Funding reform worries potential ‘loser’ schools within ‘winning’ districts | EdSource Today

Funding reform worries potential ‘loser’ schools within ‘winning’ districts | EdSource Today:

Funding reform worries potential ‘loser’ schools within ‘winning’ districts - by John Fensterwald

by John Fensterwald

Until now, the greatest tension over Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed school finance reform has been largely among districts: a political tussle between unhappy suburban and optimistic urban school factions over how new education dollars should be divvied up. But signs of discord in Los Angeles Unified indicate that the same battles over money may eventually play out among “winner” and “loser” schools within large diverse districts – like Oakland, San Diego and San Jose – that have both high- and low-income schools.

While Los Angeles Unified as a whole will
 significantly benefit from Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula, which steers extra dollars to districts with lots of poor children and English learners, schools in Sherman Oaks and other relatively prosperous neighborhoods in LAUSD may not. Parents there are worried that their schools may be left behind, unable to afford essential programs and services, from summer school to physical education teachers, that other schools in the district will have.

In large part, the issue is over the difference between the base funding per student and the supplementary dollars for high-needs students that Brown has proposed; suburban districts without English learners and low-income students – the targeted groups – say that the base is too low, that 

No agreement yet on holding districts accountable for new state money - by John Fensterwald

by John Fensterwald

Gov. Jerry Brown’s new school funding system is based on the idea that school districts, not Sacramento, should be given control over spending and then held accountable for students’ results. But with time running out to work on details of the Local Control Funding Formula, negotiators from the Assembly, Senate and the governor’s office have yet to agree on what, when and how districts should be...

Cost, convenience not valid reasons to lower schools’ nursing standards - by Karen Daley and Linda Davis-Alldritt /commentary

by Karen Daley and Linda Davis-Alldritt /commentary

The California Supreme Court is considering a precedent-setting case to protect the right of schoolchildren with diabetes to receive care from licensed professionals. The court will determine whether other school employees, rather than licensed nurses, should administer insulin in schools to students with diabetes. This case is critical to ensuring that children with diabetes and other conditions...