Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

19 hours ago

Trump Says He’s Willing to Let Migrant Farm Laborers Stay in US

20 hours ago

US Electric Vehicle Tax Breaks Will Expire on Sept. 30

2 days ago

Eyeing Arctic Dominance, Trump Bill Earmarks $8.6 Billion for US Coast Guard Icebreakers

2 days ago

Trump’s Sweeping Tax-Cut and Spending Bill Wins Congressional Approval

2 days ago

Americans Celebrate Their Independence With Record-Breaking Travel Numbers

2 days ago

US Supreme Court to Decide Legality of Transgender School Sports Bans

2 days ago

Nvidia Set to Become the World’s Most Valuable Company in History

2 days ago

Poll: 41% in US ‘Extremely Proud’ to Be American, Near Historic Low

2 days ago
Walters: School Reformers Win Major Skirmish
dan_walters
By Dan Walters, CalMatters Commentary
Published 5 years ago on
August 6, 2020

Share

The huge Los Angeles Unified School District is ground zero in California’s perpetual political war over educating millions of children on the short end of the state’s chronic “achievement gap.”

LA Unified, the nation’s second largest school system, has nearly 10% of the state’s 6 million public school students, the vast majority of whom are considered to be “at risk” due to poverty, lack of English language skills or foster child status.

Dan Walters

Opinion

Each year, California taxpayers give LA Unified more than $1 billion in extra financial aid to help those kids increase their academic achievement under the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) that former Gov. Jerry Brown considers one of his finest achievements.

However, Brown always resisted strict accountability for how LA Unified and other local systems spent the extra money, saying he trusted local education officials to do the right thing.

The official guide for spending the extra aid is the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) that each district must adopt each year. However, education reform advocates have long complained that LCAPs tend to be written in almost undecipherable educational jargon that fails to specify how the money upgrades educations of the targeted kids — with LA Unified depicted as a model of obfuscation.

Reformers scored a win last week when the state Department of Education, which has tended to be an enabler of LA Unified and other recalcitrant systems, declared the district’s 2019-20 LCAP to be seriously deficient.

Failing to Report How School-Level Appropriation Would Be Spent

Public Advocates, a public interest law firm based in San Francisco, and Covington & Burling, a Los Angeles law firm, had challenged the LCAP, saying it was vague in reporting how extra state aid was being spent and what improved outcomes would result.

The Department of Education rejected some allegations, but upheld the most important ones about the lack of specificity, such as bundling $800 million in different types of services into one category, or failing to report how school-level appropriations would be spent.

“At the heart of LCFF is the requirement that (the) district be fully transparent about how they are spending their money so that community stakeholders can provide input into decisions and hold districts accountable for using funding equitably and effectively,” Laura Muschamp, a Covington & Burling attorney, said in statement. “This decision vindicates those values and provides clear guidelines to LAUSD and districts across the state on what spending plan transparency looks like and why it is essential for community accountability.”

The decision’s newly required transparency empowers parents and outside monitors, such as Public Advocates, in their efforts to compel local school systems to be more specific on how they spend tens of billions of dollars each year.

Those Kids Are in Grave Danger of Falling Even Further Behind

It also implies that the state schools superintendent, Tony Thurmond, may be a tougher overseer than predecessor Tom Torlakson, who often sided with districts and powerful school unions. At one point, Torlakson countermanded his own department and declared that LCFF funds could be used for general salary increases.

The LA Unified ruling was issued on the final day of the 2019-20 fiscal year, and there will be no LCAPs issued for 2020-21 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, districts are writing Learning Continuity Plans to spell out how distance learning classes will be conducted, including how at-risk children will be served.

Those kids are in grave danger of falling even further behind during the public health crisis so it’s even more important that LCFF spending be monitored closely. The LA Unified case tells local school systems that they should no longer play word games.

CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.

