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CUSD Update Fundraising Pays for Core Educational Programs at CUSD Marcus Walton, Chief Communications Officer for CUSD, called and expressed several concerns that the district had with an open letter that I wrote on March 15, 2011, published on San Juan Capistrano Patch [ http://sanjuancapistrano.patch.com/articles/letter-to-the-editor-preventing-bankruptcy-at-capo-unified ]. Mr. Walton asked me to clarify my position on a couple of items that the district took issue with. I have already clarified my position on the 63% increase in employee compensation over the last 12 years; while at the same time, CUSD has had to cut $98 million dollars from its budget [ http://sanjuancapistrano.patch.com/articles/letter-to-the-editor-teacher-salaries ]. I am now going to address the district's concern about the portion of my letter regarding fundraising. In Mr. Walton's letter [ http://sanjuancapistrano.patch.com/articles/letter-to-the-editor-cusd-responds ] the district took issue with my statement that fundraising dollars are being used to pay for "Core" Educational Programs stating: “Claim 2: District staff suggests student body groups pay for ‘core programs.’ District staff plans to work with student body groups to determine if they can support some of the costs for extracurricular activities, not for core academic programs.” By Mr. Walton's own admission, district staff plans to work with student body groups to determine if they can support some of the costs for "extracurricular" activities. California law sees no difference between "curricular" activities and "extracurricular" activities under the "Free School Guarantee" of the California Constitution. The "FREE SCHOOL GUARANTEE" of the California Constitution: The "Free School Guarantee" of the California Constitution requires the State of California to provide a "free and equal" education to all children no matter how wealthy or how poor. (See California Constitution Article IX, Section 5, article 1) On Sept. 10, 2010, The ACLU filed a class action law suit, alleging that the State of California violated their constitutional duty to provide free and equal education by failing to ensure that California public school districts do not charge fees for educational activities. The Settling Parties agreed that requiring public school students to pay fees or purchase materials for either curricular or extracurricular educational activities is prohibited by the California Constitution. (See California Constitution Article IX, Section 5, article 1, Section 7(a) & Article IV, Section 16(a); Hartzell v. Connell, 35 Cal. 3d 889 (1984)) My March 15, 2011 LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Preventing Bankruptcy at Capo Unified stated: Fundraising Fundraising has allowed a greater and greater percentage of CUSD's budget to be spent on salaries, pensions and benefits; with greater and greater reliance on fundraising to pay for core educational programs. For example, to continue Block Music and Meet the Masters (art program), my school's PTA was told to raise funds to pay for these programs or they would be eliminated. As more and more programs are cut, parents are being asked to donate more and more to schools for things that should be covered by the $50 Billion that taxpayers already give to the state of California for education. The PTA, which is chartered as an "advocacy organization," has been turned into a "fundraising organization" with more and more time spent raising money and less time advocating on behalf of children. Separate from the PTA as a fundraiser, parents have been asked to pay fees to participate is sports and other activities. Last year, the ACLU sued the state of California so that parents can no longer be forced to pay for books, supplies and participation in school activities, such as sports and other extracurricular activities. These "fees" were found to be illegal. A "public" school must provide the same opportunities to each student despite his parent's income or ability to pay. Not only is the district facing $50 million in cuts, revenues from fees and fundraising will be less as a result of the ACLU lawsuit (DOE vs California). Download: Settlement agreement between state and ACLU over school fees THE ACLU SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT The ACLU Settlement Agreement (Page 33) specifically states that school supplies must be furnished by school districts without charge- "California law provides "Writing and drawing paper, pens, inks, blackboards, blackboard erasers, crayons, lead pencils and other necessary supplies for the use of the schools shall be furnished under direction of the governing boards of the school districts" (Education Code section 38118). Based on this section, the Attorney General has concluded that materials and mechanical drawing sets for art classes, cloth for dressmaking classes, wood for carpentry classes, gym suits and shoes for physical education classes, bluebooks necessary for examinations, and paper on which to write a theme or report when such a theme or report is a required assignment must be furnished by school district without charge as necessary supplies. Such supplies appear to be supplies that must be available to students in order to participate in regular classroom work in the particular subjects involved." The ACLU Setllement Agreement (Page 34) specifically states that charges may not be levied for the following:
"DONATION" or "Cohersion" There has been growing pressure placed on parents of CUSD students to "donate" and "fundraise" to pay for those things that they perceive to be fundamental to their children’s education. 