In This Issue:  | | • | RELIEF FROM NCLB TOO EXPENSIVE, STATE OFFICIALS SAY, LAUSD DISAGREES + ‘JAW DROPPING’ COST OF NCLB WAIVER | | | • | EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF FIRST 5 LA RESIGNS AFTER CRITICAL AUDIT + LEADER OF FIRST 5 LA AGENCY RESIGNS AFTER HEAVY CRITICISM + smf’s 2¢ | | | • | LEGISLATORS TOLD STATE WILL RUN OUT OF MONEY FOR K-12 SCHOOL FACILITIES IN MONTHS | | | • | INGLEWOOD UNIFIED EDGES TOWARDS STATE TAKEOVER: District squeezed by cuts, blunders | | | • | HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest (but not neccessariily the best) of the Stories from Other Sources | | | • | EVENTS: Coming up next week... | | | • | What can YOU do? | |
Featured Links: | | | | The number zero was considered evil in the middle ages. It represented heresy: a vacuum – a place without God – in a world where God was all-present. And the digit itself was a symbol from the Islamic world – and al-jabr – the mystical mathematical route to unravel the unknown.
PENN STATE. The Catholic Church. LAUSD & Stephen Rooney. Frank Zappa's chorus mocks us: "It can't happen here."
Think again. Read Sandy Banks column from Saturday: http://lat.ms/tvsdg3 If you can read this and not be sickened you may be part of the problem. Good people knew. And by knowing and doing nothing they ceased being good.
We need to stop protecting institutions and start protecting children.
Wendell H. Jones of Ojai writes to The Times | http://lat.ms/t4rG9U:
"Hello Penn State, Boy Scouts of America and clergy: States have suspected child abuse reporting laws. California's is on the Internet. It requires only two people to implement: a reporter and a child or adult who confides in the reporter.
"The operative word is "suspected." All persons' rights are protected. As a former school counselor, I followed the law many times at schools in three districts. There were no ill-effects."
● California's Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (CANRA) is here: http://bit.ly/s43yMA
● LAUSD's The Child Abuse Awareness Training is here: http://bit.ly/vFHeD3
● Darkness to Light http://www.d2l.org is the authoritative voice.
AS YOU READ ABOUT CALIFORNIA'S APPROACH TO NCLB WAIVERS/REAUTHORIZATION/RECONSTITUTION you will detect true dichotomy. The State Department of Education, The teacher's unions and – yes: the PTA are aligned with one camp; The US Department of Ed, LAUSD and the Forces of Reform® with the other. There is room for differences of opinion on this one – but when adults fight over children we must remember that is usually the children who lose.
THE FIRST 5 LA COMMISSION – which oversees that early ed program in LA – has come under criticism for poor oversight of the program – and for the unusual government sin of not spending the taxpayer's money raised though a 50¢-a-pack tax on cigarettes.
Prop 10? Rob Reiner? Remember?
The County Board of Supervisors, who appoint (or control the appointment of) all the commissioners forced the resignation of the executive director and now threaten to take over the supposedly independent agency …and its $800 million in unspent funds. That pot o' unspent tax money has also drawn the attention of the State of California. Now the adults are engaged in a fight over the money. (What's come over me? …I of course mean what's best for children.) See previous.
4LAKids PREFERS TO OFFER COMMENTARY AND REPUBLISH NEWS – but it looks like you will read it first here: On Thursday LAUSD didn't announce but nonetheless mandated and began to implement rollout of the Discipline Foundation Policy/School-Wide Positive Behavior Support Plan in every school in the District.
This decision was made by the powers-that-be at Beaudry – a Top-Down decision from the 24th floor. But the program itself has bubbled up from below. It has been piloted across the District and it been tested and tried and tweaked. It is Bottom Up reform.
Every school will create its own dedicated Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support Plan, starting here, starting now. In place this by the end of this year. The bad news is it's more work. The good news is it's good work.
See this for the background: http://bit.ly/bXIL5I
See this for the most recent outside evaluation of the plan: http://scr.bi/sQBXJC
See this for the Board Presentation on the above evaluation: http://scr.bi/sf430c
The decision that now is the moment was decided on high. And the nurture and support must rain down from Beaudry and the local districts; but the progress and the growth and the success must be at the grass roots – from the ground up.
At Thursday's meeting of the Discipline Foundation Policy Task Force (who wasn't involved or even consulted – just surprised – in the districtwide implementation decision) Garfield High School principal José Huerta described how Garfield's schoolwide discipline plan has positively influenced and driven his school's growth; how challenges are minimized and the school's educational climate has improved: how at-risk kids are now engaged and how students who previously couldn't read are now reading. Because There Is No Substitute For Good Instruction.
So bad process at Beaudry supports good policy and that's a good thing.
Lemons > lemonade. We take the good news wherever we find it.
¡Onward/Adelante! - smf
RELIEF FROM NCLB TOO EXPENSIVE, STATE OFFICIALS SAY, LAUSD DISAGREES + ‘JAW DROPPING’ COST OF NCLB WAIVER
►RELIEF FROM NCLB TOO EXPENSIVE, STATE OFFICIALS SAY, LAUSD DISAGREES
By Howard Blume | LA Times/LA Now | http://lat.ms/sYLjYv
November 9, 2011 | 5:18 pm - It would cost cash-strapped California at least $2 billion to meet the requirements for relief from the federal No Child Left Behind law, state officials reported Wednesday to the California Board of Education.
Although no decision was made, the clear implication was that California should spurn an opportunity to seek a waiver from federal rules that sanction schools for low test scores. The No Child Left Behind rules are widely unpopular here and elsewhere in the country.
“It seems like this is very costly. The deadline very tight if not impossible,” said state Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, summarizing feedback he said he received from educators around the state as well as from his own staff. “The best solution to a bad law is to replace it with a good law.”
Qualifying for a waiver would commit the state to using standardized test scores or equivalent data as part of the evaluations for teachers and principals. There also are other requirements from the federal government, including some that the state already has agreed to.
Torlakson’s conclusions, delivered at a state school board meeting in Sacramento, were supported by the state’s two major teachers unions and the California PTA. But others took issue with those views.
A state association representing administrators said a waiver might be feasible as well as preferable to the status quo. Without a waiver, an increasing number of schools, even improving ones, will be labeled as failures because of steeply rising improvement targets.
Los Angeles Unified belongs to a consortium of districts that endorsed seeking a waiver.
"LAUSD is moving forward [on] many of the principles outlined,” said district representative Tommy Chang.
A spokesman for the consortium of school districts flatly contradicted the state analysis, saying the waiver would save money.
U.S. Department of Education officials have encouraged California to apply. About 40 states have signaled that they intend to pursue a waiver.
“We’re working with any state that is indicating interest to make sure that this is an achievable proposition,” said deputy press secretary Daren Briscoe. “We have an interest in helping California and other states succeed in applying and helping them to implement some of these reforms.”
Separately, a federal official, who asked not to be named, provided a list of possible funding sources that he said would offset state costs.
___________________________________________________
►‘JAW-DROPPING’ COSTS OF NCLB WAIVER: Some dispute high estimates of state compliance
By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess | http://bit.ly/ujhFra
11/10/11 • An ambivalent State Board of Education discussed but took no action Wednesday on pursuing a temporary waiver from strictures of the No Child Left Behind law. The state will pass up the two application deadlines as a result.
California could still apply in June for a two-year relief from the law. Los Angeles Unified is among the districts favoring a waiver, and several Board members indicated interest as well – if the state can negotiate terms more to its liking. However, the Obama administration has given no public indication yet that it’s willing to bend on its terms.
Because Congress has been unable to agree on how to fix a flawed NCLB, President Obama has offered states a deal: For two years, they’d no longer be bound by many of NCLB’s disliked provisions, which have led to labeling most schools as failing. They also would gain flexibility in using a portion of Title I money for poor kids, in exchange for agreeing to several requirements. States would have to move ahead with Common Core or rigorous college and career standards, to focus on fixing 15 percent of schools (the worst performers and those with the biggest achievement gaps), and to adopt teacher and administrator evaluations based partly on test scores – a demand staunchly opposed by the California Teachers Association as an intrusion on local collective bargaining. CTA lobbyist Ken Burt called the waiver “money down a rat hole,” and said the state should focus on working on Congress to pass a better law.
But drawn to the prospect of getting out from under NCLB’s thumb, 39 states and the District of Columbia have expressed interest in a waiver. Some of those are Race to the Top winners that already are complying with the requirements.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, however, has called for a waiver without conditions and criticized Obama for overstepping his authority in requiring test-based teacher evaluations.
