Los Angeles Education Examiner

The LAUSD Budget Under Covid: An “Economy of Care” or of Institutional Protection?

Now we have seen manifest the power of budgets.

In the wake of the profoundly inequitable calamity of Covid19, has grown an international paroxysm that Black Lives Matter. In Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti is calling for “$250 million in cuts from city departments, including the LAPD, … steer[ing] the funds to invest in job programs, health initiatives and other services supporting the Black community and other communities of color.” And since it is the city council that is in charge of the purse, more weighty still is a resolution from Council President Martinez co-introduced with CD10’s Wesson and CD9’s Price instructing identification of least $100m-$150m to be cut specifically from LAPD’s budget.

The teacher’s union board, UTLA, has voted to reallocate school police funding.

So it is that a budget is proverbially “a political document”: what politics are reflected in Superintendent Beutner’s Revised May 2020 Budget for LAUSD?

In a Big News Week, Updated Schools and Communities First Quietly Qualifies for the November Ballot

Back in April, backers of Schools and Communities First submitted a record-breaking 1.7 million signatures to the Secretary of State to qualify the funding measure for the fall ballot. While the state had to verify the signatures, less than 1 million were needed so it was all-but-certain the measure would earn its ballot spot.

And over the weekend, the state made it official. Schools and Communities First will be on the ballot.

“With the steep cuts in our county budget we’ll be faced with really difficult decisions that will jeopardize people’s access to these critically needed services,” writes Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheilia Kuehl.

Portfolio Management At LAUSD: Private Security, Promotional Hats, Outsourced Instruction, No-Bid HighTech Contracts

In mid-May, 2020 the LAUSD board reviewed the Deputy Superintendent’s weekly lists of purchases and contracts for March 16-May 8, 2020, part of “the $540m in expenditures for Covid19” approved through the LA County Office of Education (LACOE).

That $314m is detailed below, authorized under the emergency conditions declared two months earlier at the board’s special meeting of March 10, 2020. This is also when last the board met in regular session prior to 5/19/20; three days later the District shuttered ordinary operations on March 13, 2020.

Under this “Emergency Resolution” the Superintendent may “…enter into necessary contracts to respond to emergency conditions.” That is, these expenditures are subject to neither venerable bidding protocols that control waste, fraud and abuse, nor oversight by the school board, which sets District policy. LACOE now approves these expenditures but according to what directives?

Houston, We Have A Problem: Digital Liftoff Without Direction

In his March 11, 2020 weekly address, LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner misleadingly refers to the emergency effort transiently supporting disrupted schoolsite instruction with internet applications (e.g., Zoom for conferencing, online worksheets and textbooks for resources), as an explicitly sanctioned “transition to online learning.” In the logical sleight-of-hand at 2:52m, Beutner considers the technological “transition” a foregone conclusion and proclaims efforts to achieve it a “moonshot”. Varnishing the de facto pedagogical revolution with declarative assurance (known colloquially as “fake news”), he deadpans that “the rockets have been built and liftoff has occurred.”

But while technology certainly is being utilized, online learning is less assuredly a thing.

The emergency imperative of social distancing may compel the district’s efforts, but no shift in fundamental policy has been declared by its policy-setting school board (BOE). On March 10, 2020 the BOE authorized “the Superintendent to take any and all actions necessary to ensure the continuation of public education and the health and safety of District students and staff….” However there has been no accordance on equating emergency public education measures with a new normal in public education consisting of online instruction.

Headlines: The State’s Education Budget Promises Cuts, More on the Virtual LAUSD Plans for Summer School, and Re-Opening?

The last time we did headlines, we spotlighted a UTLA tweet that warned of a massive budget fight coming to school districts. Last week, Governor Newsom released his proposed school budget for next year. According to KPCC/LAist Education reporter Kyle Stokes, there are pretty sever cuts, but it could be worse.

“The news could’ve been worse for schools. Because California law closely ties education funding with state revenues, schools could’ve lost billions more. But Newsom proposed a series of temporary measures — including injecting another $4.4 billion of federal coronavirus relief money directly into district budgets — to backfill some of the revenue loss.

Another silver lining: Newsom also refused to roll back a proposal for a 15% increase in spending on special education, which is funded separately from the rest of the K-12 program.”

Stokes goes on to outline other things that could come into play that could spare districts from more cuts: federal aid, new funding approved by voters, and action by the legislature.

Bain And Company Arrive At LAUSD

While families have been scrambling to homeschool and accessorize their 20 million+ LAUSD GrabNGo meals, the District’s Superintendent and improbably employed former investment-banker, Austin Beutner, has sought guidance from his own comfort-sector, the world of corporate management consulting.

