LAUSD board hears about coming financial crisis, considers impact of charters
For nearly an hour on Tuesday, Los Angeles Unified School District board members heard bleak news about the school district’s finances over the next five years from members of a blue-ribbon panel.
The panelists pointed to expensive employee benefits, declining student enrollment and other factors that are contributing to a projected $333 million budget deficit in two years and a doubling of the shortage two years following that.
Members of the panel told LAUSD board members that fixing the district's finances to avoid bankruptcy would be difficult.
“There’s no one single villain. You can’t turn to this person or this organization or to this movement and say, ‘If only they went away, all problems would be OK,’” said Miguel Santana, a panel member.
His comments appeared to refer to a charter expansion plan pushed by philanthropist Eli Broad and others, that would double the number of charter schools over eight years at a cost about $500 million. The authors envision as many as half of the LAUSD's students could be enrolled in the charter schools, which they see as an antidote to low-performing public schools.
But as the district's enrollment declines, so too does state funding tied to student counts. The school district’s enrollment has dropped by about 100,000 students in the last six years. Roughly half of that decline is due to students enrolling in charter schools, the panel reported.
The panel laid out short-term and long-term recommendations to reduce district expenses and increase revenues, many of which require buy-in from LAUSD administrators, employee unions and parents.
“Here’s an opportunity for us to really come together, the charter movement, our labor partners, this district, our communities,” said Ref Rodriguez, board member LAUSD board hears about coming financial crisis, considers impact of charters | 89.3 KPCC: