, that falls far below the goal of just over $11,000 per student. And it leaves the district 18 percent shy of the overall budget target.

“And remember, having a target or meeting the target is not the same thing as having adequacy,” Reilly said.

Another windfall for the district next year is a one-time mandated cost reimbursement of $93.4 million. Reilly described it as a debt from the state for ”things that the governor or the legislature mandates the district to do but did not provide funding.”

The bad news for the district, however, is declining enrollment and attendance.

On average the LA Unified enrollment goes down by 3 percent each year due to a lower birth rate and attrition to charter schools. And every 3 percent loss of students, Reilly said, costs the district $100 million in funding.

But making matters worse this year is MISIS. The glitchy student data tracking system did not have the capacity to track attendance for several months early in the school year, forcing teachers to take attendance by hand, then go back and re-enter the information into the system. Unfortunately, the data often vanished from the program.

The implications of the district’s software problems could be disastrous when it comes time to report attendance data to the state because the state relies on self-reported data to calculate average daily attendance funding. The loss of information could cost the district several hundred million dollars.

“We’re trying to recapture as much of that data as possible,” Cortines said, attempting to soothe the board.

But board members took little comfort after hearing from Reilly on the subject.

“I will have to say right now we’re looking at variances of 3 percent up to 16 percent in these numbers,” she said. “We are talking about a drop in revenue in the hundreds of millions of dollars.”

That lead to an audible gasp in the board room auditorium.

Alex Caputo Pearl, president of the teachers union, UTLA, chose to seize on the positive state budget news to encourage the board to support a long-awaited salary increase for teachers. The union and the district have been negotiating a new contract for months, with little progress reported.

“We see a lot of opportunity to get down to business to talk about salary that will actually recruit and retain educators in LAUSD and some of our hardest hit schools in the nations,” he told the board.

The boon is also an opportunity to implement lower class size throughout the district, he added.

By UTLA’s calculations Reilly is low-balling how much LA Unified is likely to receive in state funding. “We’ve seen an 8.7 percent increase in K-12 funding. That could be up to 12 percent increase, from what we understand, for LAUSD,” Caputo-Pearl said.

Furthermore, he added, “those percentages are likely to be floors rather than ceilings given that we’ve got a democratically controlled legislature.”

Brown’s budget proposal unveiled today for the 2014-15 fiscal year dedicates an extra $10 billion to K-12 schools, plus an additional $6 billion to wipe out the debt to schools accumulated over several years of recession cuts.

It’s the the second year in a row education spending has gone up. For LAUSD it’s especially good news.

LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy told LA School Report he is surprised by the boost in the budget and the increase in Local Control Funding Formula funds.

Until now the state planned to disburse LCFF funds to school districts over the next three years. But the new budget would release $4.5 billion in LCFF money in one lump sum.

That figure is more than $2 billion than was expected.  It’s unclear how of that will go to LAUSD, the state’s largest school district.

But Deasy said he’d like to see one important change. He plans to lobby the Governor to “lower the debt payoff and, instead, increase the ongoing new money” and warned that, “we are still many millions of dollars below the 2008 funding level, when the state budget crisis officially began.”

Meanwhile, Warren Fletcher, president of the teachers union (UTLA) welcomed the news behalf of LAUSD employees.  “If there was any doubt before, it’s clear now that L.A. Unified has the money to repay employees for their financial sacrifices during the budget crisis and to give them their first salary increase in nearly seven years.”

Two LA Unified school board members offered their thoughts on Brown’s budget.

Bennett Kayser said, “The Governor’s Local Control Funding Formula is critical to LAUSD as it has so many foster care, English language learners, and Title 1 students; the faster the State can reach the goals of LCFF, the sooner the governor’s efforts will be realized and the neediest of children will be helped. Even with this good news, California still lags woefully behind the rest of the nation in per pupil funding and more must be done.”

Tamar Galatzan also weighed in saying, “I hope to be able to lower class sizes, rehire nurses, librarians, counselors and other critical staff members, and provide raises to all LAUSD employees who have made sacrifices during the recession. At the same time, we need to heed the governor’s call for wise and prudent spending to allow LAUSD to regain its fiscal stability.”

The news sets the stage for the LA Unified school board to hash out its own budget. There are two measures seeking to hire more teachers and to give raises on the agenda for the next school board meeting in January 14.

