In This Issue:
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LAUSD BOARD OF ED TWEAKS QUALITIES FOR NEXT SUPERINTENDENT DOWN TO A “T” |
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CHARTER
SCHOOL INVESTORS FORM NONPROFIT TO PROMOTE BROAD CHARTER SCHOOL PLAN +
3 LOCAL FOUNDATION HEADS TRY TO INTERVENE IN BROAD/LAUSD PLAN |
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PTA SURVEY FINDS PARENTS STILL IN THE DARK OVER NEW TESTING + LAUSD ROBOCALLS: A Lesson in How to Confuse and Infuriate Parents |
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CALIFORNIA REVENUE WELL ABOVE EARLY FORECASTS + PROP. 98 GUARANTEE COULD REACH $80B BY 2020 |
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HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest (but
not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other Sources |
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EVENTS: Coming up next week... |
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What can YOU do? |
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Featured Links:
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Lest We Forget: For those of us of a certain age
November 22, 1963 was That Day in History When Everything Changed.
There have sadly been other such days since – including a week ago Friday.
On Tuesday @arneduncan cheerfully tweeted: “Celebrating 40 years of
IDEA, which has supported children w/ disabilities & their families
ensuring they have access to quality ed. #IDEA40.” “Ensuring…?” Really
Arne? Tweets are cheap/commitment is hard. The man has been Secretary of
Education for over six years – racing-to-the-top and
testing-‘till-they-drop – he has been totally+absolutely ineffectual at
getting Congress to adequately fund IDEA. The US Government is supposed
to pay 40% of IDEA costs; they barely pay 17%.
“Instead of opening a door to a brighter future, special education for
many students is a dead end.” - Report of the CA Statewide Task Force
on Special Education | http://bit.ly/1Nl3jgA
“Celebrating…?” Maybe a little shame - or at least a bit of hubris - is in order?
I SPENT MUCH OF THE PAST WEEK with PTA leaders from up-and-down the state in lovely Ontario, CA.
Ontario is a logistics hub with freeways+interstates, airport and rail
yards – blacktop, concrete, tarmac and ribbons of cold steel – goods in
transit from here-to-there, coast-to-coast – American commerce+markets
tied to the Pacific Rim. Ontario’s architectural distinction is its
warehouses – filled+filling, one presumes, with Next Christmas.
Take this metaphor. Please!
Much of our PTA discussion+work was taken up with the lack of
parental/family/community engagement in the education of our children.
(see: “PTA Survey Finds Parents Still in the Dark over New Testing” and
“LAUSD Robocalls: A lesson in how to confuse and infuriate parents”)
There is nothing as important to a civilization/society/community/as the education, health and safety of our children.
On the plains of Africa the whenever one Masai greets another they ask a question: “Kasserian Ingera?”/”How are the children”?
The hoped-for reply is revealing: “All the children are well”. Not my
children. Not some of the children. All the children are well. For the
Masai, society cannot be well unless all the children are well.
One would think that in the millennia since the Birth of Civilization,
whether in the Fertile Crescent, the Indus Valley, along the Yalu River,
the highlands of Peru or the plains of Kenya – tied to the Birth of
Communication: recorded language, culture, science, industry, organized
religion and government – we would have stopped looking for short-cuts,
quick-fixes and work-arounds – and dedicated ourselves to the hard work.
One would think.
Stay tuned; our PTA work was not all discussion; there will be outcomes,
proposals and initiatives. Margaret Mead said to “never doubt that a
small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world;
indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” Gandhi said to become the
change we imagine. Join us.
If you have a PTA at your school please join it.
If you don’t have one ask: “Why not?
If I can be of help, please ask.
IN THE WEEK PAST THE LAUSD BOARD OF ED met and agreed on a wish list for The Next Superintendent.
SOME BOXES IN THE LAUSD ORG CHART emptied and were refilled.
SIDES WERE CHOSEN IN THE BROAD PLAN to charterize half-of LAUSD. (“3
Local Foundation Heads Try to Intervene in Broad Foundation LAUSD Plan”
and “Charter School Investors Form Nonprofit to Promote Broad’s Charter
School Plan in Los Angeles Area”)
CALIFORNIA’S STATE REVENUE PROJECTIONS INCREASED – leading one down a
merry path of plenty: (“California revenue well above early forecasts”
…or OMG! excess: “Prop. 98 guarantee could reach $80B by 2020!”)
