Capitol Convoy Recap: The State Will Not Help Palos Verdes

I traveled with a group of students, parents, teachers and administrators to Sacramento last week to advocate for funding for our facilities. In a nutshell, my takeaway is this: despite the income and property tax paid by Palos Verdes residents, the State is unwilling to send any of that back our way to make our school facilities safe. Instead, the State sends your money to “low-income” districts. If we want to make our facilities safe and usable, we have to pass a local bond. In other words, your tax dollars are redistributed to fund other school districts in the State, and the only way we can upgrade our 70-year-old facilities is by voting to tax ourselves more.

“You Have to Pass a Bond”

I asked Senator Allen if there is a path to receive State funding for facilities without local matching funds (from a bond). He said “no.” I appreciate his honesty.

The same line I’ve heard before was repeated ad nauseam: “you have to pass a bond.” Well, what if we can’t pass a bond, which is a very real possibility when the last bond only received 38% approval? No answer from Asm. Muratsuchi. Ben Allen suggested legal action. We need to figure something out, because the current situation is untenable.

Both Senator Allen and Asm. Muratsuchi blamed selfish people and conservatives for our failure to pass a bond. Neither acknowledged that Palos Verdes residents are already over-taxed with little to show for it, and that we receive the lowest amount of LCFF per pupil in the state. They suggested that our students get involved in an effort to pass the bond by telling our residents “shame on your for not supporting your community and refusing to invest in your community.” The students were told to tell our community that “the condition of our facilities is a reflection of the way you feel about us.” If that’s true, then this trip proved to me the State of California does not care about Palos Verdes. Not even remotely.

Small LCFF = Small Repair and Maintenance $

The LCFF model was not acknowledged as a problem with respect to facilities, despite the fact that 3% of LCFF funding is used for repair and maintenance. In simple terms, when we receive the lowest amount of LCFF in the State, we also receive the lowest amount for repair and maintenance in the State. This is due to the fact that we don’t have as many English learners, foster youth, and free and reduced lunch students in our district as others.

Senator Ben Allen suggested that PVPUSD and other similarly situated districts intervene in the lawsuit threatened by Public Advocates and Goodwin Procter. As I explained in a previous newsletter, the arguments made by Public Advocates and Goodwin Procter are that the State’s system for funding public school facilities (which requires a local bond to receive state funding) is unconstitutional in violation of the Equal Protection Clause and causes significant harm to students.

Districts similar to PVPUSD, those on the low end of the LCFF formula that cannot get a bond passed, will be significantly harmed if the remedies sought by Public Advocates and Goodwin Procter are implemented.

Guaranteed Baseline Funding for Safe Schools for All? Tough Sell!

Capital Advisors suggested guaranteed baseline funding that would provide funding for safe and habitable facilities for all children. Anything over and above that would require a local bond. It remains to be seen whether this idea can be sold to our supermajority legislature that loves to redistribute wealth and does not appear to care about solving problems, especially problems that impact predominately White and Asian communities in “high wealth” areas.

When students suggested that districts should be considered for facilities funding if they demonstrate an inability to pass a bond, one of the advocacy points for Capitol Convoy, the response was “we don’t want to reward anti-bond people.” Setting up a system that allows districts that can’t pass bonds to receive State money would incentivize anti-bond action, they said.

We did not discuss the incentivization of poor performance currently underway in California, where districts with lower performing students receive more funding. High performing districts with “wealthy” residents are penalized for their achievement, and rewarded with rejection from the State’s top schools.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: when our State’s main objective is “equity,” high achievers will be penalized and dragged down to make everyone equal. This is also why your kid’s school lunch is crap now. In order to afford “free lunch for all,” we’re allocated a very small sum to use per lunch (around $4), and the quality suffers as a result.

We’ve Reached the End of the Line

Here is the cold hard reality: we are facing catastrophic problems with our facilities. We had to close a school for three days during a rainstorm. Every week there is a new problem. It is unsustainable. We need to put our heads together to develop solutions if we want to continue to have a functioning local school district in Palos Verdes.

The turnout in last week’s election was approximately 23% in LA County. The people who have been making decisions that harm our community were soundly re-elected. This sends a message that we are satisfied with their governance. We have very serious problems that continue to be swept under the rug and kicked down the road for future generations to fix. We can no longer afford to do that. Please, educate your friends and family about what is happening, encourage them to vote, and encourage them to contact their elected officials.

And don’t just pay attention to California. Pay attention to your federal government as well. Ask yourself why our government is able to find so much money to spend on social programs, foreign conflicts and support for non-citizens, but we cannot fix American infrastructure for American children. Ask yourself why there is rampant, unchecked fraud and waste (see here here and here), but we can’t build American schools.

On a positive note, the students at Capitol Convoy were absolutely phenomenal. They give me hope for the future. They are incredibly intelligent and astute, and will not take no for an answer. The organizers, especially Chinyarai Hamilton, did an amazing job. And to our cruise director DJ Hill, I have no idea where you get your energy but we are lucky to have you in the district!

Finally, if you have ideas, please reach out. We will be discussing this issue on Wednesday at our Board meeting. Agenda is here.