The state Department of Education’s cost-benefit analysis of the waivers found what State Board member James Aschwanden called “jaw-dropping numbers.” The Department put the net price tag to California of between $2 billion and $2.7 billion. Broken down, the costs would include:
$600 million to implement Common Core, through: teacher training, $237.5 million; buying textbooks and materials, $237.5 million; and adopting English learner standards, $118 million;
$410 million to fix the 15 percent low-performing schools;
$76 million to train principals and conduct evaluations for all teachers.
Torlakson called the Obama plan “not so much a waiver as a substitution for a new set of requirements and a new set of challenges.” And he said California would run the risk of moving in one direction with the waivers, only to have Congress head in another direction by passing a new Elementary and Secondary Education Act (the formal name for NCLB).
Cost estimates disputed
The state Department of Education offered no corroborating cost estimates from other states, and those favoring the waiver said the Department undervalued the financial benefits and overestimated the costs of transitioning to Common Core, which the state will have to do anyway. Rick Miller, a former deputy state superintendent who’s now executive director of the nonprofit California Office to Reform Education (CORE), said the seven districts comprising CORE could redirect $84 million to rehire teachers and counselors by redirecting dollars that had to have been spent on tutoring services in Program Improvement schools. “Do the waiver as soon as possible for needed flexibility,” he said.
One of the CORE districts is Los Angeles Unified. Superintendent John Deasy’s deputy chief of staff, Tommy Chang, testified that the district is already attempting to do what the waiver calls for by shifting dollars within its existing budget: preparing for Common Core and shifting to new teacher evaluations that incorporate measures of student progress.
Brad Strong, senior policy director with Children Now, acknowledged that the waiver’s demand that the state expedite its spending on evaluations and Common Core would be “a huge lift.” But it’s far from certain whether Congress will reauthorize NCLB anytime soon, he said, and California needs the will to develop a quality plan for Common Core and an evaluation system that improves learning for all kids.
Adopting a wait-and-see middle ground, the Association of California School Administrators called for putting off a waiver for six months while pressing Congress to pass a new NCLB as proposed in the bipartisan Senate bill sponsored by Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa and Republican Mike Enzi of Wyoming. Failing that, ACSA said in a letter to the State Board, the state should apply for a waiver “based on what California believes is in the best interest of our students and schools and not based on prescriptive conditions.”
State Board member Trish Williams said she was interested in having California submit a “customized” waiver application. Saying she was frustrated that California has missed out on a number of education grants and programs she said, “Would Washington like to work with California? I would like to find a way that would benefit us, and we could live with.”
Chang, Miller and others also expressed the hope that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan would eventually permit large districts like Los Angeles Unified and groups of districts like CORE to apply for waivers on their own, if California refused to
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF FIRST 5 LA RESIGNS AFTER CRITICAL AUDIT + LEADER OF FIRST 5 LA AGENCY RESIGNS AFTER HEAVY CRITICISM + smf’s 2¢
►EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF FIRST 5 LA RESIGNS AFTER CRITICAL AUDIT
Joanna Lin | California Watch | http://bit.ly/vwnS8q
November 11, 2011 | Evelyn Martinez, executive director of First 5 LA, resigned late yesterday, less than three weeks after the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors started the legal process to take over the independent agency that uses tobacco taxes to fund early childhood development programs.
The Board of Supervisors' 4-1 vote Oct. 25 asking the county counsel to initiate the process followed an independent audit that found First 5 lacked oversight of its expenditures, was overstaffed and failed to adequately monitor its contracts.
The agency's board of commissioners, which is led by county Supervisor Michael Antonovich and includes five members appointed by the Board of Supervisors, met in a closed session yesterday and "decided that it was time for new leadership here at First 5 LA," Martinez said to agency staff in an e-mail obtained by California Watch.
Martinez, who has been First 5 LA's top executive since its inception, could not be reached for comment.
In a statement issued to California Watch, Antonovich's staff said: "The projects and operations of First 5 will proceed uninterrupted. Existing grants, contracts, partnerships and initiatives are unaffected by this change."
The board of commissioners will meet next week to appoint an interim CEO and has directed agency staff to continue working in its existing organizational structure under the supervision of Antonovich and First 5 LA attorney Craig Steele, the statement said.
First 5 LA is the largest of 58 county commissions established after voters approved Proposition 10 in 1998. The initiative placed a 50-cent tax on tobacco products and has generated about $7.3 billion to date. In fiscal year 2009-10, First 5 LA counted nearly $146 million in revenue, doled out more than $157 million in grants and employed 103 people, records show.
In her e-mail, Martinez said she believed she had "more than accomplished" her mission to "build a strong organization that would be staffed with the best and brightest of staff who were committed to helping those children and families in greatest need, and certainly of highest risk."
She also alluded to the agency's uncertain future. In addition to a possible county takeover, First 5 LA is at risk of losing about $450 million in a state budget raid. Lawsuits challenging the funding shift have been filed by several commissions, including First 5 LA, and are pending as a consolidated case in Fresno County Superior Court.
"I know that there is a lot of concern about the future of First 5 LA," Martinez said. "I urge each and every one of you to stay positive about the future, and to keep working as hard as you always have. I hope to stay in touch with many of you, and I am certain our paths will cross again since my interest and passion will remain in being of service to those less fortunate than ourselves."
It was the state funding diversion that prompted First 5 LA commissioners to unanimously authorize an independent audit in February. Antonovich proposed the audit to determine how much money the agency had available – a figure that state officials and commissions have disagreed on.
The audit [PDF] was delivered in two reports – the second [PDF] of which was presented Oct. 25. County supervisors said the findings were shocking.
"The current status of affairs at First 5 is unacceptable," Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said at the meeting. "The lack of accountability, the lack of competition in proposals, the lack of information sharing between the staff and the commission itself … any one of these things would be a bell and a whistle. And all of them together is a siren."
In a motion [PDF] introduced by Supervisors Antonovich and Mark Ridley-Thomas, supervisors instructed county staff to return to the board in 30 days with an amendment to establish First 5 LA as a county agency and a transition plan.
Supervisor Gloria Molina, First 5 LA's immediate past chairwoman, was the board's lone dissenter.
"This is clearly a takeover," she said. "It doesn't have anything to do with the audit whatsoever."
First 5 LA criticized the audit, conducted by Harvey M. Rose Associates, as employing "half-truths, faulty assumptions and misleading information to paint a captiously inaccurate picture of First 5 LA's internal financial accounting – which has been recognized with three government accounting excellence awards."
The audit, First 5 LA staff continued, "presupposes a variety of incorrect assumptions that may lead the reader and members of the public to false and damaging conclusions."
First 5 LA would not be the first county commission to go from independent to county status. The Riverside County Children & Families Commission underwent the same transition a few years ago, said Sherry Novick, executive director of the First 5 Association of California, a membership group.
"LA is a very complicated county, and it's not surprising that different people have different thoughts about what should happen," Novick said. "I think (Martinez) put together a large and vibrant organization."
Martinez was among the most highly paid First 5 directors. In 2009-10, she received a salary of $232,178, a $6,000 car allowance, a $10,000 performance bonus and $20,785 in benefits: health, dental, vision and life insurance, employee counseling and deferred compensation.
►LEADER OF FIRST 5 LA AGENCY RESIGNS AFTER HEAVY CRITICISM + smf’s 2¢
by Rong-Gong Lin II & Garrett Therolf | LA Times/LA NOW | http://lat.ms/uzMapD
November 11, 2011 | 5:56 pm - Evelyn V. Martinez, executive director of the First 5 LA education program, has resigned after heavy criticism from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, a spokesman confirmed Friday.
Days earlier, the supervisors expressed deep disappointment in the independent voter-approved agency that uses cigarette taxes to fund health, safety and educational programs for children.
Auditors had found that the agency accumulated more than $800 million of unspent funds and that it was overstaffed considering the paltry number of programs it had underway.
Additionally, auditors faulted the agency for a lack of record-keeping for the more than $200 million in contract and grant awards received in the last fiscal year.
As a result, auditors said they could not tell if the agency had signed agreements "for inappropriate purposes or with unqualified vendors or grantees."
A call Friday to Martinez's office was not immediately returned.
"She did submit her resignation late yesterday," said Francisco Oaxaca, the spokesman for First 5 LA. But he declined to elaborate.
Tony Bell, a spokesman for Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, who chairs the First 5 LA commission, issued a statement also confirming Martinez's resignation, effective Saturday. He said the agency's board would meet next week to appoint an interim director.
