Brown's school budget reform: embraced, exploited - Inside Bay Area

Brown's school budget reform: embraced, exploited - Inside Bay Area:
Brown's school budget reform: embraced, exploited

Just over a year after Gov. Jerry Brown gave schools more money in exchange for their commitment to spend more on the neediest students and involve parents in setting priorities, some schools have made dramatic changes in line with his intentions, while others have dipped into the larger pool of funds to pay for pet projects.

Schools have added translators and other help for parents, tutoring and alternatives to discipline, a sampling of Bay Area schools shows -- but many also are investing in buildings, trying to divert funds to teacher salaries and ignoring their poorest students.

Instead of giving schools pots of money for dozens of specific programs, such as gifted students, music or teacher mentoring, the state is distributing a cauldron of funds -- totaling about $53 billion -- for schools to spend where they see fit, as long they seek parent input. The state designates almost one-sixth of the funds for high-needs students: English learners, kids from low-income families and foster children. Schools also are supposed to set measurable targets for goals, such as improving literacy or graduation rates.

But not all have. And many, while reaching out to parents, haven't necessarily heeded what they heard.

"There's not enough accountability," said Nallely Malaspina, a parent involved in advising the Antioch Unified School District on how to craft its spending plan. Brown's program got off to a good start, she said, but added, "there's no follow through."

A case in point would be the Alum Rock Union School District, which has both responded to parents but insisted on spending one-third of its funds designated for needy children on buildings instead -- and without laying out its justification.

A determined group of parents, led by the community group Somos Mayfair, prodded the district to hire translators and to spend $1.2 million for community liaisons -- who help interpret, educate parents and direct them to resources -- at most of its 26 campuses.

"It is the law that we have a voice and a vote and that we know what they are doing," said Dilza Gonzalez, who has three children in Alum Rock schools and has kept an eye on district spending. She and other campaigners collared parents at stores and on soccer sidelines, held multiple meetings and challenged the district when its plans ignored parents. Despite parents' efforts, an analysis shows that Alum Rock is dedicating less than 10 percent of the Brown's school budget reform: embraced, exploited - Inside Bay Area: