Why $2500 per family?
Note: The LCUSD Task Force was appointed by the LCUSD Governing Body in 2010 to raise public awareness of the financial crisis facing our schools, and to inspire the community to support our schools through donations to the Foundation. The Task Force operates independently of the Foundation. We are providing the following information from the Task Force as a service to the community.
This year, in response to the state-wide fiscal crisis that has devastated our public school budget, the LCUSD Task Force is recommending that La Cañadans donate $2500 per school family to the Foundation.
Where does this number come from? It begins with a goal…
The level of services the District provided in ’07-’08 is the benchmark we need to get back to: for class size, teachers, aides and programs.
- For years, the amount of money we receive from the state has been squeezed. Time and time again, they cut our funding. Each time, we managed to make do. But the District points specifically to the 2007-2008 school year as the last one they were able to fund to their satisfaction.
- What does that mean? In ‘07-‘08, despite all the cuts, the District was still getting just enough to provide our community with the kind of world-class education we expect. Class sizes were at good levels. There were enough aides and teachers. We didn’t have to rely on increasing numbers of out-of-district students to bolster our enrollment.
And then… California slashed our budget again and again.
This year, we’re receiving $2.3 million less than we did in ’07-’08. Our District has already cut every ounce of fat from the budget. Class sizes are now ballooning, and we can’t even properly keep up with maintenance on our campuses.
- This time, it wasn’t a small cut or a medium cut. It was a devastating one. Currently, we are receiving $576 less per student in unrestricted funding than we received in ’07-’08 – a cut of $2.3 million from three years ago.
- While the District has received some one-time money from the Federal government, it was not sufficient to offset the cuts from the state. The district continued to cut costs, but by the summer of ’10-‘11, they finally ran out of options. They had to start diminishing the product—the educational program that we expect. Class sizes went up. Aides and teachers were cut. More out-of-district students were brought in. Much-needed maintenance was simply put off. And non-core budget items—like money for the computers our students use in our schools—were cut drastically.
The parcel tax brings in nearly a million dollars a year, but that money will be offset by losses due to declining enrollment, as well as cuts to our Special Education and Class Size Reduction programs.
- State funding cuts in unrestricted spending were just one of the reasons our District supported the passage of the parcel tax. However, starting in ’11-’12, that money will be offset by our declining enrollment, as well as state cuts to our restricted funding. What does this mean?
- Our district receives money from the state on a per-student basis. When they cut our funding, they cut this per-student amount. But if our total enrollment declines, our total funding from the state necessarily falls as well. The formula is simple: ($-per-student) X (total enrollment) = Funding From The State. Sacramento has slashed our $-per-student, and our enrollment has declined. It’s a double whammy.
- Furthermore, like every public school district in California, we receive special funds called “restricted funds,” which are earmarked by the state for specific programs. In La Cañada, the bulk of our restricted funds go toward two programs: special education and classroom size reduction. Unfortunately, that funding has been slashed as well.
- So while the District did receive a much-needed infusion of $900K a year from the parcel tax starting in ’09-’10, that amount will be more than offset by a fresh wave of declining enrollment and state cuts in restricted funding. But believe it or not, the news gets worse…
We believe there’s a strong chance another $2.5 million will be cut from our annual budget ON TOP OF the $2.3 million less than what we received ’07-’08.
- With California facing virtual bankruptcy, there’s a very possible scenario in which we lose another $2.5 million in funding this year on top of the current year’s $2.3 million shortfall from ’07-‘08. There’s no more one-time federal money to offset this loss. The burden is falling directly on us.
So let’s talk hard dollars and cents.
The cuts we’ve suffered, plus the cuts we expect, plus the amount the District was already counting on from the community = $6 million. That’s what we need to get back to what we had just three years ago. And we have to raise it not only this year, but each year for the five years we expect this crisis to last.
- The parcel tax is already accounted for: it’s compensating for our declining enrollment and the cuts in restricted funding. To get back to the level of service the District was able to provide in ‘07-‘08, we need to make up the $2.3 million that was already cut as well as the $2.5 million we expect to be cut from our yearly budgets unless certain expiring state-level taxes are extended in a special June election – which most experts suggest is highly improbable. Now, consider that the District’s budget already presumes a $1.1 million donation from the Educational Foundation. That’s a million-plus dollars we already had to raise.
- 2.3 + 2.5 + 1.1 = 5.9. That’s the math with a little rounding. That’s the six million dollars the community must raise to get us back to where we were just three years ago, and given how long this crisis is predicted to last, we are going to have to raise six million not only for next year, but for the next five years.
The District arrived at $2500 by roughly dividing the $6 million shortfall by the number of school families. It is a rough target. No single number will make sense for everyone. Some people will not be able to afford this, so we need the very fortunate to give more.
- Take $6 million and divide it by the number of school families in La Cañada, and you end up with roughly $2500 per family. Is that perfectly scientific? No. Will some families give more, and others less? Yes.
- Will some businesses and out-of-town employers give matching funds? Yes.
- But in an effort to arrive at a basic number that the average school family ought to consider as the expected donation, the Task Force felt that $2500 per family per year was our best approximation.
If we can’t do this, class sizes will go up. More teachers will be laid off. More programs will be cut.
- Remember, the goal isn’t to get our District back to its best-funded days. The situation is too dire to expect excellent funding. What we need to get back to is the satisfactory funding we had in ’07-’08.
- Sadly, if we fail, not only will we not get what we had in ’07-’08, but we won’t even get what we have now. It’s going to get worse and worse.
This isn’t impossible. Our neighbors in San Marino did it just last year. They are statistically no wealthier than we are, and they have a smaller population.
- This isn’t something unique to us. San Marino went through this crisis last year. They managed to raise $4.5 million in just six months. It was an unprecedented amount for them. Manhattan Beach has raised a similar amount two years running, and again, they are no wealthier or more populous than we.
- They did it; so can we.
If you have more questions about how the District Task Force arrived at the $2500 number, feel free to email them.
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