We cannot use revenue projections to fund public education.
What becomes apparent is that we haven’t fixed California Education
Finance with the Local Control Funding Formula/Local Control
Accountability Plan and Prop 30 and Governor Brown’s best intents. We
have simply modernized the economic roller-coaster and sold the
passengers on a series of annual passes. Prop 30 is expiring, Jerry
Brown will never be governor again and the economy is given to
boom+bust.
One would think v.2.0
LA SCHOOL REPORT TAKES AMBIGUITY TO THE BI-POLAR EXTREME as its
reporting: “Report Praises LAUSD’s Special Ed Integration, MISIS
Progress” meets “Court Monitor Attacks LAUSD’s Efforts to Comply with
ADA” …in reporting on the same report! The Special Monitor has a
strange role, he is accountable only to the federal courts …but the
consent decree has been in place nineteen years and seven
superintendents. One would think the duck-alignment would have been
better figured-out by now. Meanwhile attorneys for the charter school
association are threatening to sue LAUSD for efforts to comply with the
consent decree.
Watch this space.
¡Onward/Adelante! - smf
LAUSD BOARD OF ED TWEAKS QUALITIES FOR NEXT SUPERINTENDENT DOWN TO A “T”
by Zahira Torres | Los Angeles Times |http://lat.ms/1PNQQkv
19 Nov. 2105 :: The Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday
fine-tuned the list of qualities it is seeking in the next schools
leader but not before quibbling over specific words and phrases.
The list of characteristics was culled from surveys and public meetings
with teachers, parents, community members and others. It will be given
to applicants and guide the search firm as it vets candidates to run the
Los Angeles Unified School District.
Among the desired characteristics is a leader who is "politically
savvy," can develop "productive working relationships with all LAUSD
labor unions" and has "experience as a teacher and a principal working
in an urban environment."
A candidate would not be eliminated for not meeting all the desired qualities.
The school board is looking to replace Supt. Ramon C. Cortines, 83, who
has said he wants to retire by the end of the year. Cortines took charge
John Deasy resigned under pressure after a series of missteps including
a failed effort to provide iPads to all students that became the target
of a FBI investigation.
Board President Steve Zimmer said the list of characteristics is meant to guide, not limit the search.
"These characteristics are meant to be our aspirations … and where we'd
like the district to move for all children," Zimmer said.
The panel weighed whether the word "bold" was a good fit for its list of
superintendent characteristics or if it was imprecise and could allow a
leader to be reckless.
"I think bold is good, but I think follow-through and infrastructure is
even more important," said board member Richard Vladovic. "We're in a
mess right now with the iPads and I can name other things with great
bold ideas that didn't have the infrastructure to follow-through."
The board also debated whether seeking candidates with experience working in an urban community would cut off worthy prospects.
"We can spend a lot of time on this, wordsmithing it, but it's been
vetted and the community gave input," said board member George McKenna.
The district's next superintendent will have to take charge of a system
that has long struggled to improve student achievement. That leader will
also contend with a plan spearheaded by the Broad Foundation that seeks
to lure more than half the district's students to charter schools over
the next eight years.
District leaders are looking for ways to stem declining student
enrollment from a range of factors, including charter school growth.
Critics of the projected $490-million charter expansion plan argue that
it threatens the sustainability of the district and could hurt its
ability to serve students. Supporters say the plan seeks to improve
options for parents who are not satisfied with traditional public
schools.
At a separate meeting Tuesday, a board committee reviewed a report that
outlines the process for becoming an entirely charter school district.
Board members said the goal was primarily to identify how the district
could benefit from the same flexibility provided to charters.
Charters are publicly funded, independently operated and free from some
regulations that govern traditional schools. Most are nonunion.
Board member Monica Ratliff said she did not believe that "a majority of
board members want this district to go all-charter." Instead, Ratliff
said the committee was simply trying to learn how it could seek more
autonomy from the state.
"It's not fair that the current system provides autonomies to the
charter schools and not to traditional public schools," Ratliff said.
Any decision on whether to begin the process for becoming a charter district would require a board vote.
