LAUSD Banks on New Revenues to Restore Educational Programs

The board of the Los Angeles Unified School District voted Tuesday to restore adult education as well as early education and elementary school arts education, provided it has enough state revenues and labor concessions.

The vote, announced on the Los Angeles Unified School District’s recently launched Facebook page, overturns cuts proposed to those programs during the District’s board meetings last month.

The LAUSD board also voted 6-1 to put a parcel tax on the November 2012 ballot. The tax is aimed at generating local funds for schools over the next five years and bridging a $390.2 million projected budget deficit in the District’s revenues next year, down from $557 million. If approved by two-thirds of voters, the $298 annual tax would be imposed on every property within the LAUSD’s boundaries in Los Angeles.

The only vote against the parcel tax was by LAUSD board member Marguerite LaMotte, the District announced on its Facebook page. “Despite questioning by board member Bennett Kayser, he voted yes,” the announcement said.

The LAUSD’s Facebook page, meanwhile, has steadily been gaining “likes,” which climbed from 738 before the board’s vote to 741 shortly after the vote. The FB page is most popular among people aged 18-24 years.

“Great to see LAUSD's Facebook page,” remarked LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy on Twitter this past Friday. “LAUSD is moving strong into world of social media. Maybe I will jump into FB soon.”

So far, however, Deasy doesn’t seem to have made the jump—but he remains pretty active on Twitter. About half an hour prior to the parcel tax and related votes, the District’s top man sent out this tweet: “While the view of LA is stunning from Griffith Park, the view that matters most are [sic] the most impacted locations in LAUSD.”