Prior to 1972 and Prop 13, school districts were largely dependent upon property taxes, which furnished about 2/3 of public education revenues. Local Districts could simply raise property taxes when more funds were required.The effect of Prop 13 shifted public school support from local property taxes to state general funds, thereby transferring control from local authorities to the State. With the State controlling funding, Districts receive a base amount for each student enrolled. Additional funds are typically granted to Districts in the form of “categorical spending,” or funds designated for specific programs tied to District demographic factors (e.g. socioeconomic). LCUSD does not qualify for these programs, and therefore receives a lower amount than most Districts.

By some measures, California’s new Local Control Funding Formula has improved matters for our District. Funding per student has increased modestly for the first time in nearly five years. However, there are three factors to keep in mind when considering this “good” news. First, the increase still hasn’t gotten our per-student funding up to what it is supposed to be by law. Second, because of our small population of low income and English-as-second-language students, we have benefitted less from Local Control than practically every other district in the state. Lastly, and most importantly, this modest increase doesn’t change the fact that we have been running under serious deficits for so long. This is not a windfall; rather, it’s an opportunity to start paying off costs that have been deferred for years. The LCUSD has incurred $23.4 million in cuts over the last five years. The slashed services and maintenance those cuts represent, as well as new costs like technology upgrades and security measures, continue to be an enormous fiscal burden.

The lottery is required to forward at least a third of their proceeds to K-12 education. While that amount generates nearly a billion a year for the state’s K-12 budget, on a percentage basis it’s a drop in the bucket. Take a look at this page at EdSource (which is an excellent site for reference on these issues): http://www.edsource.org/data_lottery-k-12-ed.html

Unfortunately, the contributions provided by the lottery are also dwarfed by the massive cuts that have occurred at the state level (so the lottery adds a billion, and then the state takes away well over that amount). LCUSD does receive a small amount from the lottery, but the number is already incorporated in its ever-dwindling budget.

The renewal of Measure LC in March of 2014 allowed the District to:

• Continue funding for advanced academic programs in math, science and technology;

• Attract and retain the most qualified teachers;

• Maintain manageable class sizes; and

• Continue providing advanced educational programs that prepare our students for the best colleges and careers.

However, in the six years prior to the renewal of the parcel tax, LCUSD lost about $17.4 million in funding from the state. During that time, the District spent against its reserves to keep cuts away from the classroom. There is much deferred maintenance and capital improvements that require attention. Additionally, school districts across the state are now expected to markedly increase their contributions to public employee retirement programs. Although the parcel tax will bring in about $2.6 million each year, the District continues to spend against its reserves (albeit less than before) to address the needs of our students and our campuses.

From 2019-2020, our school district received about $6.2 million in federal funding as part of the various COVID recovery programs. However, that funding source has ended and all COVID funds have been spent in line with the approved language. The minimal federal funding that LCUSD receives is earmarked to assist programs that serve special needs and low-income students. 2023-24 federal funding accounts for 1.76% of the District’s total budget.

Unfortunately, we are eligible for very few grants for public school districts. Grant money is almost always tied to economically disadvantaged communities and underperforming schools.

Our District has looked into converting to a Basic Aid district. Unfortunately, they learned that the total assessed property value within LCUSD boundaries is a fraction of the amount necessary to make this option work for our community. Even so, they have instructed staff to review the calculations each year to determine if we ever cross-over. Essentially, communities that adopt Basic Aid stature have major commercial and/or multi-family real estate in addition to high residential property values. These properties boost their assessed values sufficiently high to deliver greater funding to their schools than they would otherwise receive. Beverly Hills is a perfect example, with some of the most valuable office and retail properties in the state, plus numerous high-rise condos on Wilshire Blvd. Meanwhile, La Cañada has relatively very little commercial real estate, making us a poor candidate for Basic Aid, even though our home values are relatively high.