More Budget News – Still Not Too Good

The Los Angeles Unified School District budget is more complicated than anything I’ve seen. First, it’s over 500 pages thick. One afternoon, Ginger Bower and I spread it out on the floor and spent hours poring over it to try to understand how and where the money is being spent.  Now, we consider ourselves to be intelligent women.  We both know how to read a budget. And we were both confused messes at the end of several hours.

 

Here’s what we didn’t know that day.  LAUSD is required to submit a three year budget to the Los Angeles County Office of Education – every year.  This means that the District is in constant forecast mode, regardless of their level of visibility into the State budget.   The State, on the other hand, only budgets for the next fiscal year.

 

And here’s the problem we’re facing right now. Apparently, some of the LAUSD Board of Education members seem to be under the impression that the District can either not submit a budget because the cuts are just too hard to make, or submit a totally unrealistic, out of balance budget. Neither is an option. The Board members need to somehow find the political courage to make the necessary cuts so that the District can protect as much of their instructional core program as possible.  I’m not criticizing the Board members.  They are tasked with a near impossible job. And I know that each one of them struggles with this every day. But, it’s a job that MUST be done.

 

If you’ve been following MOMS UNITE’s progress through the labyrinth of public education reform, you know that we absolutely do not support cuts that affect the classroom.  Unfortunately, the District is pretty much beyond that now. Superintendent Cortines himself showed us the reports.  

 

We’d be the first people in the Superintendant’s office calling him to task and even organizing protests if we thought that there was a way that it would make a difference.  The truth of the matter is that THERE IS NO MONEY. Right now, everyone needs to focus on protecting the framework of the educational system.  We can build back from there.

 

I truly believe that the whole contraption needs to be dismantled and put back together in a way that makes sense in today’s world. Have I said this before? Probably.  Much of what LAUSD is operating around today was put into effect years ago.  Class action suits, ballot initiatives, bond measures and well meaning (but not terribly well thought out) programs etc. have created a minefield of issues to navigate around. Again I say, be angry but channel that anger to become part of the solution.

 

Use this link to email and call your District representative.  Ask them to pass a budget that makes sense, even if it’s hard. http://laschoolboard.org/  Only when we know what we have to work with can we work to get ourselves out of this mess.

 

Victoria

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MOMS UNITE is a grassroots parent advocacy group devoted to improving public education in California.

To join, please send your contact information to momsunitela@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter @MOMSUNITE.