Word of the Day

Treating a class of persons unequally in a manner that is Malicious, Hostile, or DamagingDiscrimination

An Education Funding Law that is intentionally designed to deny adequate funding for a particular group of students to obtain a MINIMUM (not great) education violates the 14th Amendment right that EVERY person has to enjoy EQUAL Protection under the law.

The Laws Of A State Must Apply To All Equally

CALIFORNIA’s

The "Base Grant" is universal for all students (EQUAL).

The "Supplemental Grant" provides additional funding to districts based on the percentage of students in the district that are English Language Learners, Receiving Free and Reduced Lunch, and/or are in Foster Care.

The "Concentration Grant" provides even more funding for districts that have large concentrations of students that are English Language Learners, Receiving Free and Reduced Lunch, and/or are in Foster Care.

Those districts with a low percentage of students who are English Language Learners, Receiving Free and Reduced Lunch, and/or are in Foster Care are funded solely by the Base Grant.

LCFF Limits per pupil funding to 2007-08 levels + InflationNot to be reached until 2021 (per pupil funding has notbeen restored to 2007-08 levels yet- not until 2021)

The BASE GRANT, (EQUAL for all students) must be set at a level that guarantees ALL students a MINIMUM (not great) education.

High Quality Staff

Program ExpansionAnd Variety

Beneficial Teacher-Pupil

Ratios andClass sizes

A Minimum Education has been defined by the Courts to be:“Opportunity to obtain”…

Modern Equipment and Materials

High Quality Buildings

MoreThanJust theCORE!

When California implemented the Local Control Funding Formula, the State set the Base Funding Grant at $6,500 dollars, then gave substantially more funding to school districts with a large percentage of students that are ELL, receiving Free and Reduced Lunch and/or are in Foster Care through Supplemental Grants and Concentration Grants.

THAT IS NOT FAIR

California is using its public education system to promote a political agenda, notprovide a minimum education to every student.

REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH

What should the Base Funding Grant be set at to be FAIR?

In 2006 the State Commissioned a study to determine the cost to "adequately" educate a student in California with special needs weightings. The 2007-08 Calculated per pupil costs with special needs weightings were found to be no less than $8,932 + inflation.

$9,000 PER STUDENT MINIMUM IN 2007-08

$9,000 $9,000 +

$9,000 ++++++

Source: Efficiency and Adequacy in California School Finance: A Professional Judgment Approach https://cepa.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/19-AIR-PJP-Report(3-07).pdf at page Xiii

The State of California has been INTENTIONALLY underfunding suburban school districts by a minimum of $2,000 per pupil, and as much as $4,000 per pupil.

$2,000 per pupil X 50,000 kids = $100 million per year X 8 years = $800 million dollars$4,000 per pupil X 50,000 kids = $200 million per year X 8 years = $1.6 Billion dollars

Per Pupil Funding Capistrano Unified School District

2007-08 $7,694 2008-09 $7,6142009-10 $7,2462010-11 $7,2282011-12 $7,4692012-13 $7,0022013-14 $7,4192014-15 $8,042By 2021 $7,694 + Inflation or approximately $8,271

Laguna Beach Unified Gets$16,941 per pupil.

CUSD Employees Are PaidThe Same As Laguna Beach

Suburban School Districts should be receiving between $10,000 - $12,000 per student, and the State of California knows that.

$800millionIsn’t that

Close to Measure M’s$889 million dollar SchoolFacilities Bond Amount?

The Study Showed

WHY WOULD CALIFORNIA WANT TO INTENTIONALLY UNDERFUND ANY STUDENT?

MONEY

By intentionally underfunding WEALTHY Suburban School Districts, the State has accumulated $77 BILLION (with a “B”) in Excess Tax Revenue since 2007-08.

The State then uses that money to create NEW programs and entitlements that are not constitutionally mandated.

CALIFORNORNIA IS ENJOYING RECORD HIGH REVENUES

CALIFORNIA has sufficient money to provide every student with a MINIMUM (not great) education, but is CHOOSING not to give CERTAIN DISTRICTS the funds they need because the State assumes that these “Wealthy” School Districts can raise sufficient money at the “Local Level”!

Local Sales Tax

Mello Roos Tax

Bonds

Fundraising

Donations

FeesASB FeesParking Fees

… and the List goes on.

WHERE IS THAT EXTRA MONEY GOING?

Not a single PennyFor K-12 Public Education

During the GREAT RECESSION, the State allowed school districts to drain deferred maintenance funds to avoid cuts to salaries, pensions and benefits. As a result- school facilities have not been fixed or maintained since 2007-08. Then the State decided to stop funding NEW school facilities construction, forcing every school district in the State to try and pass a school facilities bond.

LuckyTaxpayers

CUSD’s MEASURE M – the $889 million dollar school facilities bond FAILED

187 of 206 school measures have passed representing nearly $50 BILLION in future property taxes.

162 of those are Prop 39 bonds. (Prop 39 bonds only require 55% voter approval to pass; not 75%, because they are suppose to have strict over sight.

Employee Recovery

Student Recovery

Student Recovery Depends on

Our State Elected Leaders and the Public Employee Unions who pay to elect them, always put the financial interests of employees above the educational interests of students.