●● smf's 2¢ – The always dangerous and potentially explosive conventional wisdom has it that the County Supervisors are the ones responsible for amassing and not spending the First 5 LA Funds – ether by policy or design ……or through a lack of consensus.
The First 5 LA Board of Commissioners is comprised of 13 members. The board includes members appointed by by each of the Los Angeles County Supervisors, the L.A. County Departments of Public Health and Mental Health, and the L.A. County Office of Education.
First 5 LA is nominally an “the independent voter-approved agency”, but every seat on the commission is either directly appointed by the Board of Supervisors or is appointed by a body appointed-by, accountable-to, or serving at–the-pleasure-of the supervisors.
California voters passed Prop. 10 in 1998 which established a 50 cent-per-pack tax on tobacco products that generates approximately $700 million a year to be invested in the healthy development of California's children from prenatal to age 5.
Eighty percent of this money is divided among California's 58 counties, based on the counties' birth rates, to be spent with local needs and priorities in mind. First 5 LA is charged with distributing the Prop. 10 tobacco tax funds in Los Angeles County.
The rule-of-thumb (which is a data tool of conventional wisdom) says that 20% of California population is in L.A. County, thus Prop 10 should produce roughly $140 million per year for First 5 LA.
First 5 claims we have invested more than $699 million in grants and programs since 1998 to champion the health, education, and safety causes of young children and families.
The article above quoted audits saying First 5 LA is sitting on $880 million – the equivalent of over 5½ years of revenue.
There is not enough money for preschool education in LA County – and $140 million per year still probably isn't enough -- and $800 million has gone unspent? What, gentle readers, is with that?
LEGISLATORS TOLD STATE WILL RUN OUT OF MONEY FOR K-12 SCHOOL FACILITIES IN MONTHS
By Dan Aiello – California Progress Report | http://bit.ly/u9upj5
10 November 2011 - At Wednesday’s Joint Oversight Hearing on Financing Options for School Facilities - chaired by Senator Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) and Assemblywoman Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica) - legislators were told California will run out of funding for new construction of the state’s K-12 facilities by April, and modernization of its decaying or seismically deficient infrastructure by August of 2012.
Brownley, who has been a strong advocate for education in California, is proud of the joint effort by the state and local school districts to improve California’s K-12 school facilities over the last decade.
“We’ve made some real progress in either building new schools or in modernizing existing facilities,” Brownley told California Progress Report. “Many districts have passed their local bonds and together we are trying to build school houses that are sustainable and green in nature, which in the long run will reduce our costs around maintenance of school facilities. But there is a real need for facilities in K through 12 and I think if we continue to disinvest we will destroy our investments in education.”
Californians have historically supported the public school systems. As a state, “we’ve spent $35 billion investing in school construction over the last decade,” said Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan during the hearing. “But we’re not likely to see that happen again.”
“We have no money now and we need to know the average age of our schools in California,” Lowenthal told Chip Smith, who was testifying on behalf of the State Architect’s office. “This is a pretty bleak picture.”
Currently there’s no statewide assessment of the condition of K-12 school facilities, leaving legislators in the dark about the remaining needs. Legislators have received estimates to the tune of nearly $1 million to do a statewide assessment. With the state now struggling to close budget gaps to keep school doors open, appropriating money for the assessment is not likely.
The last bond approved by voters was Proposition 1D in 2006. Approximately $1.5 billion dollars remains of that bond authority. The requests for state funding have slowed, however, as school districts are reluctant to ask voters to approve new bonds during these difficult economic times.
Not all California communities are struggling. San Francisco has a “robust” tax base, according to Bill Savage, representing the State Allocation Board. San Franciscans recently passed a $531 million dollar school construction bond in order to capture some of the remaining state funding. San Francisco’s strong tax base is due to the fact San Francisco homes have not depreciated as homes in other areas of the state have. Additionally, only 12.5% of San Francisco’s residents have children, as opposed to a state average between 30 and 35%.
Mark Hovatter, director of bond planning for the Los Angeles Unified School District, described how the improvements to LA’s schools have benefited the surrounding communities. “The ability of schools to transform communities is amazing. One third of all classrooms in Los Angeles were in portable classrooms. We have reclaimed the greenspace on campuses,” making former award-winning schools beautiful places to learn, he said.
LAUSD has approximately 680,000 students. Their infrastructure capacity is for 450,000. The school district has seen a decline of nearly 10%, however, due in part to the unemployed leaving California to find employment in other states.
