California’s School Funding System Broken, Speakers Say (CA)

October 7, 2010

California’s school funding system is broken, speakers said Wednesday night at a symposium at the University of Redlands.

Since the 1990s, California has set standard requirements for what schools teach and test, but some funding formulas date to the 1950s and don’t take those requirements into account, said Deborah Caplan, an attorney who will make that case in Alameda County Superior Court.

Ca plan is arguing a lawsuit, Robles-Wong vs. state of California, that was at the center of Wednesday night’s symposium, "Fixing California School Finance," at the university’s Center for Educational Justice.

She said the state constitution sets schools as the highest budget priority.

"We are asking for the court to declare the current system unconstitutional … and require the state (Legislature) to come up with a new method," Caplan said.

The suit, filed in May, was a last resort, speakers said.

Riverside and Hemet unified school districts are among the plaintiffs, along with seven other school districts, more than 60 students, and groups representing school boards, administrators and parent-teacher associations, including a Riverside PTA mom.

"The state has been repeatedly put on notice that its funding system is failing students," Caplan said.

She said it disproportionately fails the students who need the most help, including those in low-income areas.

Caplan said the case is expected to go to trial in late 2011. She said the state filed a motion to dismiss the case claiming that it doesn’t have minimum educational requirements. The motion is scheduled to be considered in December.

"Our response is, the state has set the requirements and the requirement is proficiency" as measured on the state’s standardized tests, Caplan said.

The state began requiring standardized testing in 1995, even before the federal No Child Left Behind act ratcheted up accountability, she said. The state has never figured out how much those tests and standard curriculum cost, she said.

Jesus Holguin, president of the Riverside County School Board Association and a Moreno Valley Unified School District board member, was also part of the panel.

California has some of the toughest educational requirements in the nation, yet per-pupil funding for schools is near the bottom in the nation, Holguin said.

Cal State San Bernardino professor Barbara Flores, a San Bernardino City Unified School District board member, was also part of the panel. She and San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools Gary Thomas said they hope the state will give districts more local control.

The state sends districts money that is restricted to specific categories and programs. Thomas said large districts, such as San Bernardino Unified with 54,000 students, have different needs than small districts with only 80 students.

"We should have flexibility to decide on our budget and its programs and priorities," Flores said.

She said the state now spends $52,000 a year per prisoner but only $4,800 per student.

"It’s not rocket science," Flores said. "We’ve got to reverse that."

Caplan outlined the history of California school funding and the state constitution. She said early political leaders decreed that the more the state spends on education, the less it will have to spend on prisons.