Previous Posts: Deasy Praises Brown Budget Proposal, Survey: Parents unaware they have a voice in school funding  

But two months into the school year, with more than 30,000 iPads deployed, $50 million already spent and another $500 million on the line, school board members still have more questions than answers about the most basic details of getting a sleek new(ish) tablet into the hands of every student. And what has become painfully obvious is that school board and committee members alike are only now asking questions that should have been asked long before the project got off the ground.

For instance, when school board members Monica Ratliff and Bennett Kayser asked, how much will it cost to get a tablet into the hands of every student, neither Hugh Tucker, in the district’s Facilities Services Division, nor Ron Chandler, Chief Financial Officer, could answer definitively. That’s due to several variables, including the cost of keyboards, which Chandler said the district is “still bidding out.”

They also wondered why the cost of each iPad appeared to rise from a projected $678 to $770, a question that might have been asked before the contract between the district and Apple was signed in July.  It shouldn’t have been a surprise to committee members, either, that taxes and e-rate fees hadn’t been factored in when the board was initially sold on the idea early last year.

And, the discount that was negotiated with Apple won’t kick in until the district buys $400 million worth of devices for a savings of $13.5 million. Some members didn’t seem to know that was in the contract, too.

It seemed pretty clear that until yesterday’s gatherings of the Budget Facilities and Audit Committee and the Common Core Technology Project Ad Hoc Committee (gesundheit!), no one had raised the question over ownership of the Pearson curriculum that comes pre-loaded on each device. An important issue since the district’s contract with Apple expires three years from now, and Apple is the company that made the deal with Pearson Education Inc. as the software provider.

School board member Steve Zimmer asked, “The district plans to use the iPads for five years so what does it do for the last two?” He also wanted to know, will students and teachers still have access the Pearson software? Will the district have to pay again for updates?

In the end, the Pearson question took about an hour of discussion over the two meetings — and a musical chairs of district staffers who serve as committee members as well as witnesses — to get a partial answer. Chandler assured the Technology Committee that LA Unified “will own the content forever.” But he could not say what, if any, support or updates the district will get from the company once the contract with Apple is over.

And there’s still some confusion over the legality of allowing students to take the expensive devices home, a problem that could derail future funding for the project, according to the Bond Oversight Committee. The bond funds being used to pay for the project can only be used for construction or modernization of district facilities and not instruction or curriculum.

Scott Folsom, who represents the PTA on the bond committee and voted to support the first phase of the program said, “We rushed into this.”

“The superintendent [John Deasy] sold this as unstoppable once it got started but even he now is speaking about Phase 1 as an experiment and that it wouldn’t be a total waste if it stopped here because we still have the iPads.”

For months the school board, the bond committee and the technology committee have been promised answers and yesterday was no exception. Time and time again, over more than five hours of discussion and public comment, committee members yesterday were told, “We’ll look into that.”

And so the looking continues, with the next chance for answers at the full board meeting scheduled for next Tuesday.

That meeting, said, Daphne Congdon, Director of Information Technology, Finance and Administration, ”is going to be the best meeting ever.”

Somebody let the aliens know.

Previous Posts: Anger, Frustration Evident as LAUSD Officials Meet Community; Deasy proposes extending iPad rollout; iPad Problems not Unexpected, says Oversight Panel Chairman.

A combination of declining enrollment, federal cuts in special education and this year’s Federal sequestration has put a big pinch on big plans. While the district managed to close a $450 million budget gap for the current fiscal year, thanks in part to one-time funds from the state, it faces a $350 million deficit in 2014-15.

If the board didn’t understand that before yesterday, it seems crystal clear now.

Months ago the members directed Superintendent John Deasy to devise a spending plan that included a laundry list of wants, needs and programs, including rehiring employees laid off during the recession and bringing back student-to-teacher and student-to-counselor ratios to 2007 levels.

The presentation Deasy and LAUSD Chief Operating Officer Megan Reilly made to the board brought the fiscal reality into the open, leaving the unmistakable message: We can’t afford what you want.

Several members bristled when Deasy ticked off the costs of various items the board wanted to fund, including $207 million for new teachers, $68.8 million for psychiatric social workers, $300 million for extending to the school year 20 days. The total bill, including the cost of closing the deficit: as much as $1.4 billion.

“What are the prospects of us getting a billion dollars,” Monica Ratliff asked Reilly.

“Not at all,” she said.

Board member Steve Zimmer seemed to find the presentation incomplete, lacking a grand vision to move the district toward long-term fiscal stability.

“We asked for a three-year plan of what it might look like,” board member Steve Zimmer said. “This isn’t a design. This is only what the costs are.”

He asked Deasy to provide “a trajectory” for the future, a request echoed by Board President Richard Vladovic, who said, “I prefer a strategy that we can move toward over the next five to 10 years.”

Deasy’s presentation did include a three-year plan, of sorts, his own spending recommendations for the next three years, which included pay raises for current LA Unified employees and allowing school sites to make their own spending decisions, a contentious issue.

Local input has emerged as a major concern in the budget debate, and it’s now clear that no vote on spending will take place until a series of public meetings are complete. Deasy’s proposal listed five that have been scheduled with community groups, and a sixth is on the books to give the district’s unions the opportunity to contribute ideas.

In drawing the meeting to a close, Vladovic, who has been criticized by community groups for not engaging them more aggressively, said, “I encourage parents out there to attend one of these meetings.”

Public comment will likely weigh heavily on one of the major points of contention in the battle over spending priorities. Zimmer and others on the board want to rehire personnel, with the idea that to solve the long-term problem of declining enrollment — 3 to 3.5 percent a year, about half the number students leaving district schools for independent charters — it must bring back more teachers, counselors and librarians.

That debate, begun in June, will continue into November, when the board has a meeting scheduled to discuss spending priorities and, presumably, a “trajectory.”

In the meantime, the first public meeting will be held Oct. 8 at Daniel Pearl Magnet HIgh School in Reseda.

Previous posts: Local Groups to LA Unified Board: Let Schools Decide Spending; LA Unified Budget Wars Return with the Usual Competing Visions; Deasy’s D.C. Trip Yields ‘Less than Positive News’ on Federal Budget; Common Core Budget Approval Put Off for Another Week; School Board Meeting Wrap Up: More Discussion Than Votes*

Aquino was conspicuously absent from the proceedings. As Deputy Superintendent of Instruction, he has been a chief architect of the Common Core transition. He said on Friday that he would resign at the end of the year because of what he sees as school board meddling.

“Due to the announcement of my resignation, I have decided not to do any public engagement during my transition period,” Aquino told LA School Report in an email, when asked why he wasn’t at today’s board meeting. “My focus will be to work behind the scenes to ensure a smooth transition.”

The budget, which passed with only Monica Ratliff dissenting, will give schools $70 per student, to be spent on technology, professional development or new materials to prepare students, teachers and administrators for the new Common Core curriculum and the standardized tests that will come with it. It also spends $24 million over the next two years on 122 math and English teacher advisors and another $8 million on 30 “content coordinators” for science, history, arts and English language development.

Like the teachers union, Ratliff is opposed to teacher advisors.

The absence of any discussion of the budget prior to its passage was particularly notable since the seven-member body had, just last week, postponed approval for the sake of additional discussion. That was already the second draft that Deasy and his team had put together. The slow speed with which the board was moving on the budget was cited as a key reason for Aquino’s resignation and was criticized in the LA Times editorial.

Prior to the vote, the board spent more than an hour discussing a proposed amendment by Steve Zimmer that was first handed to his colleagues as they took their seats, following  a closed-door session ran 90 minutes late. The amendment would have reduced the money to schools to pay for three district-wide Common Core planning days, including one that Zimmer called a “Common Core Convocation” to “bring our entire community together and signal and celebrate the transformation this represents.”

The plan was met with skepticism by Deasy and other Board members.

“I am particularly opposed to a ‘Common Core Convocation'” said Ratliff, who usually votes along with Zimmer. “I think the money should go to the schools.”

“I am trying to be aspirational,” said Zimmer, defending his amendment. “I just wanted to throw that idea out there.”

Board President Richard Vladovic supported the amendment, saying, “I see tremendous value in having everyone march to the same tune,” though he added of Common Core training: “This is not the end all be all. This will be an evolving process and take 10 to 15 years.”