“An educated state really does create wealth for California,” Brownley told CPR. “I think there are the Steve Jobs and Bill Gates of California’s education system because California invested in the education of their children. I think it’s an important nexus between an educated workforce and a robust economy. An educated state really does create wealth for California. As we continue to disinvest in education we’re crumbling the backbone of California’s wealth.”
“I would always agree that we have a moral obligation [to provide Californians with a quality education], but we also have an economic obligation,” said Brownley. Of California’s ability to compete globally, especially with China, Brownley said, “Make no mistake that as they invest in a high quality education system they will develop their own innovators.” Brownley believes we must continue to invest in education if California is to compete globally in the future.
Dan Aiello is the Sacramento reporter for the California Progress Report.
INGLEWOOD UNIFIED EDGES TOWARDS STATE TAKEOVER: District squeezed by cuts, blunders
By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess | http://bit.ly/vbxbSy
11/07/11 - Many school districts are worried about running out of money this year. San Diego Unified, the state’s second largest district, is openly talking about it. But surprisingly, given the financial pressures on all K-12 districts, only one district is in grave danger of insolvency: 12,000-student Inglewood Unified, southwest of Los Angeles.
Last month, the board of the little-known but powerful state agency, the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, or FCMAT, approved a declaration of fiscal emergency for Inglewood, the first step leading to the state issuing a loan and taking over the district. It’s a four- to six-month process, requiring the Legislature’s two-thirds majority approval, and it’s still possible that the district can stave off the equivalent of bankruptcy this year, but only with a series of “ifs” breaking its way:
… if there aren’t midyear state cuts to K-12 schools;
… if teachers and classified employees agree to more give-backs: benefits cuts and more furlough days – which at this point appears doubtful;
… if the State Board of Education this week grants waivers to allow huge class sizes in grades 4 to 8, over the opposition of many parents and teachers;
… if district officials can convince its suppliers – health care providers being the biggest – to shift some bills from the end of this year to next to ease the cash flow;
… and if the district can then convince private lenders in the next few months to deem Inglewood creditworthy to receive short-term loans called TRANs (Tax and Revenue Anticipation Note).
It’s looking increasingly grim, with the district now projecting a negative cash balance of $4 million in April, soaring to nearly $26 million by the end of June.** Meanwhile, parents have voted a lack of confidence with their feet: The district lost another 900 students this fall, with families pulling kids out and sending many of them to charter schools.
The leadership of the Inglewood Teachers Association voted to support a state takeover instead of bigger classes, approaching 50 in some high school subjects, and more givebacks and furlough days. As union President Pete Somberg told the Daily Breeze, “We don’t see how the current leadership is able to do that when all they are looking for is financial daylight so they can maintain local control. If local control means ransoming a generation of kids, we are not for it.”
But as Glenston Thompson, the assistant superintendent and numbers guy who Inglewood brought in last summer to save the ship, responds, “Be careful what you wish for.”
State, county, and FCMAT officials uniformly warn that a state takeover of a district – and that includes too-big-to-fail San Diego Unified – should be the last resort, a trap to be avoided, because getting out of state receivership is costly (King City Unified, the last district to get a state loan, in 2009, is paying 5 percent interest plus the salary of a state-appointed administrator and advisers) and lengthy (as long as two decades to pay off). The administrator replaces the superintendent and makes all academic and financial decisions; district trustees lose all authority.
Inglewood would be the ninth district in two decades to be taken over, joining Oakland, Emery, Coachella Valley, Compton, West Fresno, Vallejo City, West Contra County and King City in the hall of shame.
Like other districts, Inglewood Unified has been slammed by budget cuts and the failure of the state to pay its bills on time. Deferrals now account for 38 percent of revenue limit payments (the portion not covered by property taxes), creating massive cash-flow challenges.
But the difference between Inglewood and most districts is massive declining enrollment and bad management.
Over the past eight years, enrollment has plunged nearly a third, from nearly 18,000 students to about 12,260 this year. A FCMAT analysis in from a year ago found that the district failed to anticipate and respond to the hemorrhaging of students. Only now is it moving to combine two elementary schools with fewer than 200 students. (The financial impact of losing state reimbursements for 900 students this year actually won’t be felt until next year’s budget.)
