English Learners Deserve Support in Sacramento

Update ! The Community Priorities Coalition in Sacramento announces that the Sacramento City Unified School District will have its regular meeting on Thursday, May 17, to consider the district budget for 2018/2019. 

This budget has significant implications for how Local Control Funding monies will be spent. [update: the posted agenda for the meeting does not include a consideration of the budget.  Watch this blog for updates.  The issue remains as defined below.]

SCUSD receives about $367 million each year under LCFF.  Of that money some $6.7 million is generated for English Learners in the schools.  In each of the last 3 years, only a small portion of these funds have been spent on EL learning.  The remainder apparently has been allocated to the district reserve fund.  The district claims it will be spending into a deficit next year.  They hide the money.

Teachers, parents and interested persons are welcome at the Board meeting at the Serna Center starting at 6 pm.  

I will be addressing the board as  Co- Chair of the Education Committee of LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens. Here is a draft of what I will say.  You are invited to come and give your view also. 

I speak tonight in support of the alternative budget presented by the Sacramento Community Priorities Coalition. 

 In 2017, members of our LULAC  Education Committee including experienced budget analysts  have met with Superintendent Aguilar and budget staff. We have examined your current budget in detail.

Under the LCFF program, for each ELL student the district receives a supplemental grant of 20 % of the base grant. 

The district will then receive about $ 6,748,000  of the $393 million specifically to serve the Ell Students. They received a similar amount last year. 

AS your Board Executive Summary from the Continuous Improvement Office says, 

Education Code 52061  says that the LCAP  Update must include a “Listing and description of expenditures that serve pupils designated as high need as defined by LCFF and the Education Code ( low income, English Learners, homeless and foster youth. ” 

In our reading, you have not done this in prior years, and the new LCAP proposals do not do this completely this year.   You do not specify where you are spending the money.  And, to the best we can tell, you are not spending a substantial amount of the funds allocatedl

The documents before you describe where about 30 % of the LCFF monies for English Learners would be spent in 2017/2018. The remainder are not accounted for.  We insist that you document where the remaining funds will be spent. 

This is not an issue of lack of funds.  You receive the funds each year from the state. – but you have not been spending them on ELLs 

As a recommendation, we suggest that the funds received for the education of English Learners be allocated and spent to educate English Learners not stored away in a reserve fund.

Our proposal in the Community Priorities Coalition budget is that 6 additional bilingual resource teachers be hired to provide services to these students and to their teachers.  That would be an excellent start. 

The entire LCAP proposal is on line at  http://www.scusd.edu/pod/2017-18-lcap-annual-update

The Community Priorities Coalition alternative budget  for 2028/2019 will be available at the Board meeting.