Eventually, the Board rejected the change by a vote of 4 to 3, with Ratliff and, perhaps most surprisingly, Bennett Kayser joining with Monica Garcia and Tamar Galatzan in voting no. Like Ratliff, Kayser said he preferred more money be given directly to schools.

After the meeting, Zimmer told reporters he was disappointed his amendment didn’t pass, but added, “I introduced the amendment to guide the debate substantively, and I believe that happened… I feel that it’s important to have substantive direction and real clear choice.”

Previous posts: LA Unified Board Considers Common Core — Yet Again; Analysis: Aquino’s Resignation Turns a Spotlight onto Deasy; Deasy Deputy Jaime Aquino Resigns (Updated); Vladovic Leadership Style Suggests Slower Pace is Best

UTLA President Warren Fletcher speaking to the School Board

There was an air of excitement surrounding today’s special Board meeting to discuss LAUSD’s budget, resulting in no less than four television crews in addition to KNX radio and three (count ’em!) education reporters live-tweeting the proceedings.

The cause of all the excitement?  The expected clash between Board members who want LAUSD to rehire teachers and reduce class sizes — included among them Board Member Bennett Kayser, who requested the added meeting — and other Board members like Tamar Galatzan who would prefer to revamp how funds are disbursed among schools (and Superintendent John Deasy, who wants to give everyone a raise before doing much rehiring).

Unfortunately, the event turned into something of a dud, filled with familiar budget presentations and predictable pleas for additional funding. There was little real debate over what district priorities should be once revenue from Proposition 30 starts to pour in, and any decision over the shape of things to come will have to wait until the June 18 Board meeting.

Board member Steve Zimmer talking to KCAL 9

First, the Board listened to nearly two hours of presentations going over information that is largely familiar to close observers of LAUSD, if not the Board members themselves.

Most of it focused on the dismal state of school finance in California, which ranks 49 out of 50 in per pupil spending compared to other states.

The rest focused on Governor Jerry Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula proposal, which the Board strongly  supports (and would provide LAUSD with an additional $188 million in state funding in the next school year alone).

The public commentary (when individuals address the Board) consisted mostly of various district stakeholders and parents asking for budget cuts made over the last few years to be restored. PE teachers called for the hiring of more PE teachers; Arts teachers called for the restoration of Arts programs; the Administrators union called for more Administrators. You get the idea.

As for what to do with future funding increases, it’s no secret that the School Board is divided on how to spend its expected revenue increase.

Board members Steve Zimmer, Bennett Kayser and Dr. Richard Vladovic introduced a motion that would restore LAUSD employment to pre-recession levels.

Teachers union President Warren Fletcher thanked the trio and praised the resolution as a “wonderful first step toward keeping the promise of Proposition 30,” the temporary sales tax passed by California voters in November to fund public education.

Board member Tamar Galatzan, who couldn’t attend today’s meeting (she was in court — part of her other job in the City Attorney’s office), told the Daily News she opposes that motion, and had her own counter-proposal introduced today.

Superintendent John Deasy, meanwhile, favors giving all current employees raises, rather than hiring new employees.

Underlying all of this is LAUSD’s structural deficit, caused by a continued drop in enrollment. Even when you account for the rise in independent charter schools, the number of students attending LA public schools has dropped every year since 2003-04.

Enrollment decline, combined with the recession, is the reason the district has been forced to make such drastic cuts. LAUSD has only been able to close the its deficit in recent years is by dipping into a cash reserve fund that will be exhausted by the end of the 2013-14 school year.

Governor Brown’s Local Control Funding Proposal would give more money to districts like LAUSD that have high percentages of English Language Learners, foster kids and students from low-income families.

But even if the proposal passes, the district still faces deficits in the short term — and California funding will still lag behind other states.

“Even if the Local Control Funding Formula passes,” said Dennis Meyers of the California School Board Association, “California would still rank 48th nationally in per pupil spending. We need to start a conversation about what’s next. Proposition 30 is temporary.”

The State budget is due in less than two weeks, on June 15. LAUSD’s budget is due on July 1, and will be voted on during the next Board meeting, on June 18.

