By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor
Changes are coming to the way California funds school districts, Chief Business Official Tim Rahill told Benicia Unified School District trustees on Thursday.
And if a proposal by Gov. Jerry Brown passes the Legislature, the change would mean much less money for Benicia schools, he said.
Brown’s proposal, called the local control funding formula (LCFF), “drastically changes the way that the state provides funds to school districts,” Rahill told a meeting of the school board, which has followed the same formula for the past 30 years.
The new formula “creates a base grant, and augments that base grant based on your free and reduced meal counts, families from lower socio-economic groups, as well as English learners,” he said.
“For Benicia, that’s a smaller percentage compared to other other districts in the state.”
Rahill showed the board how BUSD is already the lowest funded school district in Solano County, receiving $6,999 per ADA (average daily attendance) in the 2011-12 school year — compared to, say, Vallejo’s $9,237.
In fact, he said, Benicia’s total funding is actually $8,587, but the number has shrunk as the state battled billions in deficits.
So that’s $6,999 per student “to educate them for the entire year,” he said. “When we look at what would be under the existing state formula, and compare that to the proposed local control funding formula, we in Benicia would receive $4.3 million less under the proposed local control funding formula.”
In other words, Rahill said, if the governor’s proposal becomes law, Benicia’s ADA funding goes to $7,695. Rahill said the proposal reapportions what money the state has at the state level and reallocates it from some districts to others. “At the end of the day, this isn’t about providing more funding to schools,” he said.
He said 53 percent of the state’s districts would benefit from the LCFF — including larger districts like Los Angeles, San Diego and Fresno — and the other 47 percent, of which Benicia is a part, would get less funding.
But Rahill pointed out that BUSD has taken action.
“We have joined a school district coalition for school finance reform,” he said. “We have joined other districts similar to us to have the information gathered and distributed through one location. It’s our goal to have a voice at the table such that we have the appropriate amount of time to voice our concerns, to be listened to, and to address what we see as a loss of significant dollars to our school district.”
Much will be made clear this month, Rahill said. He reminded the board that the governor will announce his May revise budget in a couple weeks, “which we will use to develop our local school budget. In the governor’s May revise budget he will include some sort of formula, either similar or with changes to what is presented here.”
Rahill added that other proposals are being discussed and presented to the state Senate and Assembly, and these will be available to the governor when he puts his May revise together.
“We will attend the May revise budget workshop and bring that back to the board at the next school board meeting,” he said.
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What a crock. I pay property taxes for BENICIA schools, not Vallejo or Richmond schools. Throwing more money at lesser performing districts is not going to solve the issue.
Unless by some bizarre coincidence Danny Demars is your name, I would appreciate if you stop using the name of my murdered high school friend and teammate as your avatar or whatever.
I find it more than a little offensive. I’m sure the remaining local members of his family would as well.
It is my name. I’ve never heard of another Danny DeMars ever. Was he from Benicia? I moved here in 2005.
My apologies in that case… Yes, Daniel Michael Christopher Demars (1973 – 1991) was a Benicia High School student and soccer player who was murdered in 1991 outside of a house party here in Benicia. You can find a memorial plaque to him at Ninth Street Park.
Again, sorry. I thought you had co-opted his name for use here in the comments section…
Your property taxes haven’t gone to just Benicia schools since before Prop 13 was passed. Everything you pay in property taxes goes to Sacramento for the keepers of the cash to divvy up as they see fit. Unfortunately, Benicia is scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to state funding. Sad that $60 a year was too much for some folks here in town.
Hey Karen-
How about the PARENTS chip in? Why do I have to pay more for YOUR kids? I’m all for funding education, but the fact that, after tax breaks, I pay more for schools than people with kids isn’t exactly fair.
Hey Danny,
Do you not think that parents pay? I pay my property taxes, business taxes, sports fees, Benicia Education Foundation donations. I don’t know many parents who DON’T pay through the nose for their kids’ “free” public education. And I sincerely doubt that you pay more for the schools than any of us with kids.
Danny,
The one thing to think about is the value that good schools have in the community we live in. It makes a difference across the board. One point of clarification that needs to be made is that some of the property taxes people pay go directly to our schools for capital improvements, modernization etc. If you saw the high school15 years ago for instance you would see that it has been transformed – not only by the local taxes that voters approved but later by “matching” monies from the state. I think it does make a difference in how our students feel about the environment they learn in (as well as the pride the community can take in them). I was fortunate to attend a high school that was virtually brand new many years ago and I think the best way to put it is that it gave most of us a feeling of respect. Not to say that outstanding education can’t be provided by less, even much less, than that. BTW your point shouldn’t be dismissed – it is a valid concern and one that all of us who promoted the public/general good shouldn’t ignore.
Now would be a good time for Benicia voters to contact their representatives and protest this change. The Legislature will need to approve this and silence from us will make it easier for them to allow it to happen
Benicia Unified is the lowest funded school district in the state already. If the Governor’s scheme goes through, we could lose an additional $4MILLION. This district is so threadbare already that further cuts of that magnitude make me ecstatic that my daughter graduates next year, but heartbroken for the fact that all those coming through the system are basically screwed. This town has refused to pass a parcel tax 3 times and the Benicia Education Foundation is doing great things but they are not Houdini. I feel like the voters were given a true “bait and switch” with Prop 30 and there has to be a better way to fix the urban districts than robbing Peter to pay Paul. Fix Prop 13 for commercial properties, extraction tax, xomething, but this is just ridiculous.
