Accountability

The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) was created to make local school districts accountable for their budgets. Unfortunately, Tamar Galatzan does not want to accept responsibility for the actions of the LAUSD school board. While she can try to blame the formula, Title I schools or other board members, eventually the buck needs to stop at her office. It is time for the voters to hold her accountable.

Ms. Galatzan admits that she encouraged schools in the Valley to become affiliated charters and pilot schools “to game the state education funding system.” As a lawyer, she certainly knew that changes in state regulations could close these funding schemes and had an obligation to inform these schools of this possibility when making suggestions to the parents, teachers and administrators about changing the set-up of these schools. As a member of the board, she also is responsible to keep current regarding pending changes in the law.

In October of last year, The Porter Ranch Community School (PRCS) made the decision to become a Pilot School based on an district estimate of at least $249,000 in funding. When Superintendent John Deasy released his initial budget proposal, their funding was reduced to $24,900. Ms. Galatzan claims that this case of bait and switch was due to the new state funding formula, but the facts do not support her assertion.

The LCFF was signed into law by Governor Brown three months before the estimates were provided to the PRCS. While the district may accurately state that the regulations implementing this law were not finalized until January, they certainly knew that significant changes were going to be made. Therefore, the estimate based on prior funding formulas should have never been given to the school community. Additionally, if Ms. Galatzan really did not know about about the change in the law until January, then she is guilty of gross negligence.

As a school board member, I will make sure that the PRCS is either given the funding that they were promised when they were encouraged to become a pilot school or is allowed to rescind their contract. Some of these funds can come from cancelling the $1 billion iPad purchase. The district could also end their program of paying teachers not to teach while they are held under house arrest without due process. Additional savings could also be achieved by reducing raises that the Superintendent and his senior staff received to the same 2% that he offered the teachers.

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