Previous posts: School Budget Board Meeting; Deasy: Raises & Deficit Reduction Before New Hires; Conflicting Options at Tomorrow’s Board Meeting; Board to Consider Hiring, Formula Issues

Board Member Bennett Kayser, who pushed for the June 4 special meeting

At the May School Board meeting earlier this month, Board member Bennett Kayser (pictured) called for a special meeting to discuss next year’s budget, which is due June 30.

That meeting is being held on Tuesday, June 4, at which time Board members are scheduled to introduce to two new resolutions (see agenda here), which could then be voted on during the next regular Board meeting, scheduled for June 18.

One of the new resolutions is aimed at reducing class size (otherwise known as hiring more teachers); the other is aimed at sending more state money to schools with high concentrations of low-income students and English language learners.

Kayser originally asked for the special budget meeting to be scheduled at night, so the Board could hear public comments from parents, teachers and community members.

But somewhere along the way, the meeting got rescheduled for 9 am.

“I think people had conflicts with graduation,” Board President Monica Garcia told LA School Report. “The point of the meeting was to have more public conversation, which is why it was scheduled for 5.” But, she said, “other board members have other agendas.”

It’s unknown which Board members requested the schedule change.

The class size reduction resolution, drafted by Kayser, would reduce class size by hiring more teachers starting in the 2014-15 school year. It would also direct the Superintendent to develop a three-year strategy to bring employment of LAUSD workers — including counselors, librarians, service workers and administrators — back to pre-recession levels.

In a press release, teachers union president Warren Fletcher praised the proposal, saying, “LAUSD needs a repair budget, not a status quo one…  We cannot allow the current degraded levels of funding and staffing; and the ballooning class sizes to become the new normal.”

There is no budget estimate for the Kayser resolution, the cost of which would come from anticipated funding increases. However, Deasy has often warned the School Board of the district’s structural deficit, caused largely by declining enrollment.

The resolution is co-sponsored by Board members Steve Zimmer and Dr. Richard Vladovic — typically the two swing votes on the Board, which means that it will most likely pass.

Also on Tuesday’s agenda is the introduction of Board Member Tamar Galatzan’s motion to direct Superintendent John Deasy to come up with different “allocation models” for how state money is distributed among various kinds of LAUSD schools should Governor Jerry Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula pass.

Next year’s budget already relies on increased revenue from Brown’s formula. For future years, Deasy told LA School Report that in the future, he favors giving more money to campuses with higher concentrations of lower-income students and English language learners.

Previous posts: Deasy Wants to Revamp Local School Funding Formula; Brown Soft-Sells School Formula in LA; Deasy & Allies Prevail at May Board Meeting

Bloomberg’s Meddling in L.A. Unified Races Is Paying for Junk Ads
The wealthy New York mayor’s $1-million contribution to the Coalition for School Reform is helping fund attack ads in L.A. that distort the truth and misinform voters. LA Times Steve Lopez Column

Brown’s School Funding Plan Draws Mixed Reactions
The governor’s proposal would funnel more money to low-income, English-learning or foster-care students. Not everyone thinks that’s fair. LA Times
See also: LA Daily News

Los Angeles Unified School District Takes First Steps to Equip Students With Tablets
Last week, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board approved to spend $50 million to purchase tablets, install wireless networks, and provide teacher training for approximately 30,000 students at 47 schools. EdSurge

Schools and City Hall
To the cynically tuned ear, two remarks by Los Angeles Councilman Eric Garcetti in recent days seem to suggest the perils of a mayoral candidacy dependent, at least in some measure, on support from United Teachers Los Angeles, the union that represents local teachers. LA Times Jim Newton Column

Districts Abandoning At-Large School Board Elections
Even though the 18,650-student Pasadena Unified district serves a locale of more than 202,300 residents, school board candidate Mr. Ayala aims to reach voters in an area of only 28,900 for this race, as a result of the school district’s recent switch from at-large elections—in which voters can cast ballots for any candidate—to trustee or “district” elections, in which voters select a candidate on the basis of where they live. EdWeek

Low Achievement Imperils Black Students in L.A., Report Says
African American students in Los Angeles County demonstrate significant learning gaps by second grade, which widen with age and lead to the highest school dropout rate among all races, according to a new report released Monday. LA Times

California Creates New School Grade to Ease 4-Year-Olds Into Kindergarten
California has implemented a new grade called Transitional Kindergarten (or TK for short). In its first year, this new grade aims to bridge the gap between the play-world of preschool and the rigors of kindergarten. KPCC