When money is tight at the district level, the same thing happens. Union elected Board Members will always vote to approve compensation increases and will do so even if that means taking something away from the students. NO ONE CARES ABOUT THE KIDS

BUT – IT’S FOR THE KIDS

It has now been proven 80% of Prop 30 money went to Employee Pensions and Benefits

THE TRUTH ABOUT CUSD TEACHERS SALARIES

This is Salary Schedule Only and does not include health and welfare benefits.

Average Total Compensation for CUSD Teachers

2012-13 $ 95,6732013-14 $105,3402014-15 $108,3922015-16 $110,6332016-17 $111,000

CUSD has cut $152 million from its budget since 2007-08

Teachers have taken a 1.2% reduction in their salary schedule.All the cuts have come from the students.

CUSD’s #1 PriorityHas always been

Employee Compensation

CUSD has a Union Elected Board that always places the financial interest of employees above the educational interests of students and the financial interest of taxpayers.

High Quality StaffCUSD has a lot of tenured teachers that will be retiring soon. They will be replaced with entry level teachers that may not have the knowledge and expertise to deal with CUSD’s overcrowded classrooms, crumbling facilities. The money CUSD saves by replacing teachers at $95,000 per year with teachers that make $50,000 per year will barely be enough to cover the increased cost of CalPERS and CalSTRS that is being passed from the State to districts which will be 10% of CUSD’s total budget by 2021.

Employee Compensation is 89% of CUSD’s Budget + 10% for CalSTRS and CalPERS = 99%

Program Expansion And VarietyOur students have no Art, Music or Science unless parents fundraise for it. District Staff WITHOUT BOARD APPROVAL has made the decision to defund GATE and differentiated programming for high achieving students. The State has made California Content Standards and Curriculum Frameworks a “Recommendation” not a “Requirement”. Instructional time, and content are now left to the discretion of the individual classroom teacher. Some teachers are not completing an entire curriculum anymore. Even students with “A”s will not know until they take college entrance exams and do not score well.

Beneficial Teacher-Pupil Ratios and Beneficial Class SizesCUSD has the largest class sizes in the State of California and the Nation

Does anyone believe 33 four year oldsper teacher is beneficial?

Modern Equipment and MaterialsWhile CUSD students do not receive instruction in core educational programs, and while the State refuses to increase the Base Grant, the State does provide one-time grant moneys to districts for some State mandated projects. CUSD received an Energy Grant.

Schnider Electric is performing energy audits at High School sites. On February 22, 2017 BOT meeting PO $2,490,333.00 paid for with an Energy Grant.

Under “Local Control” the State was suppose to give Districts funding with out mandating how the money is spent. Now the State is giving one time grant moneys for Professional Development, Energy and Technology. As Grant money increases, Ed Tech companies and Builders are getting rich of school districts. Teachers are paid to be out of the classroom for Professional Development. That money would be better spent to broaden the curriculum, reduce class sizes and fix facilities.

PAY TO PLAY

High Quality BuildingsAccording to CUSD’s measure M documentation, CUSD facilities needs are at emergency levels needing $899 million dollars in maintenance and repairs. Is it CUSD's position that very few of the 2009 facilities issues have been addressed or fixed due to a lack of funding. The 2009 plan contains $16,951,651.25 in Structural/Safety/Fire Life Safety/ADA issues. Those would be issues that should fall under Williams Legislation as "emergency" issues that must; by law, be fixed for the health and safety of students. For 7 years CUSD has been fine

with letting its students attend school in substandard facilities so long as employees could receive increased compensation packages.

Every taxpayer should read the following and listen to the Board Audio for themselves: See: Capistrano Unified School District Facilities Report- "16,000 plumbing work orders - 3 plumbers on staff"- Never any Williams Complaints?

4 years of across the Board Compensation Increases totally over $120 million.

Tonight Trustees will retroactively approve a purchase agreement to buy the Esencia school site spending $24 million dollars above it’s value – a gift to Rancho Mission Viejo. Money that could have been used to reduce class sizes, fix and repair facilities and restore programs like Art, Music and Science. This is a very Corrupt School District in a very corrupt state and taxpayers and students are at their mercy with no recourse from CDE or OCDE or any Elected Officials at the State or County Level. If City leaders also look the other way, the only recourse tax payers have is to pull their kids from public school or move out of State where the government is not so abusive or oppressive.

Governor Brown will go down in history as having destroyedThe California public education system, so that he could fund His legacy – HIGH SPEED RAIL

As school districts go bankrupt, employees will continue to beTaken care of. Right now there is a bill to give teachers 10 yearswithout paying any California income tax (equivalent to a 5% raise)There are also efforts under way for school districts provide new teachers with subsidized housing. At theSame time Legislators are looking for new ways to tax citizens.

SPECIAL BOARD MEETING 5:00 pm tonight

CUSD Staff is asking Trustees to ratify a resolution to purchase the Esencia K-8 School site (vacant land - with NO ENTITLEMENTS) for $33.86 million ($2.4 million per acre (valued as if it has 100 homes on it) when ALL documentation presented to the Public prior to the resolution stated that the cost of the land would be $21 million ($1.5 million per acre) and fair market value is $11 million.