FCMAT pointed to other deficiencies:
● Failure to maintain reserve levels;
● Insufficient consideration of long-term bargaining agreement effects;
● Poor cash flow analysis and reconciliation;
● Bargaining agreements beyond state COLA;
● Ineffective management information systems;
● Lack of regular monitoring of categorical programs.
“There is a lack of direct oversight in the business office,” the report said. “Combined with an insufficient level of technical competence, this has created flawed budget assumptions, duplication of revenues and poor enrollment projections.”
Special education was a huge problem. The district failed to monitor the costs of out-of-district placements of handicapped students. Special education’s encroachment of $12 million equaled about a sixth of the district’s general fund budget.
Severe cuts and layoffs, to no avail
Last spring, staring in the face of a budget deficit and cash shortage, the Inglewood board cut more than $24 million, about 20 percent of its total budget. It laid off 200 teachers, nearly a third of the staff, which, in turn, has led to class sizes beyond the legal limits. With the county’s help, the district was able to get most of the state deferrals waived, and it squeaked by through internal borrowing, according to Melvin Iizuka, director of business advisory services for the Los Angeles County Office of Education.
Through painful cuts and better budgeting, the district was able to persuade Iizuka’s office to approve this year’s budget. But that will be a short-lived reprieve, achieved only because the Legislature banned county offices from using two- and three-year budget projections in authorizing school districts’ budgets this year. But in an Oct. 20 letter, while crediting its “considerable progress,” Los Angeles County Superintendent Arturo Delgado notified the district that his office determined that the district won’t be able to meet its commitments this year and next and will be certified negative.
State Board of Education’s dilemma
Having been inundated with emails urging the State Board not to grant waivers for larger classes in Inglewood, State Board member Carl Cohn visited Bennett-Kew Elementary School last week. It was the same school that years ago, when he was the Long Beach Unified superintendent, he would take his principals to visit, because of its extraordinary achievement.
What he saw last week disturbed him, he said. “I saw enthusiastic teachers and kids focused on classroom instruction; there was lots of resilience under these circumstances,” he said. “But the circumstances were extremely challenging. I saw classrooms in dilapidated bungalows with upwards of 35 students and not much space.”
If Cohn and the State Board deny the waivers, the district will have to hire back teachers it cannot afford to pay, compounding its budget problems. But to continue to approve waivers for 30 to 38 students per classroom in Inglewood and elsewhere, “we will break the backs of those who do the work.”
“I don’t have a magic answer. All I know is what I see: hardworking, dedicated teachers overwhelmed in California public schools.”
** Joel Montero, CEO of FCMAT, is constantly warning school district trustees to pay attention to their districts’ cash flow; it’s not enough to pass a balanced budget. “Don’t let a school board meeting go by without asking, ‘How are we with cash? ’” he says.
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest (but not neccessariily the best) of the Stories from Other Sources
CALIFORNIA SCHOOL DISTRICTS HAVE INCONSISTENT CELLPHONE POLICIES, ACLU REPORT FINDS: The report's authors conten... http://bit.ly/sGotfi
LAUSD HEALTHY SCHOOL MENU GETS AN UNHEATHY DOSE OF SKEPTICISM: by Susan Abram Staff Writer - Daily News/Daily Br... http://bit.ly/tIlS0I
BROAD FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES NEW PRIZE FOR URBAN CHARTERS + smf's 2¢: By Christina Samuels| Education Week | http://bit.ly/sW4EBw