Parents Accuse LAUSD of Allowing Out-of-Area Kids at High-Performing Studio City School
A much-sought-after elementary school in Studio City is proving too popular. Carpenter Community Charter School says parents from outside the area are committing fraud to get their kids admitted. Now the school is overcrowded. ABC LA

District NCLB Waivers: Do Risks Outweigh Rewards?
During a Senate hearing earlier this month on the U.S. Department of Education’s state waiver program under the No Child Left Behind Act, Education Secretary Arne Duncan was asked point-blank if he was considering offering similar flexibility for school districts. EdWeek

Bill Would Open the Door to Undergraduate Teaching Credentials
For the first time in decades, aspiring teachers in California would be able to major in education as undergraduates and get both a preliminary teaching credential and a baccalaureate degree in four years if a bill in the Legislature becomes law. EdSource

North Hollywood High Captures Regional Science Bowl for 8th Straight Year
North Hollywood High won this weekend’s regional Science Bowl for the eighth consecutive year, and will compete in April for the national title. LA Daily News

Attorney Claims LAUSD Cover-Up in George De La Torre School Sex Abuse
An attorney claims the LAUSD is trying to cover up alleged sex abuse by a teacher at George De La Torre Jr. Elementary. ABC LA

To Lock Classroom Doors or Not?
After the Newtown and Taft shootings, educators in L.A. debate whether teacher transparency or school security is paramount. LA Times

With Facilities All Over Los Angeles County, School Districts Protest Stormwater Parcel Tax
Los Angeles County officials want to cut pollutants by capturing runoff close to where it falls. They’d pay for it with a property tax. Schools are big time property owners in every neighborhood – and they have protested the proposal. KPCC

Parents Protest Pending Closure of La Mirada School
A group of parents and employees took to the streets Friday night to protest the proposed closure of Dulles Elementary School. Long Beach Press-Telegram

Feedback: Here’s What You Think About the State’s Changes to Standardized Tests
Many of you said students are not receiving a balanced education because teachers devote too much time classroom time teaching to the test. KPCC

Longer School Year: Will It Help or Hurt U.S. Students?
Did your kids moan that winter break was way too short as you got them ready for the first day back in school? They might get their wish of more holiday time off under proposals catching on around the country to lengthen the school year. Huff Po

California Drops to 49th in School Spending in Annual Ed Week Report
California tumbled two more spots, to 49th in the nation in per-pupil spending, in Education Week’s latest annual Quality Counts report, released last week. EdSource

Plan Ordered to Save Mechanics School at Van Nuys Airport
The Los Angeles City Council on Friday ordered local officials to develop a detailed plan to save a popular aircraft mechanics school at Van Nuys Airport. LA Times

School Shooting Victim Expected to Recover
Officials try to determine a motive, with the Kern County sheriff saying the assailant believed that the two students he targeted had bullied him. LA Times

LAUSD Board Member Nury Martinez

LAUSD Board Member Nury Martinez is hosting a town hall meeting in the San Fernando Valley on Saturday, October 27 to educate parents and community members about how propositions on the upcoming election ballot will affect LA schools.

Martinez will speak along with LAUSD’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Megan Reillyhas, about the drastic budget cuts that will be triggered if prop 30, Governor Jerry Brown’s tax measure, doesn’t pass on November 6.

Representatives for props 30, 32, and 38 will also speak and take questions from parents about the impact of their props on LAUSD.

The workshop will be held at Valley Region Middle School #3 in Sun Valley from 10 a.m. to noon.

Find the full event details here.

Megan Chernin of LA Fund and Nury Martinez of #LAUSD with students at the Barbara Kruger bus for the #ArtsMatter Launch Event via @LAFund

Arts education in Los Angeles has been drastically reduced for budgetary reasons and runs the risk of being altogether eliminated in 2013. The campaign, “Art Matters,” will promote the importance of art education by bringing the work of high-profile artists to the streets.

The initiative is underwritten by the non-profit LA Fund for Public Education with donated ad space provided by CBS and Zenith. (See more at Daily News, LA Times).

The argument that arts education promotes critical thinking and creativity is also what’s behind today’s school board proposal by Nury Martinez – who wants to make arts education part of the new common core curriculum.