The school district then would need more than 50% of its teachers to
sign a petition favoring the change. It also would have to find
alternative options for students who don't want to attend a charter
school, according to the report.
State Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson and the state Board of
Education must separately approve petitions for all-charter districts.
California has seven charter school districts that serve between 100 and
1,500 students. The state board has oversight of those districts.
Board member Ref Rodriguez said the conversation about all-charter
districts is important even if L.A. Unified does not intend to pursue
such a change.
"What it might lead us to is an application for waivers," Rodriguez said.
CAVEAT: The Times receives funding for its digital initiative, Education
Matters, from the California Endowment, the Wasserman Foundation and
the Baxter Family Foundation. The California Community Foundation and
United Way of Greater Los Angeles administer grants from the Broad
Foundation to support this effort. Under terms of the grants, The Times
retains complete control over editorial content.
CHARTER SCHOOL INVESTORS FORM NONPROFIT TO PROMOTE
BROAD CHARTER SCHOOL PLAN + 3 LOCAL FOUNDATION HEADS TRY TO INTERVENE
IN BROAD/LAUSD PLAN
►CHARTER SCHOOL INVESTORS FORM NONPROFIT TO PROMOTE BROAD’S CHARTER SCHOOL PLAN IN LOS ANGELES AREA
by Howard Blume | LA Times | http://lat.ms/1X7N5Xw
18 Nov. 2015 12;08 AM :: Backers of a plan to greatly expand
successful charters and other high-quality public schools in the Los
Angeles area have formed a nonprofit organization to move the effort
forward, The Times has learned.
The new organization, called Great Public Schools Now, is based in Los
Angeles and will take the next steps in a plan that initially was
spearheaded by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation. A draft of that
proposal, dated in June, called for raising $490 million to enroll half
the students in the L.A. Unified School District over the next eight
years.
The nonprofit will be run by two executives from ExED, a local company
that specializes in helping charter schools manage their business
operations. Former banker William E.B. Siart will chair the governing
board; Anita Landecker will serve as interim executive director. No
other individuals or foundations are being included in a Wednesday
release about the organization, an apparent effort to distance it from
the Broad Foundation, which became a target of critics of the proposal.
Eli Broad or a designee, however, is expected to occupy one seat on an
11-member board of trustees.
The goal, as described by Siart and Landecker in an interview Tuesday,
would be to develop first-rate schools of all kinds — not exclusively
charters. No funding target has been set, they said.
"It's the quality of the school that's the most important thing," Siart said.
Besides charters, the organization said it would work to expand or
duplicate successful models of schools that are run by L.A. Unified.
Charters are independently managed and exempt from some rules that
govern traditional campuses. Most are nonunion.
"This effort will be aimed at replicating and accelerating the
development of public schools … that have proven to be successful for
kids in traditionally underperforming schools," Siart said.
The L.A. Unified Board of Education had no role in creating the original
Broad Foundation plan and is scheduled to vote next week on a
resolution officially opposing it. Some L.A. Unified officials, and
other critics, have expressed concerns that a massive charter expansion
could threaten the solvency of L.A. Unified, while leaving it with fewer
resources for students who are more challenging and expensive to
educate.
Separately, a small group of civic leaders signed a letter, released
Tuesday, that chided the Broad effort — without opposing it — for being
developed in private. They also echoed concerns about the possible
financial effects on the nation's second-largest school system.
"In the short term, civil dialogue among all parties — and full parental
and community engagement — would seem to be the better course of action
for Los Angeles," according to the letter. It was signed by Fred Ali,
head of the Weingart Foundation; Antonia Hernández, the leader of
California Community Foundation; and Robert K. Ross, the top official at
California Endowment.
Great Public Schools Now, meanwhile, is not backing down from the
language of urgency and indignation in the original draft of the report,
which was obtained and released by The Times. The plan called for 260
new charters.
"More than 160,000 students in Los Angeles and surrounding cities attend
schools that are failing to provide them with a quality education,"
Siart said.
Landecker added: "It's unconscionable that families in many low-income
communities lack the same opportunities to send their children to a
high-quality school."
Charters appear to remain the primary focus, based on written materials
being released. They highlight support for charters, based on a recent
poll, as well as data indicating that charter schools are outperforming
traditional campuses. The release also quotes the head of the California
Charter Schools Assn.
