EVIL CALIFORNIA

Trump Fever - No one understands it! No one can believe it! Why is this happening?

Maybe the average middle class "LEGAL" citizen is tired of having no voice in their government. Government has forgotten that its purpose is to serve the people. People are not here to be a blank check book for the government.

Just how evil has government gotten?

So evil that it now steals from it's children to fund political agendas (re: using the California public education system to redistribute wealth rather than educate our kids). We have a Governor and State Legislature and Assembly that feel it is more important to build legacy projects for elected leaders (high speed rail); and create new programs and entitlements rather than educate our children.

Mark my words- when California (which educates 1 in 8 kids in the US) fails to provide a basic education to California kids - the nation, as a whole, will be less educated and ill prepared to compete with its peers around the world.

EVIL CALIFORNIA- STEELS MONEY FROM EDUCATION TO CREATE MONUMENTS TO FAILED LEADERS, AND TO EMPOWER PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT LEGALLY ENTITLED TO BE IN THIS COUNTRY- THE RESULT-

STUDENTS IN THE WEALTHIEST SCHOOL DISTRICTS ARE NOW EQUAL TO ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS IN MATH AND ENGLISH.

Only 39% of all students graduating from CUSD are qualified to even apply to a 4-year selective University. So 61% are limited to community college or a job when they graduate from high school.

http://capousd.ca.schoolloop.com/file/1218998819331/1455438848279/3795891073422611312.pdf page 209

To cover up the continued lack of adequate funding, and its effect on our kids- the State now wants to give everyone 2 years of free Community College. Is it really in the best interest of 2/3 of our kids to spend 6 years learning what it should take 4 years to learn? No- they will never catch up financially.

EVIL CALIFORNIA

California's new education funding law is simple- it is black and white - and it has been designed to redistribute wealth rather than provide a quality education to every student.

How Does The Local Control Funding Formula Calculate Per Pupil Funding?

The Base Grant is universal for all students. Some Districts are funded solely by the Base Grant; therefore the Base Grant should be an amount that is sufficient provide EVERY student; irrespective of their individual wealth, race and ethnicity, of a quality education.

A "quality education" has been defined by the courts to be:

"...opportunity to obtain high quality staff, program expansion and variety, beneficial teacher-pupil ratios and class sizes, modern equipment and materials, and high-quality buildings."

The Supplemental Grant provides additional funding to districts based on the percentage of students in the district that are English Language Learners, Receiving Free and Reduced Lunch, and/or are in Foster Care. This is extra money to take care of these high needs students.

The Concentration Grant provides even more funding for districts that have large concentrations of students that are English Language Learners, Receiving Free and Reduced Lunch, and/or are in Foster Care. This is even more funding for schools that are predominantly students who are English Language Learners, poor and have a high percentage of students who are in Foster Care.

Those districts with a low percentage of students who are English Language Learners, Receiving Free and Reduced Lunch, and/or are in Foster Care are funded solely by the Base Grant. As such, the Base Grant needs to be sufficient enough to provide every K-12 student in the State with an equal opportunity to achieve a quality education.

When the State of California intentionally sets the Base Grant below what it costs to provide a quality education to students, the State is intentionally depriving all students that happen to live in Districts with a low percentage of students who are English Language Learners, Poor and are in Foster Care of their fundamental right to a quality education.

The Local Control Funding Formula discriminates against students based on where they happen to live, and irrespective of a students individual wealth, race or ethnicity. Such intentional discrimination is invidious. It violates the equal protection laws of both the State of California and the United States.

Bottom Line-

CUSD is not receiving adequate funding from the State to provide our kids with a minimum education.

How Much Should the Base Grant Be For the Law to Be Constitutional?

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

The State has sufficient revenues to provide CUSD with adequate funding, but is choosing not to give CUSD the revenue it is entitled to, so that money that should go to CUSD students can be spent on other programs and entitlements that are not constitutionally mandated.

In 2007-08 the State of California had a $103 billion dollar budget- today the budget is projected to be in excess of $125 billion.

