BASIC
AID NEWSFLASH VI (24-Apr-2003) Addendum A1
* * * * * * *
UNLIKELY ALLIES MAY LOSE SCHOOL
FUNDS
from Los Angeles Times, April 19, 2003
By Duke Helfand and Claire Luna, Times Staff Writers
Laguna Beach, the wealthy seaside town known for its
resorts perched over the Pacific, may seem an unlikely
ally for the dusty outpost of McKittrick, 200 miles
north in Kern County.
The median family income in Laguna exceeds $100,000,
more than twice that of McKittrick, whose lone school
and fire station are surrounded by scrub brush and oil
fields as far as the eye can see. And about the only
water visible in McKittrick is at the school’s
swimming pool.
But Laguna and McKittrick are bound by one inescapable
fact: High property values pump millions of dollars
in extra property taxes into their schools — Laguna
because of its pricey beachside real estate, McKittrick
because of underground oil reserves.
The surplus money has given these two districts —
and more than 60 others in the state — a financial
advantage.
Now, however, these districts are trying to fend off
a plan by Gov. Gray Davis to use $126 million of their
property tax money to help close the state’s gaping
budget shortage. Revenue in these districts would drop
dramatically — in some cases by nearly half —
although most would remain above the state average of
about $5,000 per pupil.
Calling Davis’ proposal unfair and crippling,
leaders in the districts are lobbying the Legislature
and are quietly threatening a lawsuit to protect their
funds — which pay for core educational programs,
teacher salaries, extra computers, art specialists,
field trips around the state for McKittrick students,
and even yoga classes for instructors in Laguna.
“There’s not a lot of sympathy for districts
like Palo Alto or Laguna Beach. But we have students
and parents and teachers too,” said Supt.
Theresa Daem of the Laguna Beach Unified School District,
which would lose one-quarter of its funding under Davis'
plan and have to lay off several teachers and principals
at its four schools. "This would remove the lifeblood
of our district. Let us deal with the same level of
cuts as everyone else.”
For years, these districts have received far less
state money than most others. Because they generate
so much in local property taxes, they get only the “basic
aid” mandated by the California Constitution:
$120 per student in state general funds compared to
the state average of about $2,500.
McKittrick School, a K-8 campus with 63 students, would
be among the hardest hit by Davis’ proposal. The
school, in a town that is little more than a truck stop
40 miles west of Bakersfield, stands to lose nearly
half its $1-million budget, said Principal John Barnes.
Until now, the surrounding oil fields and a nearby
electric power plant have generated enormous property
taxes to run the school, nearly $17,000 per pupil last
year.
But if Davis’ proposal goes through, Barnes
said he might have to lay off all three instructional
aides, a custodian and one of the four teachers. The
remaining three teachers would have to cover three grade
levels each.
The campus swimming pool, which serves as a summertime
community watering hole, probably would close this summer.
And field trips to San Francisco, Santa Barbara and
other places would come to an end. “We’re
a small town. This school is this community,”
Barnes said. “It would just devastate us.”
Davis administration officials say they sympathize,
but they believe the school systems can cope with such
cuts. The governor wants to redistribute the $126
million in property taxes to other districts within
their counties. That would reduce the amount the state
would have to spend on the schools.
“There’s no way to sugarcoat it. The proposal
does involve some real pain for those districts. But
the thinking was that they had more wherewithal to deal
with cuts than other districts," said Erik Skinner,
an assistant secretary for fiscal policy in the Davis
administration. “It was not our intention to take
any districts out at the knees,” Skinner added.
Most of the affected districts are in Northern California,
the result of high property values and enrollments
that have grown slowly or declined. Orange County has
two such districts — Newport-Mesa and Laguna Beach
— while Los Angeles and Ventura counties have
none, according to the state’s list.
The basic-aid districts — which serve affluent
communities such as Laguna but also cities with many
low-income children such as Costa Mesa and San Jose
— hope Davis will spare them when he releases
his revised budget in May.
In the meantime, they are trying to rally parents and
politicians around their cause — with some success.
Nearly half of the members of the state Assembly and
Senate signed letters recently urging Davis to reconsider.
Many question whether the state can legally take local
property taxes to help balance its budget.
“You can't cut funding that you don’t provide,”
said Assemblyman Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto), whose district
includes 10 basic-aid school districts. “Once
you go down that path, where do you stop? Will the state
then conclude that it can take the proceeds of local
parcel taxes?”
State Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell
also has objected, saying the cuts would be disproportionate
compared to other reductions the governor has proposed
for schools.
“To take these funds from basic-aid districts
at this point would jeopardize their solvency,”
O’Connell told a Senate budget panel recently.
Basic-aid districts — which serve just 2-1/2%
of the state’s 6 million public school students,
or about 150,000 — are an anomaly in California’s
complicated school finance system.
That system sets a per-pupil funding level for each
district, a figure usually based half on local
property taxes and half on state general revenue
funds. The combined average is about $5,000 per student
in unrestricted funds, which are supplemented by state
aid to specific programs and federal money.
The basic-aid districts, by contrast, rely mainly on
the $126 million in property tax revenue that Davis
now wants to take. Making matters worse for them, Davis
also plans to hold back the $120-per-student basic-aid
payments, which total $18 million for those districts,
arguing that the state already meets its constitutional
funding obligations through other programs.
Although several legislators and O’Connell said
they do not object to that $18 million reduction, the
districts contend that such a move would violate the
state Constitution.
Basic-aid advocates argue that their status can be
misleading. They say many of their districts don’t
generate astounding amounts of property taxes, just
enough to put them onto the target list. And, they stress,
some basic-aid districts enroll large numbers of students
from economically struggling families.
They point to places such as McKittrick, where students’
mothers and fathers work in the sprawling oil fields
around the school or at the power plant outside of town.
Housing prices average about $60,000, less than one-tenth
the average price of houses in Laguna Beach.
“We're a poor community in a rich area in terms
of resources,” said Principal Barnes. “Everyone
thinks that basic-aid districts have rich kids. It’s
not so.”
Two hundred miles south, Laguna Beach Unified, which
serves 2,700 children in a town of 24,000 residents,
fits the better-known image of wealthy basic-aid districts.
At Thurston Middle School, nicknamed “Paradise
on the Hill,” teachers can step outside and enjoy
commanding views of the ocean. A new gym and performing
arts center are under construction at the campus tucked
amid million-dollar homes.
Thurston students can choose from a long list of elective
classes, including home economics, drama and art. “Art
… makes them happy. How can you make them give
that up?” asked Principal Chris J. Duddy.
Duddy has been told he could be laid off because of
the threatened cuts. Eight of his 28 teachers have received
the same notice, as have his only counselor and the
assistant principal. In the worst-case scenario, class
sizes would increase to about 32 students — from
the current range of 25 to 28 — and some courses
would be eliminated.
Duddy’s boss, Supt. Daem, isn’t happy
about the prospect. “It’s going to cut so
absurdly across the board,” Daem said. “There
will be nothing beyond the core curriculum being taught
in classrooms that are filled to the brim.”
back to Basic
Aid Newsflash VI
Addendum A2: “Take
the money and ruin?” (Palo Alto Online
article)
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