"Charter schools have done incredible work in educating students from
high-poverty backgrounds throughout Los Angeles," said Myrna Castrejón,
acting chief executive of the charter association. "Because of this
record, Great Public Schools Now will unequivocally support the
replication of successful charters as a major component of their
efforts."
Also included is the voice of a parent who has one child in a charter
high school and another in a district-managed elementary campus.
"We don't have as many options as we would like on where to send our
children to school," said Lisette Duarte, who has a child enrolled at a
charter operated by Partnerships to Uplift Communities, or PUC. "Our ZIP
Codes still limit us. That's why I am grateful charter schools exist
and want to see them grow."
PUC is the charter group cofounded by school board member Ref Rodriguez,
who has said he supports providing options for parents but has not
specifically endorsed the effort.
The nonprofit was incorporated Aug. 20, Landecker said, with the stated
mission of promoting "the quality of publicly funded education in Los
Angeles and surrounding communities."
An official announcement was withheld until after the polling was
completed and until after additional meetings with community groups and
others could take place. Now, "it was time to make sure as much
information as we had available could be presented to the public," Siart
said.
Last week, a senior official with the Broad Foundation suggested that the charter proposal was in an early discussion phase.
"We're pleased that our early ideas for how to improve L.A.'s public
schools have generated a citywide discussion and evolved into the
formation of an independent organization that will work with the
community toward the goal of giving every family access to a
high-quality public school," Swati Pandey, communications manager of the
Broad Foundation, said in a statement.
CAVEAT: The Times receives funding for its digital initiative, Education
Matters, from the California Endowment, the Wasserman Foundation and
the Baxter Family Foundation. The California Community Foundation and
United Way of Greater Los Angeles administer grants from the Broad
Foundation to support this effort. Under terms of the grants, The Times
retains complete control over editorial content.
____________________
►3 LOCAL FOUNDATION HEADS TRY TO INTERVENE IN BROAD FOUNDATION LAUSD PLAN
By Larry Kaplan and Ruth McCambridge | Nonprofit Quarterly | http://bit.ly/1QCeJNt
November 20, 2015 :: In philanthropy, it is rare to see foundations
protest each other’s work, but in Los Angeles, three foundations are
speaking out about what they see as the potential undercutting of parent
participation by the Broad Foundation in its new initiative to remake
the public school, and they are even offering to intervene.
The letter, sent to the LAUSD Board of Directors, LAUSD Superintendent
Ramon Cortines, United Teachers Los Angeles President Alex Caputo-Pearl,
and Broad Foundation Founder Eli Broad, reads in part:
The California Community Foundation, the California Endowment and
Weingart Foundation have invested in efforts to educate and inform
parents and to build their leadership skills to become stronger
advocates for their children and communities. In some cases, we have
supported programs and projects related to the LAUSD, while in other
instances we have supported the development of charter schools, pilot
schools and partnership schools. Our priority has and will always be to
ensure poor and vulnerable communities have access to high quality
educational options and are informed about what makes for a good school.
Recently, the Broad Foundation released a provocative proposal to
significantly increase charter schools in communities that have high
concentrations of underperforming schools. In the midst of the
controversy surrounding this proposal, we must remember that our
priorities are families and children. Superintendent Cortines has
consistently reminded us that the
schools belong to the community, but it takes community, with parents at
the forefront, to make the schools
great.
It continues:
At this point, our foundations are not interested in taking sides on
the Broad initiative; rather, we are bullish on the matter of full and
robust participation of community, parental and youth engagement on key,
critical questions – such as the Broad Charter School proposal, and the
desirable attributes of a soon-to-be-hired school superintendent.
What we are willing to do is offer ourselves as neutral conveners
interested in doing what is best for all of our parents and children. We
must engage parents and community members and help them preserve their
opportunity to secure high quality education for their children. L.A.’s
vibrant future depends on it. We are open to what form our role might
take, and willing to listen to constructive input from you.
As NPQ has previously written, the Broad Foundation has been pushing a
greatly contested plan to significantly expand the number of charter
schools in the Las Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). Now, as a
part of that plan, a nonprofit organization has been established to
advance the scheme. To date, only part of its 11-member board has been
announced, but it will include Eli Broad or a designee.
