UCLA IDEA PRINCIPAL STUDY

• 87 randomly selected Principals interviewed between July 4 and Labor Day of 2009;

• Interviews conducted over phone and lasted 30-45 minutes;

• Questions focused on effects of economic crisis on families and the impact of the budget cuts on the school.

• 87 Schools proportionately represent the wide diversity of geography, school size, school type, and student demographics.

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1) Recession has created acute new social welfare needs.

• More than half of principals report that students’ need for health, psychological, or social services have increased.

“There is an epidemic [of hunger] … A lot of students don’t eat at all when they go home.

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2) Educators have acted to meet new needs, but Budget Cuts have limited schools’ capacity.

• Educators have connected students and families with social services and contributed food and clothing.

• Many principals, particularly from high-poverty schools, report cutbacks to outside service providers and their own staff.

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3) Budget Cuts have led to teacher layoffs and larger class sizes.

• 62% of all principals report that their teachers either received layoff notices or were bumped to another school.

• High-poverty schools were four times as likely (66% to 15%) as low-poverty schools to experience teacher layoffs.

• 74% of elementary schools increased class size.

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4) Budget Cuts have led to cutbacks to textbooks and other instructional materials.

• 57.5% of principals report that their schools have delayed or cut back their scheduled purchase of new textbooks.

• 75% of principals report severe cutbacks to materials and supplies.

• “We have almost nothing to get through the year.”

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5) Many programs have been cut: Summer School, After School, Field Trips, etc.

• High-poverty schools almost 3X as likely as low-poverty schools (49% to 17%) to eliminate Summer School.

• Roughly half of principals report cuts to After School, Field Trips, Art and Music.

• Many schools shift costs to parents and community groups, undermining equality.

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6) Budget Cuts have undermined efforts of schools to sustain improvement and reform.

• 70% of principals report cuts to professional development.

“Principals [are] dealing with problems on campus instead of focusing on student learning as we should be and the state is mandating us to do.”

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7) Local strategies aimed at filling budget gaps are likely to exacerbate inequality.

• On average, low-poverty schools received $8 in donations for every $1 of high-poverty schools.

• Districts who passed parcel taxes in 2009 are far wealthier than the rest of the state.

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A budget for working families and public schools.

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http://www.edopp.org

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