More First 5 LA: EXEC DIRECTOR POF FIRST 5 LA RESIGNS AFTER CRITICAL AUDIT: Joanna Lin | Californa Watch | http://bit.ly/taTHWD
LEADER OF FIRST 5 LA AGENCY RESIGNS AFTER HEAVY CRITICISM + smf’s 2¢: by Rong-Gong Lin II & Garrett Therolf | LA... http://bit.ly/sSquP9
SAT Wars: EXPOSING NEW EVIDENCE OF FLAWS IN STANDARDIZED TESTS: SAT Wars: Exposing New Evidence of Flaws in Stan... http://bit.ly/syKjk9
INGLEWOOD UNIFIED EDGES TOWARDS STATE TAKEOVER: District squeezed by cuts, blunders: By John Fensterwald - Educa... http://bit.ly/rPGypW
11.11.11 - REMEMBRANCE DAY MEETS HISTORICAL AMNESIA: By smf for LAKidsNews At 11 AM on the eleventh day of the... http://bit.ly/tqmwHx
LEGISLATORS TOLD STATE WILL RUN OUT OF MONEY FOR K-12 SCHOOL FACILITIES IN MONTHS: By Dan Aiello – California P... http://bit.ly/tXaOsK
Updated: COST OF NCLB RELIEF TOO EXPENSIVE STATE OFFICIALS SAY, LAUSD DISAGREES + "JAW DROPPING" COST OF NCLB WAIVER | http://bit.ly/auDNT3
RELIEF FROM NCLB TOO EXPENSIVE, STATE OFFICIALS SAY, LAUSD DISAGREES: By Howard Blume | LA Times/LA Now | http://bit.ly/twxK60
LACCD Scandals: COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT TO FIRE A THIRD CONTRACTOR: Los Angeles Community College District is... http://bit.ly/rsENMy
FOCUS ON STANDARDIZED TESTS MAY BE PUSHING SOME TEACHERS TO CHEAT + Letters: The number of California teachers w... http://bit.ly/ubMFp6
Administrators Host Long Island Iced Tea Party?: PRINCIPALS REBEL AGAINST VALUE-ADDED EVALUATION: By Valerie Str... http://bit.ly/tvGbzP
THIS “CHOICE” WAS NOT A GOOD CHOICE: by School Boardmember Tamar Galatzan in the Galatzan Gazette | http://bit.ly/svAdcC
LACCD Scandals: LACCD ANNOUNCES NEW ACTION TO CONSIDER TERMINATION OF THIRD MAJOR BUILDING PROGRAM CONTRACTOR: L... http://bit.ly/uJVtSG
BUDGET ANALYSTS & CHILD ADVOCATES: A DANGEROUS DIVIDE?: Budget experts see a need for an overhaul of institution... http://bit.ly/uscbfg
YESTERDAY’S ELECTION MAY SIGNAL A SWING TO THE CENTER: ELECTION highlights from an article by LA Times’ Paul Wes... http://bit.ly/tGecyp
A LIBRARIANS WORDS ARE BINDING: A son’s work speaks volumes about libraries By Steve Lopez, LA Times columnist ... http://bit.ly/usg1zX
LACCD Scandals: MILLIONS IN COLLEGE DISTRICT CLAIMS ‘UNALLOWABLE’, AUDIT SAYS: by Larry Gordon – LA Times/LA Now... http://bit.ly/vaChup
The Ideal Team: CALIFORNIA SCHOOL LIBRARIANS TO HONOR STEVE LOPEZ & HECTOR TOBAR, LAUSD LIBRARY AIDE FRANNY PARRISH.. http://bit.ly/ucByPc
LAUSD HAS ITS FIRST ROSE PRINCESS: By: Monica Carazo |LAUSD Journal | http://bit.ly/s9Bpxx October 17, 2011 -... http://bit.ly/sS1s58
LET’S COME TOGETHER IN NOVEMBER 2012 TO RESTORE EDUCATION FUNDING::By Carol Kocivar in Thoughts on Public Educ... http://bit.ly/uVBNpq
TEEN DEATHS SPUR SUICIDE OUTREACH AT AGOURA HIGH SCHOOL: By Susan Abram, Daily News Staff Writer | http://bit.ly/uBR7wL
EVENTS: Coming up next week...
Friday Nov 18, 2011
Sonia Sotomayor Learning Academies (Central Region HS#13): Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony
Time: 9:00 a.m.
Location:
Sonia Sotomayor Learning Academies
2050 San Fernando Road
Los Angeles, CA 90065
Saturday Nov 19, 2011
Juanita Tate Elementary School (South Region ES #6): Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony
Time: 11:00 a.m.
Location:
Juanita Tate Elementary School
123 W. 59th St.
Los Angeles, CA 90003
________________________________________
• 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:
Tamar.Galatzan@lausd.net • 213-241-6386
Monica.Garcia@lausd.net • 213-241-6180
Bennett.Kayser@lausd.net • 213-241-5555
Marguerite.LaMotte@lausd.net • 213-241-6382
Nury.Martinez@lausd.net • 213-241-6388
Richard.Vladovic@lausd.net • 213-241-6385
Steve.Zimmer@lausd.net • 213-241-6387
...or your city councilperson, mayor, 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.
• If you are registered, VOTE LIKE THE FUTURE DEPENDS ON IT. THEY DO!.
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