The new funds for the LAUSD

The schools’ new Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) will fulfill the purpose of helping students with greater needs to the extent that it more precisely identifies the schools they attend.

The civil rights organization, The Advancement Project, in collaboration with local organizations, Community Coalition and Inner City Struggle, prepared a Student Need Index that serves as a guide for distributing the nearly $837 million in supplemental funding and grants for students learning English, those from lower-income homes, and foster youth.

We believe that this index should be used by Superintendent John Deasy and the LAUSD Board for the most efficient distribution of the funds, since it takes into account the most important elements for the funding to have the greatest impact.

The money should be used to increase educational support of students, improve mental health services, create a positive safety climate, free of violence, and enhance parental and community engagement in the schools.

The LAUSD is the school district with the highest number of students from foster homes and of English learners in California. These students require comprehensive support to overcome the challenges they face.

In promoting the LCFF, Governor Jerry Brown said that “equal treatment for children in unequal situations is not justice.” The index proposed by the community-based organizations is a good guide that should be accepted by the LAUSD for distributing the funds.