The new organization is called Great Public Schools Now, and is
apparently the body that will take the next steps in a plan initially
proposed by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation. The plan calls for
raising $490 million to enroll half the students in LAUSD in charters
over the next eight years. It has met strong opposition from the
teachers union and has gotten a mixed reception from the school board.
The nonprofit will be run by two executives from ExED, another local
nonprofit that helps charter schools manage their business operations
and build their campuses. Because the operation will presumably expand
the market for ExED, this in and of itself should provide some cause for
concern.
In addition to charters, the organization says it will work to expand or
duplicate successful models of schools directly run by LAUSD. The group
says its goal is to develop first-rate schools of all kinds, not
exclusively charters.
The Board of Education did not play a role in creating the original
plan—and next week it will vote on a resolution officially opposing it.
Critics are concerned that a massive charter expansion could threaten
the solvency of the district, limit accountability, and leave LAUSD with
fewer resources for the most challenging students, who are the most
expensive to educate.
The Times reports that Great Public Schools Now has been “using the
language of urgency and indignation” found in the original draft of the
plan, which calls for 260 new charters, which are the primary focus of
the organization’s mission. Its announcement included polling showing
public support for charters, and research indicating they are
outperforming traditional campuses.
• Larry Kaplan is a consultant based in Los Angeles. He describes
himself as passionate about urban communities and social justice. He
helps non-profit organizations leverage governmental and community
relations to advocate for their causes, advance their missions, reach
their fundraising goals and achieve their program objectives. He has
built and maintained elected officials’ offices, managed political
campaigns, helped public agencies increase their effectiveness, and
advised private companies and associations on their philanthropic and
civic responsibilities.
• Ruth McCambridge is Editor in Chief of the Nonprofit Quarterly. Her
background includes forty-five years of experience in nonprofits,
primarily in organizations that mix grassroots community work with
policy change. Beginning in the mid-1980s, Ruth spent a decade at the
Boston Foundation, developing and implementing capacity building
programs and advocating for grantmaking attention to constituent
involvement.
PTA SURVEY FINDS PARENTS STILL IN THE DARK OVER NEW
TESTING + LAUSD ROBOCALLS: A Lesson in How to Confuse and Infuriate
Parents
►PTA SURVEY FINDS PARENTS STILL IN THE DARK OVER NEW TESTING
by Tom Chorneau | SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet http://bit.ly/1PwLyem
Nov. 16, 2015 :: (Calif.) Despite a multi-year effort by the state to
prepare for new testing aligned to the Common Core, a survey of parents
reasonably engaged in their children’s schooling found a majority still
had little or no understanding of the new assessment system.
The self-selected poll of more than 3,000 families conducted in
September by the California Parent Teachers Association also revealed
more than a third of parents reported getting no information at all from
their districts about last spring’s testing while another third said
what details they did get were only “slightly helpful and
understandable.”
News of the PTA findings comes in the wake of September’s release of the
first round of scoring under the new California Assessment of Student
Performance and Progress or CAASPP and the arrival of some 3.2 million
individual student reports through the mail. PTA officials said last
week the results suggest a lot more needs to be done to bring parents up
to speed about the new testing and what the scores mean.
“I think there’s probably a lot of parents who heard last spring that
their child would be taking new tests but now that the scores have been
sent home, they are now sitting up and asking a lot of questions,” Celia
Jaffe, PTA’s vice president for education, said in an interview.
“So we have a lot of work to do – no question – but that’s not to say
that schools haven’t been trying,” she explained. “Parents don’t
necessarily pay attention to everything that comes home and sometimes
it’s difficult for state or even local district officials to put on the
parent hat and understand which of the nitty-gritty things parents want
to know.”
The Common Core State Standards were adopted in 2010 under the
Schwarzenegger administration and cover both English language arts and
mathematics. Largely because of budget restraints, California was slow
to transition to the new curriculum goals but now is recognized as one
of the national leaders building the infrastructure needed to fully
integrate the standards into day-to-day activities in the classroom.
The new assessment system, piloted in 2014, was administered officially
last spring to students in grades three through eight and 11. Although
most educators consider the first set of scores as a baseline, the
results were somewhat disappointing: only 44 percent of all students met
or exceeded the English language arts standard and just 33 percent
reached the same benchmark in math.
