LA Picking Schools for New Funds

Money from the CTA v. Arnold lawsuit settlement is making its way towards the neediest schools. It is one of the more concrete items to come out of the Special Election in 2005. The broken promises Arnold made to our schools was at the heart of the Alliance's campaign. He had taken away several billion in promised education funding. It took a lawsuit and new legislation to get it back three years later. The settlement guaranteed it would go to the lowest performing schools for class size reduction, more counselors and teacher training.

Despite the large number of needy, qualified schools there is not enough money to go around. LAT:

The Los Angeles Board of Education approved a priority list Thursday for funding its struggling middle schools and most of its lowest-achieving high schools under a new state program that will reduce class size, add counselors and increase teacher training. Some campuses will receive as much as $1,000 per student in additional state funding.

The unanimous board vote came after students and community members described crowded classrooms, inexperienced teachers and other problems at their low-performing schools. They were among more than 200 — mostly students — who asked the board to approve the priority list.

"This money is not going to solve all these issues," said Hector Sanchez, a parent organizer for the grass-roots group Community Coalition. "But it's going to begin to address these issues."

The bottom 20% of California schools qualify, but there's enough money for only about a third of the 1,455 eligible campuses. The Los Angeles Unified School District, with 236 such schools, will reap substantial benefit. About 80 campuses will probably be approved in May by the state Board of Education.

Rather than spreading the money out so widely that it would have little discernible impact, they deliberately concentrated on the most needy schools. This money will never be enough, but it is a prioritized start.

We need comprehensive reform and a massive investment in our children's education.