92% of CUSD's budget currently goes to employee compensation, leaving only 8% of the Districts total budget to pay for "everything else". Building maintenance has being deferred for years, donations from parents are paying for supplies, instructional materials, art, music and science programs. Donations are now being used to buy back school librarians, counselors, nurses and instructional aids. Donations are also paying for teacher stipends, teacher release time, and staff development. In addition to the PTA as a fundraising organization, schools now have Foundations and Booster Clubs all working tirelessly to provide those things that the District is legally obligated to provide for free, under the California Constitutions "Free School Guarantee". The word "donation" is used by the District as a means of circumventing the true intent of the law. Parents are continuously threatened by increased class sizes and the cancellation of programs as a means of coercing more money from taxpayers and parents to pay for those things that are fundamental to education of their children. The never ending cry for more money- and where to get it was addressed by Chief Justice Byrd in Hartzell v. Connell, 35 Cal. 3d 928 (1984): "Admittedly, the District is operating within a difficult structure of legal constraints. The electorate has voted to reduce taxation and expenditures, thus making it hard for local districts to maintain their accustomed levels of educational offerings. But local districts cannot alleviate the effects of taxation and expenditure limits by introducing constitutionally impermissible inequalities into public education. If the voters want higher quality education they must find a solution through the political process, either by employing the remaining permissible methods for raising revenues, or by relaxing the system of constraints. Note: This opinion was written in 1984. Since that time, California Legislators have increase spending every year. California Schools are suffering because revenues have not been able to keep pace with the spending increases. In fact Districts have had to make deep cuts to their budget as a result of economically difficult times. Allowing Districts to enter into generous employment contracts without first complying with their constitutional obligation to pay for the basic educational needs of our children has devastated the California Public Education System. If Unions wanted to increase employee compensation each and every year, then the Union's should have found- "a solution through the political process, either by employing the remaining permissible methods for raising revenues, or by relaxing the system of constraints." Unions should never have been allowed to put increased compensation above the School Districts constitutional duty to provide a "Free and Equal Education" to every child. Had the State and it's Districts followed the letter of the law, spending first on the basic academic needs of the children, then considering increased compensation, CUSD would not have seen teachers’ salaries increase 63% over the last 12 years, leaving no money for basic supplies, music and art programs. In addition, CUSD would not have the largest class sizes in the State of California. BIG EDUCATION! Public schools are the largest item in state and local budgets. In the State of California, taxpayers allocate just under 50% of the entire State budget to education ($50 Billion dollars). In addition to what tax payers already spend on education, parents are being asked to fundraise and donate more than ever before. Relying on donations to pay for the basic educational needs of our children creates inequalities in the scope and quality of education that children receive. Schools that have a greater ability to fundraise receive more instructors, programs and supplies. The tables below contain a breakdown of the total reported Donations by school from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011. The data shows that not all "donations are being reported" and, that what is being reported is being spent on the very things that the District is obligated to supply for free under the Constitutional Free School Guarantee. Donations to CUSD are required to be reported to, and to be approved by the Board of Trustees. At each Board meeting there is an agenda item to accept donations. The following references the Board Agenda Date and Item and the amount of donations that were accepted at that meeting. CUSD Board Meeting Date Agenda Item Donation [Link to individual donations for each school in the district] Reported ADA Is a Misrepresentation of The Total Money Actually Spent Per Child in CUSD These "reported" Donations total just over $3 million and account for far less than what is actually donated. There are many Foundations, Booster Clubs and PTA's that are fundrasing for their individual school, and not all of that money is being reported to the District. This means that what the District reports as "money spent per child" is inaccurate. Taxpayers and parents are spending far more on the education of their children than what is being reported by their District. Legal, Moral and Ethical Concerns In addition to the question of the "legality" of these donations, there are social and moral issues associated with funding education through fundraising. Do we really want to fund core educational programs through donations? From the data, it is obvious that those schools who are better at fundraising, get a better education than those schools who aren't able to raise as much money. From a moral perspective- do we really want to have so many organizations collecting money on behalf of a District which does not really have the ability to control the collection and dispersion of these funds? How are fundraising organizations able to hire teachers, pay aids and pay for teacher release times? Do they pay workers comp, report wages and pay employment taxes? How is this pay reflected in the teachers overall compensation? Is this pay included in the teachers benefits and pensions? Should these fundraising organizations be allowed to pay salaries to Foundation staff? The data shows that one Foundation reported total donations of $211.92 and paid salaries to the foundation in the amount of $8,500? What is the real cost to educate a child when the school site budget is $450,000 and the school generates $350,000 in donations. Is it the ADA being reported by the District, or should it be the ADA reported by the District plus the total donations/number of students in the school? Conclusion CUSD currently pays the salaries of both Ronda Walen, President of the CUSD Classified Employee Union ($57,436 plus benefits) and Vicki Soderberg, Capistrano Unified Education Association President "aka" Teachers Union ($96,610 plus benefits). Both of these people are released from duty which means that even though the District pays their salaries, they only perform services for union members- so in short they are full-time lobbyists for their Union. Maybe contracts would be more fair to our children if there was a paid full time person at the District who could lobby on behalf of the children of CUSD. |
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