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

The State of California has the money- but is choosing not to give it to our kids.

EVIL CALIFORNIA

CUSD will have had flat funding of $7,500 - $8,000 for 14 years by 2021. That is the reason CUSD has no money to give employee compensation increases every year, without having to cut core educational programs, instructional time, and cannot fix and maintain it's facilities.

A quality education is defined as:

"...opportunity to obtain high quality staff, program expansion and variety, beneficial teacher-pupil ratios and class sizes, modern equipment and materials, and high-quality buildings."

Does CUSD receive enough funding to:

Obtain high quality staff

Yes they do - however, an overwhelming majority of our high quality teachers will be retiring in the next three years. They will be replaced with inexperienced teachers that make 1/2 of the current compensation who will have to deal with an education system that has not restored core educational programs (CUSD relies on fundraising and donations to pay for art, music, science, class size reduction, instructional aids, and facilities improvements). How will these new teachers cope with these conditions?

Average CUSD teacher compensation (salaries- pensions- benefits) is currently $108,392. For 185 days of work that their contract limits to 7.5 hours per day. Summers off. New Teachers will make $48,000. The savings will be used to pay the unfunded pension liabilities of all the newly retired district employees.

Program Expansion and Variety

Currently CUSD schools that cannot afford to fundraise have no art, no music, limited science. We have limited honors classes which place our students at a great disadvantage when applying to college because they are unable to show rigor in their 9th and 10th grade course work and their GPA will never be as high as those students who attend schools with the funding to have broad program expansion. The District lacks sufficient funding to provide both, San Clemente High School and San Juan Hills High School with equal two way programs.

Beneficial Teacher-Pupil Ratios and Class Sizes

CUSD has used Class Size Reduction to balance it's budget for the last ten years- see: http://www.peopleforstudentrights.com/index.php/lcap/lcap-goal-1/measurable-outcome-3

Despite stating in its LCAP that the district had budgeted $4.9 million to reduce class sizes, the money was never spent on CSR in 2014-15 as documented by the OCDE.


Under California's new Local Control:

The State of California has written the law to intentionally allow districts to use class size increases as a means of balancing its budget, if Districts choose to negotiate such a contract. Financial incentives to encourage class size reduction rather then financial penalties for excessive class sizes is a policy change that puts students at a disadvantage at the collective bargaining table. When a District has Union elected Trustees and a District negotiation Team that is essentially co-workers with Union staff, that means there is no one sitting at the collective bargaining table negotiating on behalf of what is in the best interest of students and tax payers.

Here is what the State is "recommending" as a reasonable class size- compare that to what our students have:

EVIL CALIFORNIA!

Modern Equipment and Materials, and High-Quality Buildings

The State's view of "Local Control" is to keep local taxes at the State level, but push all the increased costs (for example- CalSTRS and CalPERS) down to the local level, and then give taxpayers the opportunity to increase local taxes and bonds to pay for the "student recovery". This is evidenced by the following:

(a) Assembly Bill 464 increases to 3% (from the current 2% cap) the maximum sales tax rate that can be levied by local governments.

Local Bond "Debt"

California's 2015- 16 5-year Infrastructure Plan contains -0- dollars for K-12 Public Education (the States #1 of 2 Constitutionally mandated expenditures) That is by design. The State expects local school districts to raise local tax money to fund facilities maintenance (after it has allowed districts to deplete deferred maintenance funds to fund employee compensation) and will no longer provide matching funds for new construction.

California's 5 Year Infrastructure Plan

The Governors infrastructure plan does not allocate any facilities funding for K-12 Public Education stating that it is the intention of the State to provide greater flexibility for Cities, Counties and local school districts to borrow money, or raise taxes to fund K-12 infrastructure projects.

CUSD students are attending school in overcrowded classrooms, in facilities that are no longer safe, with staff to student ratios that are not safe.

This article is to long for the Patch- see: http://disclosurecusd.blogspot.com/2016/03/evil-california.html