Karen,
It is CRUCIAL for folks who have loyally voted for our representatives time and again to make their voices heard. I think you’re right about the “bait and switch” and the folks who seem to be calling the shots at this point don’t seem to care – UNLESS there are enough voices out there to make a difference. You know who they are. This is one arena where the City Council also needs to make it clear where they stand, especially if any of them wish to advance in public office. Even if they don’t, it is the right thing to do to protect our valuable school system.
I just emailed all of our Representatives. I hope that everyone else does too.
Yeah, good luck with that. Hold a bake sale or something if you want more money.
What if … say we could lower our absenteeism rates for teachers and students by about 50%? Schools lose what, $40 per kid per day? A good day is 100 students out sick out of 2000? That’s a loss of $4000/day, or $20,000 per week for a 2000 student body school. Not including the teachers that get sick also. Now…Has anyone noticed that Astronauts NEVER EVER get sick any more? They have special air scrubbers engineered specifically for them that kills ALL the bacteria and mold BEFORE it can grow and affect anyone. Local area hospitals, schools, and the Mayo Clinic have had these “now” low-cost high-tech technologies “engineered and installed” to eliminate infections, mold, allergies, and illnesses. Sick kids also cost the local economies and businesses tons of money also! Parents have to take them to Doctors, buy drugs, stay home with them, find sitters, etc… Dale is the one guy I know that does this for local hospitals, businesses, and home owners with asthma/allergies/odors in the western US, is at 9l6-798-9l55. He can make schools/businesses/governments quantity deals on the costs, by GUARANTEEING lower absenteeism rates of at least 20%. Non scientific reports have come in at 50-80% reductions… and NASA astronauts spend “months” in space with ZERO illnesses. These technologies were DESIGNED to do exactly this “for” NASA.
Interesting sequence of events. We just voted for a major tax increase in November. The money was to go for schools. BUSD employees just voted in a large salary increase. All of a sudden we are poor again. And it appears some are blaming a property tax cut from 1978. Hmmmmm.
Can anyone guess why our state and district are broke?
The state spends plenty of money. Just in the wrong places. The district is poor but the employees are fine. We vote for board members that support these priorities. Taxes and spending are not the problem. Priorities are the problem.
I wasn’t blaming Prop 13 (although it’s hard not to tie the decline in CA education to the limit in property taxes). I was pointing out that our property taxes haven’t stayed in Benicia since Prop 13 changed the entire funding mechanism. And I wouldn’t categorize 2.5% as “large.” We must contact our State Representatives and tell them this robbing Peter to pay Paul scheme after we voted to increase taxes for ALL students is dead wrong. Apparently the Public Policy Institute feels that this is just fine:
Education in California: PPIC poll says most favor governor’s school funding proposal
SAN FRANCISCO — A majority of Californians support the governor’s proposal to give more money to school districts with a high percentage of low-income and English learner students, a new survey shows.
“Many Californians believe that student achievement will improve if we allocate more state money to disadvantaged students,” said Mark Baldassare, president and CEO of the Public Policy Institute of California, or PPIC, which released the survey results Wednesday. “Still, most residents also say that we need to use existing funds more wisely to improve schools.”
Here is the contact information – write, call or email
Susan Bonilla –
Capitol Office:
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0014
Tel: (916) 319-2014
Fax: (916) 319-2114
District Office:
2151 Salvio Street, Suite 395
Concord, CA 94520
Tel: (925) 521-1511
Fax: (925) 602-1536
State Senator Noreen Evans –
Capitol Office:
State Capitol,
1303 10th Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-651-4002
Fax: 916-323-6958
Vallejo Office:
(Serving Napa & Solano)
401 Amador Street
Vallejo, CA 94590
Phone: 707-648-5312
Fax: 707-648-5383
Senator Lois Wolk –
Capitol Office
State Capitol, Room 5114
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 651-4003
Fax: (916) 323-2304
E-mail: senator.wolk@ senate.ca.gov
Vallejo Office
985 Walnut Ave.
Vallejo, CA 94592
Phone: (707) 551-2389
Two things … The BUSD board voted the salary increase BEFORE the governor’s budget was released. In common management practice that is bad practice. Bottom line is that they knew something was coming and acted before the budget hit.
Secondly, 2.5% increase is huge these days. Many people have not seen increases for years. BUSD employees are paid extremely well, have secure jobs, pensions, work 180 days per year. Quite nice. And they work for the tax payers. We just had our taxes increased with the promise of more money for schools. With the actions of this board, the money is going to employees, not schools.
So what’s the answer? I guess raise taxes more. Any bet where that money will go? I bet to employee salaries.
I think the notion that any tax increase at this point will resolve this issue is, at best, optimistic. There is a huge underfunding of future pensions and benefits, not only for educators but for all public service employees. I am very concerned that any additional tax burden will actually reduce the overall revenues that this state needs just to provide essential services – especially public safety and education (at least K-12). As you have said – priorities are the problem. Those won’t be addressed if those who predominate the electoral process are silent on this matter. Right now they are as silent as the lambs.
Just make sure the Montewey Shale Oil Field is not held up. It will solve all the state problems. Our streets will be paved in gold. Do not stop this very important revenue sourse for this wonderful state. It is the answer.