[activecampaign form=19]

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Trump to Sign Tax-Cut and Spending Bill in July 4 Ceremony

DON'T MISS

Madre Fire Spurs Evacuations Across 3 Counties, Grows to More Than 70,000 Acres

DON'T MISS

Clovis, Sanger, Madera, and Bass Lake Will Light the Sky With Fireworks Shows Tonight

DON'T MISS

Oil Dips Ahead of Expected OPEC+ Output Increase

DON'T MISS

613 Killed at Gaza Aid Distribution Sites, Near Humanitarian Covoys, Says UN

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Authorities Investigating Suspicious Death of Transient Man

DON'T MISS

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

DON'T MISS

Israeli Military Kills 20 in Gaza as Trump Awaits Hamas Reply to Truce Proposal

DON'T MISS

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Rachelle Maria Blanco

DON'T MISS

Russia Pounds Kyiv With Largest Drone Attack, Hours After Trump-Putin Call

UP NEXT

Presidential Election Reveals Big Shift in California Voting Patterns. Will It Last?

UP NEXT

From Victims to Perpetrators: Israeli Soldiers’ Nazi Comparisons and the Unfolding War Crimes in Gaza

UP NEXT

Dear Mayor and City Council, Fresno’s Housing Bottlenecks Are a Modern Form of Redlining

UP NEXT

A Path Forward on Immigration Reform That Strengthens America

UP NEXT

Israel Faces Genocide Accusations Amid Gaza Food Aid Killings

UP NEXT

I Detest Netanyahu, but on Some Things He’s Actually Right

UP NEXT

Much of LA’s Community of Immigrants Is Hiding, Leaving a Hole in the Fabric of the City

UP NEXT

Things Netanyahu Might Say if Injected With Truth Serum

UP NEXT

California Politicians Ignore Ag’s Troubles, but Boost Movie Business

UP NEXT

Trump’s Courageous and Correct Decision to Bomb Iran

Oil Dips Ahead of Expected OPEC+ Output Increase

19 hours ago

613 Killed at Gaza Aid Distribution Sites, Near Humanitarian Covoys, Says UN

19 hours ago

Fresno County Authorities Investigating Suspicious Death of Transient Man

19 hours ago

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

19 hours ago

Israeli Military Kills 20 in Gaza as Trump Awaits Hamas Reply to Truce Proposal

19 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Rachelle Maria Blanco

20 hours ago

Russia Pounds Kyiv With Largest Drone Attack, Hours After Trump-Putin Call

20 hours ago

Boxer Chavez Jr Expected to Be Deported to Mexico to Serve Sentence, Mexican President Says

20 hours ago

Markets’ 90-Day Tariff Pause Rollercoaster Nears an Uncertain End

20 hours ago

Trump Says He’s Willing to Let Migrant Farm Laborers Stay in US

20 hours ago

Trump to Sign Tax-Cut and Spending Bill in July 4 Ceremony

President Donald Trump is scheduled to sign a massive package of tax and spending cuts into law at a ceremony at the White House on Friday, ...

18 hours ago

President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 12, 2025. (Reuters File)
18 hours ago

Trump to Sign Tax-Cut and Spending Bill in July 4 Ceremony

The Madre Fire burning near New Cuyama has scorched 70,801 acres as of Friday, July 4, 2025, afternoon, making it California’s largest wildfire of the year, with only 10% containment and multiple evacuation zones in place. (CalFire)
18 hours ago

Madre Fire Spurs Evacuations Across 3 Counties, Grows to More Than 70,000 Acres

19 hours ago

Clovis, Sanger, Madera, and Bass Lake Will Light the Sky With Fireworks Shows Tonight

A pumpjack operates at the Vermilion Energy site in Trigueres, France, June 14, 2024. (Reuters File)
19 hours ago

Oil Dips Ahead of Expected OPEC+ Output Increase

Palestinians gather to collect what remains of relief supplies from the distribution center of the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 5, 2025. (Reuters File)
19 hours ago

613 Killed at Gaza Aid Distribution Sites, Near Humanitarian Covoys, Says UN

Billy Wayne Sinisgalli, a 54-year-old transient known locally as Wayne, was found dead along a rural Fresno road Wednesday in what authorities are investigating as a suspicious death. (Fresno County SO)
19 hours ago

Fresno County Authorities Investigating Suspicious Death of Transient Man

Israel Builds a Fence Around the West Bank
19 hours ago

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

A view of the site of Thursday's Israeli strike that damaged and destroyed residential buildings, at Shati (Beach) refugee camp, in Gaza City, July 4, 2025. (Reuters/Mahmoud Issa)
19 hours ago

Israeli Military Kills 20 in Gaza as Trump Awaits Hamas Reply to Truce Proposal

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend