Enrollment Rates Could Affect JPA

Resident enrollment in city schools has increased since 2007, when the last between the city and the Beverly Hills Unified School District was negotiated. BHUSD officials are emphasizing this point as they continue negotiations with city officials on the next JPA.

The JPA is a four-year agreement in which the city pays the district for access to school facilities. The current JPA pays BHUSD $10.3 million a year and expires July 1, 2012. City Treasurer Elliot Finkel has recommended .

About 90 percent of current BHUSD students are residents, up from 80 percent in the 2006-07 school year, Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Alex Cherniss told a joint City Council-Board of Education liaison meeting Wednesday. Mayor Barry Brucker and Vice Mayor Willie Brien represent the city in the JPA discussions, while board Vice President Brian Goldberg and member Jake Manaster represent BHUSD.

Total district enrollment fell from 5,278 students in 2006 to 4,412 students in 2010-11, Cherniss said, mostly as a result of the BHUSD’s decision in early 2010 to .

“The district is budgeting for approximately 4,600 students in 2011-12 and no less than 4,300 students in future years,” Cherniss said.

City employees' children who live outside the district can still obtain permits. They accounted for 28 students in 2006-07 and then 32 students in 2010-11. Because the BHUSD spends about $11,250 per pupil each year, Cherniss calculated that the district spends about $360,000 annually to educate the children of city employees.

City officials in the past have raised declining BHUSD enrollment as a possible reason to cut the next JPA. The current $10.3 million JPA represents about one-fifth of the BHUSD’s annual budget and a reduction could mean significant cuts in school programs. The BHUSD’s budget has fallen from $55.1 million in 2008 to $52.7 million in 2011.

The city does pay for some district-related expenses out of the general fund rather than the JPA, Brucker and Brien noted. For example, the city pays most of the cost of crossing guards at 19 city intersections before and after school.

Horace Mann parent Gregory Bell, himself a graduate of BHUSD schools, said during the public comment period that the city should maintain or even increase the amount of the JPA. He urged the city to reduce the of city employees in order to properly fund the JPA.

“If the city fixes the city compensation packages to be more in line with reality, the city will be flush with funds to use for programs such as the JPA,” he told Patch after the meeting.

Brucker and Brien did not offer any specifics on their budgetary plans for the next JPA, although they promised to do so at the next joint liaison meeting. At the , both sides pledged to complete the next JPA by January 2012.

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