From the Board of Education

Budget Approval for 2012-13: Protecting Class Size
Keep raising your voices in support of education in California!  Our District’s advocacy made a difference, as the Governor’s office released statements committed to restoring the transportation funding and holding LAUSD “harmless” by the new funding formula this upcoming year.  Sacramento restored $180 million to the 2012-13 Fiscal Stabilization Plan approved by the Board in March, as compared to the mid-February proposal.

Altogether, the $180 million restored were due to the restoration of state transportation funding that Governor Brown previously cut; higher-than-expected state revenues, primarily from the lottery; and lower-than expected benefit costs, primarily due to layoffs.  Under the approved budget proposal, the projected deficit for the coming year is $390 million.

The approved budget protects all class sizes, maintains the current levels of support for transportation, school police, magnet schools, and counselor and nursing funding.  The plan also continues to cut the bureaucracy.

If the District favorably resolves a dispute over furlough agreements with UTLA in April, another $60 million would be restored to the District.  That money would restore sizeable revenue to Adult Education and also direct funding to schools.

For a Budget Policy Brief, click here.

Straight from the Board Room

Protecting Our Children Resolutions
Our children come first and we must do everything to protect them and notify their parents about their safety.  That is why I co-sponsored resolutions addressing this issue.

We must speed up the dismissal process – while respecting due process rights or appeal rights – for public employees who have engaged inappropriately with children and and hurt them.  Under current state law, school districts undergo a long process for terminating employees facing charges for inappropriate behavior.  This is unacceptable!  The “Protecting Children in the Classroom: A Call to Legislators” resolution asks our state legislature to change state law so that certificated employees engaged in acts that are unprofessional, immoral or criminal can be dismissed faster, and at less cost to the District.  The resolution also aims to strip away pension and retirement benefits from certificated employees who have been convicted of sexual abuse against children.

We must also better inform and notify our parents about their children’s safety and complaints alleging abuse against certificated employees.  The “Improving Transparency, Process and Procedures for Student Safety” resolution addresses this concern.  It calls for reviewing all internal procedures for dealing with complaints or evidence of abuse.  The statement outlines a better process for reviewing and tracking all personnel files at school sites.

Let’s Support SB 1530 (Padilla)
State Senator Alex Padilla has introduced Legislative Proposal, SB1530 to expedite the dismissal process for teachers in cases involving sex abuse, drugs, or violence against children.  Thank you Senator Alex Padilla for your leadership in Sacramento!
 

Exciting Teacher Effectiveness Efforts, Helping our District be Effective
We are excited to learn about the Educator Growth & Development Program, where 500 teachers have volunteered to participate and pilot this program.

To ensure our children’s success at school, we need to ensure that we have effective teachers!  We must ensure the fundamental right of every student to be taught by an effective teacher, every day, in a school led by an effective school leader, surrounded and supported by an effective team.

Currently, teacher evaluation tools and development systems in LAUSD do not meet our students’ needs.  It does not make sense that while nearly 100% of LAUSD teachers receive a “meets standard” performance rating, only 56% of our students graduate from high school in four years.

Over the last two years, at the direction of the Board, LAUSD staff has been working with stakeholders to implement the recommendations of the Teacher Effectiveness Task Force (TETF).  The core strategy for implementing the TETF recommendations, the Educator Growth and Development Program, is the interconnection between (a) multiple-measure performance reviews that celebrate and accelerate the skills of our most effective educators, and (b) aligned support and development opportunities for teachers and leaders throughout their careers.   For more details on the Educator Growth and Development Program, click here.

The foundation of the Educator Growth and Development Program lies in the LAUSD Teaching and Learning Framework and the tools for support, growth and development.  The Framework articulates clear expectations for effective teaching practices which, in turn, provide a common foundation for such key items as lesson design, teacher performance reviews, and professional development.  Our Teaching & Learning Framework speaks not to what we teach, but instead to how we teach in LAUSD. 

We worked with our Ad Hoc Teaching and Learning Framework Committee, which consisted of over 150 internal and external partners, to develop our own Teaching and Learning Framework.  Currently, the pilot program involves over 400 teachers and over 100 administrators across 100 schools in the District.  For more details on the proposed Teaching and Learning Framework, click here.
 

Budgeting for Student Achievement
Transparency, flexibility and equity – this is what Budgeting for Student Achievement (BSA) is about.

BSA is one of LAUSD's four interconnected strategies that will help the District meet its goals and achieve its vision.  BSA will make the District budget more transparent, align resources for greater impact and equity, and give schools the ability to target resources to meet their school specific needs.  BSA emphasizes the need for all spending decisions to be directly linked to school site academic goals, thereby meeting the needs of students in the classroom.  It provides the flexibility to make accountable spending decisions that meet the unique needs of their student populations.

With respect to equity, a major component of BSA is the implementation of a per pupil funding model.  Per pupil funding is the distribution of school resources through a per pupil dollar allocation, based on Average Daily Attendance percentage and enrollment.  General Fund allocations should be fairly distributed on a per student basis, with those at greatest need receiving appropriate funding.

Currently at LAUSD, about 100 schools are volunteering in a pilot program of the per pupil funding model where 90,000 students benefit from local decision making.  We know that when decisions are made locally by schools, attendance rates improve.  We look forward to learning from their successes and incorporating their feedback as we move forward.  

To learn more on Budgeting for Student Achievement at LAUSD, including Tools and Training, click here.
 

Breakfast in the Classroom- Coming Soon to a School Near You!

We know that when students eat breakfast, students can learn and perform well in school.  This month with the support LA Fund- Food for Thought and nine other community partners and labor partners, LAUSD launched a joint initiative to serve breakfast in the classrooms.  This initiative ensures every student receives a nutritious breakfast to start the school day.   Food Services Division will begin a three year implementation plan of Breakfast in the Classroom in 676 of the District’s K-12 schools effective FY12-13.  This program not only ensures that our most vulnerable students have access to a daily nutritious breakfast meal, but will also provide millions of dollars in increased USDA reimbursements to the District’s Cafeteria Fund, helping offset the General Fund subsidy to Food Services Division’s meal programs.  

LAUSD is getting smarter and bringing breakfast in the classroom. 

On April 17, the Board of Education approved a resolution presented by Board President Mónica García and Board Member Nury Martinez – Breakfast in the Classroom for Student Success.

Thank you LA Fund- Food for Thought and Sofia Vergara for helping kick it off and thank you community partners for making this a top priority in our communities.

Let’s Do Our Homework on Homework…
Our children’s homework must be thoughtfully designed to enhance learning.

LAUSD’s draft homework policy – which was reviewed by parents at community meetings and commented upon through an online survey – allows homework to count for up to 20% of a student's grade and sets limits on how much daily homework can be assigned.  In elementary school, homework could increase by 10 minutes per year, with slightly steeper increases would be allowed in middle and high schools.  The policy makes an important distinction between routine daily homework and long-term assignments, which would be exempt from the limits and could count toward a higher percentage of the overall grade.   The policy also would allow individual schools to establish local guidelines as long as teachers and parents were involved in the decision to do so.

The recommended new homework policy, which will take into account the community’s comments received in public forums and surveys, will be presented to the Board in April.  The new policy will be implemented for the 2012-13 school year.