Editor's note: Funding and finance: ‘Snug with a buck’
By:
Brian Taylor
Fall 2012
Education finance in California is insufficient and a convoluted mess. But don’t just take my word for it; in fact, those aren’t even my words. They come from a new department of California Schools that makes its debut in this issue on page 16, in an attractive package spread under the heading “CSBA at Issue”; one page offers insights on weighted student funding formulas—a comprehensive approach to reconfiguring how the state distributes K-12 education dollars—and the other graphically depicts milestones in California education finance to retrace how we got to where we are.
The weighted funding update comes from Teri Burns, senior director in CSBA’s Policy and Programs Department and a longtime board member in the Natomas Unified School District here in Sacramento. She explains how weighted student funding—if done correctly—could be the key to adequate and equitable school funding.
Teri’s incisive commentary and the accompanying timeline from CSBA Assistant Executive Director for Governmental Relations Dennis Meyers help set the tone for a new approach in California Schools. You’ll find that much of this Fall issue explores the theme of funding and finance. (We’ll focus on governance in the winter, achievement in the spring, and conditions of children in the summer.)
CSBA Executive Director Vernon M. Billy introduces the funding and finance theme in his report that, as always, leads off the magazine. All of the magazine’s other departments also explore the theme, and they set up a memorable feature-length interview with a man who knows school fiscal issues inside out: Dr. Randolph E. Ward. Formerly the state-appointed administrator who helped pilot two of the state’s school districts out of deep financial trouble, he’s now the superintendent of the San Diego County Office of Education.
“We’ve got a lot of districts that are in qualified status or worse, and it’s mostly due to the fact that the state of California has divested in public education,” Randy—most folks call him that, he told CSBA staff writer Kristi Garrett—wisely counsels cash-strapped school boards to avoid state takeover at all costs; but he also suggests that advocates for public education must make the case for funding—specifically in Proposition 30, and by extension in Proposition 38, the two revenue initiatives on the November ballot that would benefit public schools.
Going to the voters is just one of the strategies staff writer Carol Brydolf lays out in “Your ad here … and other ways to raise revenues and cut costs,” starting on page 26. (The No. 1 strategy: Make the most of your CSBA membership!) Even after all the other approaches are taken (cutting costs, pooling resources, seeking grants and so on), voters can usually be counted on to do the right thing. They approved 25 local school bond measures and 13 parcel taxes in June; nine bond issues and six parcel taxes failed.
“School folks aren’t by nature big risk-takers, but I think the cutbacks and potential program losses have convinced many that it’s worth taking the risk to put a measure on the ballot,” Larry Tramutola, a consultant who helps districts with fiscal ballot issues, told Carol. “They are balancing the risks against the reality of future program cuts and saying, ‘Even if we lose, we had to try.’ ”
Among those trying last June was the K-8 Norris School District in Bakersfield. The district’s leaders sought up to $149 million in bonding authority to renovate older schools and build new ones as the area’s population continues to grow. It was the first bond they’d put to voters in nearly 40 years, and on election night it was leading by 559 votes; unfortunately, at 54.78 percent of all votes cast, that was maddeningly short of the required 55 percent majority.
“Everybody’s pretty snug with a buck around here,” board President Bob Beechinor told me recently. By the time the final results were certified, though, the total in favor had crept up to 55.11 percent, just five votes over the minimum needed. “We call it our landslide,” Beechinor said, a wry term to use at the bottom of California’s long, flat Central Valley. He credits a strong effort by parents and other supporters who staffed phone banks and went door-to-door to drum up support.
Frequent California Schools freelancer Pamela Martineau offers a diversion from all the fiscal angst in her story, “Welcome Back! How to Focus Students on School After Summer Break.” Check it out on page 34, and thanks for reading! CS
Brian Taylor ( btaylor@csba.org ) is the managing editor of California Schools.