CUSD Budget adoption for 2015-16 - Highlights that the Public Should Know #1 - California 's LCFF freezes District funding at 2008 levels by the year 2021

Under the Governor’s May revision to the State Budget: CUSD will be getting $805 more per student. That sounds great - but what the public needs to understand is that under the State’s new Local Control Funding Formula law K-12 funding has a ceiling and will not exceed funding at 2008 levels. The promise is to reach 2008 funding levels by the year 2021. For CUSD that means per pupil funding will never exceed $8,500 and we may not get there till 2021.

LCFF Base Grant Amount:
2013-14: $6,500 per student
2014-15: $7,643 per student
2021: $8,500 Projected by 2021

To put that number into perspective CUSD is receiving $2,499 per student less then California’s current average per pupil spending of $9,501 and $4,224 per student less than the current national average of $11,226.

CUSD has a student population of 52,985 students.

If CUSD were to be funded at the California State Average, CUSD would receive an additional $132 million dollars per year in revenue.

If CUSD were funded at the National average, CUSD would receive an additional $224 million dollars per year in revenue.

Sources:
http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/lc/lcffoverview.asp
http://capousd.ca.schoolloop.com/cms/page_view?d=x&piid=&vpid=1392894044236
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/fd/ec/currentexpense.asp Per Pupil Spending by District California as of Feb 18, 2014
http://capousd.ca.schoolloop.com/file/1229223560406/1218998864154/1331468026996732138.pdf Capistrano Unified School District Financial Report- Governor’s 2014-15 Proposed Budget and May Revise Update Education Week Research Center
http://www.edweek.org/media/ew/qc/2014/shr/16shr.ca.h33.pdf

California has done extensive studies to find what it actually costs to provide an “adequate” education for students.

Calculated Per Pupil Costs, including Base Costs with Special Needs Weightings are as follows:

Average: $11,094 - $12,365
Urban: $11,508 - $12,718
Suburban: $10,726 - $12,077 *CUSD
Towns: $ 8,932 - $ 9,896
Rural: $10,615 - $11,881

Source: http://www.schoolfunding.info/states/ca/CA-AIR-3-07.pdf at xiii

The state is intentionally underfunding CUSD and in fact CUSD is one of the most underfunded school districts in the State of California and in the United States.

The Legislative Analyst Office projects that current 2015-16 revenues of $113 billion will climb to a record $124 billion by the year 2017-18 so why is the State freezing funding for schools at 2008 levels?

2007-08 Revenues were $102 billion

2015-16 Revenues are $113 billion

2017-18 Revenues are projected to be $124 billion

Source: http://www.dof.ca.gov/budgeting/budget_faqs/information/documents/CHART-A.pdf

Source: http://www.lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/105

Even with an additional $805 per student, the district will remain severely underfunded into perpetuity.
How the Law works and a bit of history:
As part of the 2013-14 Budget, the State of California enacted a new system for funding education called the “Local Control Funding Formula”. The formula replaces revenue limits and most categorical programs with a universal “Base Grant”, and then provides significantly more funding for English learners and low-income students.
LCFF Base Grant Amount: 2013-14: $6,500 per student 2014-15: $7,643 per student 2021: $8,500 Projected by 2021
While the stated funding formula sounds like an improvement over California’s old system of education funding; it cannot meet its constitutional obligation to provide a basic education for EVERY student if the Base Funding Grant is set so low that it fails to cover the cost of an adequate education for EVERY student.
To use Capistrano Unified School District as an example:
CUSD Funding Under the LCFF 2012-13
Base Grant: $ 6,500 per student (equal for every student in the State).
Supplemental Grant: $273.00
Additional funding that is based on the percentage of students in the District that are English Language Learners, Receiving Free and Reduced Lunch, or are in Foster Care.
English Language Learners in CUSD
10% of all Students in CUSD are English Language Learners. 81.7% of English Language Learners are socioeconomically disadvantaged:

• Asian: 279 or 5.3%
• Black or African American: 15 or .37%
• Hispanic: 4,466 or 85%
• White not Hispanic: 150 or 2.9%
• Special Education: 15.6% or 816
• Socioeconomically Disadvantaged: 4,265 or 81.7%

Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Students
24.1% (12,793 students) are Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Students
Source: Agenda #4, Exhibit 4, Slide 3 and 8
http://capousd.ca.schoolloop.com/file/1229223560406/1218998864154/1463621950735616281.pdf
Concentration Grant: -0-
The Concentration Grant provides additional money for Districts that have “targeted” students that exceed 55% of a Districts student population. Targeted students are: English Language Learners, receiving Free and Reduced Lunch, or are in Foster Care.

• CUSD % English Language Learners 10%
• CUSD % Socioeconomically Disadvantaged: 24.1% < than 55% so CUSD does not qualify for any Concentration Grant funds.

Districts with low percentages of English Language Learners and poor are being funding by the Base Grant, therefore the Base Grant has to be increased to a level that is sufficient to provide an adequate education for all students.
In fact this law was written to redistribute wealth - not to provide every student with a basic education. The law discriminates against all students who happen to live in a wealthy area by depriving them of their constitutional right to a public education. To be constitutional, the Base Grant would need to be increased. The State is withholding $200 million dollars from CUSD alone.