LA’S SCHOOLS-The headlines and the unanticipated budget numbers:
LA SCHOOLS WILL PAY VICTIMS IN CHILD ABUSE SCANDAL $139 MILLION – not including $30 million previously awarded and its own legal costs
LAUSD NEEDS ANOTHER $13 million for testing devices – in addition to $31 million already spent, $9.1 million already allocated but not spent, and the $114 million already spent on iPads and other devices for the now-on-hold (…or maybe not) 1:1 computing initiative – the debacle formally known as the Common Core Technology Project.
THE CURRENT COST OVERRUNS ON MISIS are projected to be about $53 million. Or more.
LAUSD MAY HAVE A GENERAL FUND DEFICIT THIS YEAR OF $300 MILLION – even though the superintendent proposed and the board approved a budget last June that was theoretically balanced and there is supposed to be all this new Prop 30 money rolling in!
(“Oh c’mon Scott,” you say. “…those numbers are so one-superintendent-ago!”)
There is a current backlog of $5.2 billion in unmet maintenance and repair needs, that number increases about $1.1 billion a year. The District has the ability to raise about $7 billion over the next decade in Measure Q bonds – but in reality needs about $30 billion to rebuild and modernize LAUSD facilities to meet 21st century standards.
The good news is that California schools may get an additional $2 billion next year in general fund increased tax revenue – if projections are correct. LAUSD may get as much as 15% of that. The bad news is the previous sentence contains the modifier “may” twice and “if” once. And LAUSD is 384 miles from Sacramento where decisions really get made – no matter what we like to believe about Local Control and Subsidiarity.
Those are some big numbers ….but what do they mean? There is more difference between a million and a billion besides an ‘M’ and a ‘B’. A billion is a thousand times bigger than a million: A million is to a billion as a penny is to a ten dollar bill.
• One million seconds would take up 11 days, 13 hours 46 minutes and 40 seconds. A week and a half.
• One billion seconds is a bit over 31 and one-half years.
• One trillion seconds is slightly over 31,688 years.
The LA Times Sunday morning, looking at the Miramonte payout, (follows) says: “The total of $169 million, plus $11 million in legal fees, would fund a one-year 7% bonus for teachers. To save that much money, the district would have to make every employee take 12 unpaid days off.
“LA Unified avoided such measures by starting to put aside higher sums in a self-insurance fund. In 2010-11, before the allegations against Berndt came to light, the district paid $12.4 million into the fund. In the ensuing four years, the district set aside $30.7 million, $80.5 million, $37.7 million and $23.3 million.”
LAUSD set aside $172.2 million – and like clockwork – got $169 million in claims plus legal fees on this case. Funny how that works out.
What the Times doesn’t point out is that under Superintendent Brewer the District initiated a top-to-bottom/deep+wide Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention program through an organization called Darkness to Light that educated staff, students and parents (Parents? What a concept!). D2L came to LAUSD as a direct result of the Rooney Case described in the Times article (and in these pages previously and was powerful, well received and very effective. [[https://www.google.com/search?q=steven+rooney+LAUSD&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb ]]
Even though D2L was probably the most effective tool in the toolbox to identify “Bad Teachers” it was also the first program cut and subsequently eliminated in budget cuts.
D2L and other programs that teach bullying prevention and teen dating violence prevention address socio-emotional problems directly through education and prevention.
Prevention is proactive; Intervention is reactive.
Prevention always trumps intervention. Even Restorative Justice, the feel-good flavor of the month for socio-emotional intervention, is reactive.
Squirreling away money into a self-insurance pool is a Risk Management Strategy that cynically accepts the inevitability of the problem insured against.
LAUSD is in the business of Education. Had we invested a small percentage of the Insurance Pool in Prevention we might’ve empowered students, staff and parents to stop Mark Berndt and his ilk. Had we identified Berndt earlier – or prevented his atrocities – we would have that $172.2 million (less a few million invested in D2L) to invest in something else. Class Size Reduction? Teacher salaries? iPad curriculum?
And there would be fewer children violated.
As Pete Seeger dared to add to the wisdom of Ecclesiastes: “I swear it’s not too late.”
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THURSDAY SAW A WHOLE NEW DAY IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE DISTRICT AND THE BOND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE – and by extension the voters+taxpayers the BOC represents.
Superintendent Cortines and his team were transparent and forthright in their appeal for more funds for Testing Devices and the MiSiS fix. Assistant Superintendent Ruth Perez described LAUSD as far behind other districts in deploying testing devices – an about-face from Deasy’s appeal to be on the cutting edge. Cortines himself was apologetic and businesslike in his statements on MiSiS – echoing the “Grossly Inadequate” findings of the Inspector General in the District's previous efforts: "We don’t know what we don’t know”.
Promises were made and everyone expects them to be kept about the resolution of the MiSiS Crisis and the expensive road ahead to correct the situation. Cortines stated unequivocally that he understands that Bond Funds are Limited and should be for Bricks and Mortar …and that Safety, Modernization and Repair are jobs 1A, 1B and 1C.
ON FRIDAY – the second day of the bright new wonderful tomorrow - there was a hiccough – and hopefully this will be explained away next week while the rest of us are interviewing turkeys, dealing with the kids underfoot and locating the big salad bowl. Two news stories surfaced (CORTINES APPROVES NEXT PHASE OF LAUSD iPAD PROGRAM – follows) that announced the surprise resurrection of Phase 2B of the Common Core Technology Project (1:1 computing/iPads for All) and stated that “…the Phase 2B devices will be loaded with instructional software”.
Really? WHAT instructional software? …and paid for by whom?
Superintendent Cortines is on record that he doesn’t consider bond funds appropriate for instructional content – but the (‘shut down’/’halted’/’suspended’ but not ‘cancelled’) CCTP devices+content contract with Apple+Pearson is for the Pearson Common Core System of Courses exclusively – and is 100% funded by the bonds. Yes, Dr. Deasy assured us that there would be a new RFP+procurement …but that never happened.
And so it is.
PS: I think – but I’m not sure - the big salad bowl is in the garage.
(Scott Folsom is a parent and parent leader in LAUSD. He is the former President of Los Angeles 10th District PTSA and represents PTA as Vice-chair the LAUSD Construction Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee. Scott is a member of the California State PTA Board on Managers. He blogs at the excellent 4 LA Kids … where this perspective was originally posted.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 95
Pub: Nov 25, 2014