The education community tried to warn against comparing the new results
to scores from the prior statewide assessment system because they were
based on a different set of curriculum goals. Most news outlets made the
comparison anyway, likely adding to confusion among parents about what
the scores mean.
The survey from the PTA suggests most parents were coming into the issue
armed with little good information: 54 percent said they had no
understanding or only a slight understanding about the CAASPP.
The poll found that 36 percent reported getting no information about the
testing and 34 percent said the information they did get was not or
only slightly helpful.
“Whether or not they were reading everything that came home or weren’t
provided enough materials, the parents came into the fall this year –
based on our findings – not really having a good idea about what to
expect from the score report,” Jaffe said.
The survey, which wasn’t controlled to reflect a broad cross-section of
the community, was offered through various PTA channels during the last
weeks of September. About 3,000 parents participated in the effort.
________________
►LAUSD ROBOCALLS: A LESSON IN HOW TO CONFUSE AND INFURIATE PARENTS
Op-Ed in the LA Times by Kerry Cavanaugh | http://lat.ms/21bNRrf
November 18, 2015 :: I am the parent of a Los Angeles Unified School
District student, and I get robocalls from the district probably two
times a week. These are not calls from my son’s elementary school. These
are recorded messages from various district officials, informing me of
some meeting or workshop or that parents should fill out some paperwork.
I admit, these calls come so frequently and are so rarely useful that
whenever I see the (213) 241 prefix, I let it go to voicemail and only
occasionally listen to the message.
But last night’s call was so frustratingly useless that I had to listen
to it several times to figure out if I was confused or if the district
was just being confusing. Guess which one it was?
The call was regarding a parent survey on changing the school calendar,
which perhaps I would know about if I regularly listened to these
robocalls. (I was aware the district was pondering changing the school
year start and end dates, thanks to LA School Report.) Nevertheless, the
call didn't explain what was happening with the school calendar, and
that might have been helpful.
The message began by saying, “We are calling for your preference in
taking the survey on school calendars. We want to provide options that
best fit your preference.” Well, thanks for asking.
It continued, “Please choose one of the three options: taking a phone
survey, an online survey or choosing not to participate in the survey.”
OK, those are fine choices. How do I choose?
The call then went on for the next 30 seconds, describing all the
details of the phone survey — including which days and times the
district would call, that I should take the call in a quiet setting with
good cell reception and that I should go on the district’s website to
prepare myself for the survey.
Then the message ended.
There’s no more mention of the online survey, such as where to find it
or when it’s due. No more mention of how to opt out of the whole
process. Just an abrupt end that left me wondering, did I miss
something?
I understand that it’s really hard to communicate with the parents of
600,000-plus students and those parents have different language needs
and use different modes of communication. The phone is almost universal,
so robocalls make sense. Just do the calls a little better, please.
So, when the Board of Education wonders why parents tune out the
district and fail to get engaged on the bigger issues, like the
selection of the next superintendent, this might be one of the reasons
why.
CALIFORNIA REVENUE WELL ABOVE EARLY FORECASTS + PROP.
98 GUARANTEE COULD REACH $80B BY 2020
►CALIFORNIA REVENUE WELL ABOVE EARLY FORECASTS
by Tom Chorneau | SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet http://bit.ly/1jevM9G
November 17, 2015 :: (Calif.) With unemployment in California
trending ever closer to pre-recession levels, the governor’s finance
department reported Monday revenues for the month of October exceeded
estimates by nearly $400 million, giving a year-to-date total of almost
$1.2 billion above the forecast.
Of the state’s three biggest sources of money, personal income taxes
provided the biggest boost last month, adding $235 million in unexpected
revenue beyond the forecast of $4.8 billion.
Sales taxes were also higher, although state officials said much of that
was due to a shift of tax receipts being collected a month sooner.
Overall, sales taxes are running $214 million above estimates. Corporate
taxes were $93 million lower during the month and so far this year are
$226 million below expectations.
One of the drivers of personal income taxes is the quarterly “estimated
payments” that individual investors must make based on stock earnings.
The idea is to help reduce the taxes that investors must pay in April as
well as moderate cash flow of the states.