Last Wednesday, May 6 2020, LAUSD announced that Bain & Company will work on a pro bono basis “to evaluate and implement strategies to help teachers, students and families in remote, online learning.” Meanwhile the firm of Bain & Company itself announced a very different mandate to “identify and prioritize potential initiatives [based on research and insights by education experts, key district stakeholders and Los Angeles Unified personnel…] that have a tangible impact, are fiscally responsible and can be implemented quickly. Based on agreed-upon priorities, Bain will then design a high-level plan of action for Los Angeles Unified to consider. … At Bain we are committed to investing in high impact education initiatives.”

That is, notwithstanding direct authorization from LAUSD’s elected, policy-setting schoolboard, the Superintendent has invited activist, business management consultants to filter LA’s Unified School District through a sieve of market efficiency – not educational –strategies.

Headlines: LAUSD Says Back to Class on August 18, More Battles Over Charter Co-Location, and Let’s Appreciate All School Employees

Earlier today, LAUSD announced that the 2020-2021 school year will begin on August 18, as originally planned. Despite some early reporting that this meant the campuses themselves would re-open, LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner made clear that campuses may still be closed, and this could just be the day that remote learning begins for the new school year. Maybe it would help if we all made social distancing hats for our kids.

There have been plenty of false starts and confusion over just when LAUSD would re-open its campuses in the past two months. Even in the past week, Governor Gavin Newsom opined that schools “may re-open” in July, causing UTLA and others to point out that such an opening would be a huge financial hit to districts. Later in the week, President Donald Trump urged states to consider re-opening schools for the rest of the current school year.

Sadly, this affirmation of the school year start date is not the only COVID-19 related news. School districts, LAUSD among them, are warning that massive cuts may be coming as a result of decreased revenue caused by the COVID-19 slowdown. Even as children struggle with distance learning and upheaval in their home lives as parents are laid off or furloughed, school districts could be seeing massive cuts even as Congress seems (maybe – the story is complicated and evolving) to have found money to bail out cruise ships headquartered in other countries and another $500 billion in no-strings-attached “loans” to big businesses.

Headlines: LAUSD Earns High Marks For “Grab And Go”, Rough Financial Times Coming and More on Elections.

In addition to providing educational opportunities for students during the shutdown, LAUSD has also been distributing meals though its “Grab and Go” program at schools throughout the district. The program is earning mostly high marks, and was profiled in the LA Times last week as an example of a COVID response program that’s working. There’s also a video version of the story.

If you are in need, visit this link to see where the closest Grab and Go can be found.

Also, a hat tip for the fun #GrabnDough hashtag that features recipes to make better meals out of Grab and Go food bags.

And as we start to look forward to schools re-opening, hopefully in the fall, the question circles around what schools will look like on Back to School Day. NPR has some thoughts based on what is happening at re-opened schools throughout the world.

One Week of Headlines: School’s Out FOREVER (until next year), No F’s in the Last Quarter, UTLA Pushes Back on Relocations and More…

Well, it’s official. Yesterday morning, LAUSD announced that its buildings will be closed until the next school year giving time for more long-term planning to educate students in a safe environment while we wait for a coronavirus vaccine. Summer school will be offered online. No final word on STAR or other camps based on the school campus, but based on the language used by Beutner, I would guess they aren’t happening. LAist/KPCC, KTLA, EdSource.

The LAUSD announcement came the same day Spring Break ended and students returned to their virtual learning experience. It’s a hard way to start off Spring quarter, and in response there have been many wonderful “missing you” videos from all around the District. An exemplar is from Venice High School, where the same teachers who stole the city’s heart by dancing in the rain during the 2019 strike did their best to put a happy face on this weird experience in this video.

And while classes continue online, the move to approve charter co-locations continues in the real world. UTLA is asking LAUSD to put a halt on all charter co-location applications until the general public can be more involved in the process. Such a move is in-line with recommendations from national advocates for equity and inclusion in public processes.

From the “best practices” department comes a virtual spirit week put together by the parent advocate at Richland Avenue Elementary School (where my kids go.) If you’re looking for something fun to add to your curriculum or your kids’ sheltering at home, check it out.

Find SARS2/Covid19 resources for families here.

Backers of “Schools and Communities First” Submit Record Breaking Number of Signatures for Inclusion on Fall Ballot.

Backers of the Schools and Communities First Ballot Initiative didn’t let a little thing like a global pandemic stop them from submitting 1.7 million signatures to the California Secretary of State to earn a spot on the November ballot. The measure needs 50%+1 vote to pass. California’s fiscal analyst estimates it would raise an estimated $8-$12.5 billion a year for education and public safety by changing the state constitution and raising property taxes on California’s largest businesses.

“Now more than ever, we need to support those heroes on the front lines who have been caring for the most vulnerable, educating our children, and keeping Californians safe,” said Alex Stack, communications director for the Schools & Communities First campaign, in a press statement.

To qualify for the fall ballot, Schools and Communities First would need nearly one million verified signatures (read: signatures of voters registered in California). Because of poor handwriting, error recording the signatures or people just putting bad information on the signature sheets, the state recommends gathering 20% more signatures than the minimum requirement.