According to a report this month from the Rockefeller Institute, most
states have seen a significant increase in taxes collected on investment
income with half of the fiscal year in the books.
Of the 39 states reporting estimated payments, only Louisiana and Rhode
Island saw a decrease. At the high end, Kansas and New York recorded
increases over 26 percent. California reported an increase of about 17.8
percent. The median gain was 13.4 percent.
Yet the good news comes as Gov. Jerry Brown begins building his 2016-17 spending plan set for release in early January.
This week the non-partisan Legislative Analyst kicks off the first turn
in the budget process with release of its annual outlook paper.
Last year, the LAO predicted that revenues would grow 4.6 percent in
2015-16, 3.4 percent in 2016-17 and 3.6 percent in 2017-18. The analyst
estimated growth would fall below 2.7 percent in both 2018 and 2019.
____________
PROP. 98 GUARANTEE COULD REACH $80B BY 2020
by Tom Chorneau | SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet http://bit.ly/21bNa1a
November 19, 2015 (Calif.) :: The minimum funding guarantee for K-12
schools and community colleges is expected to surge to $77.5 billion by
the 2019-20 school year – marking a five-year cycle of increases that
will total more than $14 billion, according to a forecast released
Wednesday by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst.
Economic uncertainties could threaten the rosy outlook but in its annual
report on the general condition of the California economy and the
picture moving forward over the next five years, the LAO suggested the
state’s fiscal health couldn’t be much better.
In fact, “the state budget is better prepared for an economic downturn
than it has been at any point in decades,” the Legislature’s chief
financial adviser said.
For public education the news is also welcomed, tempered only in the
sense that Gov. Jerry Brown’s efforts to pay off outstanding debts run
up over the past 10 to 15 years, has reduced – at least in part – the
requirement that all new state income be shared dollar-for-dollar with
schools.
Indeed, the LAO projected that the state will end the 2015-16 fiscal
year with an additional $3.6 billion in revenue above the forecast used
in last summer’s budget process. Although some of those unanticipated
dollars will be available for spending, the lion’s share will go into
the state’s new rainy day fund that was created by voters in 2014 with
the passage of Proposition 2.
The analyst predicted that by the end of 2016-17, state reserves would reach close to $11.5 billion.
If the restrictions imposed by Proposition 2 have few loopholes to allow
new spending, the message from the governor Wednesday shows Brown has
not changed his tight-fisted approach to money management.
“The strong economy is good news for California, but the recession
scenario outlined by the Legislative Analyst is a sobering reminder that
we must continue to pursue fiscal discipline, pay down liabilities, and
build up our Rainy Day Fund during these fleeting good times,” said
Michael Cohen, director of the governor’s Department of Finance, in a
statement.
Based on historical data, the current economic expansion – now at 77
months – is probably closer to the end than the beginning, the LAO
concluded. The average length of an upswing in California has been 58
months dating back to 1945, according to the report.
The growth in personal income tax – a key driver of state revenues – has
been on a tear of late but is likely to slow in the coming years. From
an increase of 11.8 percent last year, the LAO said growth will fall to
about 6.4 percent this year and then to 3 percent in 2016-17; 4.5
percent in 2017-18, and 1.7 percent in 2018-19.
The decrease in personal income tax, the LAO pointed out, assumes that
the Proposition 30 hike on the state’s wealthy will expire as scheduled
in 2018; if the reauthorization measure passes in 2016, the outlook
would look considerably brighter.
From a technical standpoint, says the LAO, Proposition 98 funding for
2014-15 was based on Test I – generally operative in strong economic
times and requiring schools to receive a minimum percentage (or a
dollar-for-dollar increase) of revenues.
In 2015-16, the LAO believes school funding will move to Proposition
98’s Test 2, typically in play during normal economic conditions and
calling for schools to get what they got last year either from the state
or local property taxes.
One heavy burden the state has carried for many years that is close to
being lifted is the “maintenance factor” – the accumulated debt owed
whenever the minimum guarantee falls below an historic level. During the
last recession, the maintenance factor grew as high as $14 billion in
2012.
But Brown’s careful management of the education budget has reduced that
bill to just $195 million and with that payment this year, the LAO said
the state will be without a maintenance factor obligation for the first
time since 2005-06.
With the lifting of that debt and expected changes in the economy, the
LAO said the state will for the first time in many years, be able to
share more revenue with other services and programs outside education.
“In 2015-16, the (Proposition 98) guarantee is relatively insensitive to
changes in revenue,” the LAO reported. “Under our main scenario, with
Test 2 the operative test and no further maintenance factor payments
required, the 2015-16 guarantee no longer depends directly on growth in
state revenue. We estimate that General Fund revenue could increase by
as much as $8 billion above our projections with no corresponding
increase in the guarantee.”
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T
FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other
Sources
REPORT PRAISES LAUSD'S SPECIAL ED INTEGRATION, MISIS
PROGRESS - LA School Report
http://bit.ly/1SSSxfD
COURT MONITOR ATTACKS LAUSD'S EFFORTS TO COMPLY WITH ADA -
LA School Report
LAUSD BOARD OF ED TWEAKS QUALITIES FOR NEXT SUPERINTENDENT DOWN TO A “T”
http://bit.ly/1QuATRH
CHARTER SCHOOL INVESTORS FORM NONPROFIT TO PROMOTE BROAD’S CHARTER SCHOOL PLAN IN LOS ANGELES AREA
http://bit.ly/1luP0K6
RUTH PEREZ: Paramount Unified eyes new superintendent
http://bit.ly/1SAqBwS
FRANCES GIPSON NAMED NEW LAUSD CHIEF ACADEMIC OFFICER, REPLACING PEREZ – HUERTA TO HEAD LOCAL DISTRICT EAST
http://bit.ly/1QXZvBw
PTA SURVEY FINDS PARENTS STILL IN THE DARK OVER NEW TESTING
http://bit.ly/1My5YOl
LAURENE POWELL JOBS LAUNCHES COLLEGE-SUPPORT PROGRAM IN WATTS
http://bit.ly/1YdOBd3
A Series of Op-Eds: HOW TO SOLVE THE LAUSD PUZZLE
http://bit.ly/20XGGTu
LAUSD unions silent over financial report predicting trouble ahead - LA School Report http://bit.ly/1j0OzW8
CA's ACADEMIC RATINGS TARGETED 4 REPEAL: If the API is repealed w/o Parent Trigger, Gloria ®omero threatens lawsuit http://bit.ly/1MvAdp0
EVENTS: Coming up next week...
Be Thankful.
"Now it seems to me, some fine things
Have been laid upon your table'
*Dates and times subject to change. ________________________________________
• SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION BOND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE:
http://www.laschools.org/bond/
Phone: 213-241-5183
____________________________________________________
• LAUSD FACILITIES COMMUNITY OUTREACH CALENDAR:
http://www.laschools.org/happenings/
Phone: 213-241.8700
What can YOU do?
• E-mail, call or write your school board member:
Scott.Schmerelson@lausd.net • 213-241-8333
Monica.Garcia@lausd.net • 213-241-6180
Ref.Rodriguez@lausd.net • 213-241-5555
George.McKenna@lausd.net • 213-241-6382
Monica.Ratliff@lausd.net • 213-241-6388
Richard.Vladovic@lausd.net • 213-241-6385
Steve.Zimmer@lausd.net • 213-241-6387
...or your city councilperson, mayor, county supervisor, state
legislator, the governor, member of congress, senator - or the
president. Tell them what you really think! • Find your state
legislator based on your home address. Just go to: http://bit.ly/dqFdq2 • There are 26 mayors and five county supervisors representing jurisdictions within LAUSD, the mayor of LA can be reached at mayor@lacity.org • 213.978.0600
• Call or e-mail Governor Brown: 213-897-0322 e-mail: http://www.govmail.ca.gov/
• Open the dialogue. Write a letter to the editor. Circulate these
thoughts. Talk to the principal and teachers at your local school.
• Speak with your friends, neighbors and coworkers. Stay on top of education issues. Don't take my word for it!
• Get involved at your neighborhood school. Join your PTA. Serve on a School Site Council. Be there for a child.
• If you are eligible to become a citizen, BECOME ONE.
• If you a a citizen, REGISTER TO VOTE at http://registertovote.ca.gov/
• If you are registered, VOTE LIKE THE FUTURE DEPENDS ON IT. THEY DO!
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