Students study math with third-grade teacher Kelly Nytes at Central Elementary School in San Diego where educators say smaller classes have made a difference. — Eduardo Contreras
Brown Seeks to Ease Mandates on Schools
Written by: Michael Gardner
Monday, January 9th, 2012
Schools must comply with an expensive lineup of specifically mandated programs dedicated to an array of missions, from reducing class sizes to providing healthy snacks.
"In the budget climate we're in, it's critical to get more flexibility," said Bernie Rhinerson, chief of staff for the financially struggling San Diego Unified School District.
And that's exactly what they will get if Gov. Jerry Brown has his way.
Brown has proposed a dramatic overhaul of education spending, including the state's approach to mandates known as "categorical programs" that has been one of the more complex and controversial pieces of K-12 finance. Details are still to be negotiated, but generally the governor wants to see the state drastically shrink the number of required programs. As part of that, he wants to consolidate funding into a "super account" that would be distributed to districts based on need, program costs and enrollment.
For example, districts with large numbers of non-English-speaking children and students from low-income homes could be in line for extra revenues. A few federally required categorical programs, such as special education, would be exempt from the new formula.
"I want schools to have more authority to make their own decisions," Brown said when he announced the plan along with his proposed 2012-13 state budget last week.
San Diego Unified welcomes his intent, but remains wary. That's because millions of dollars are at risk.
"When it's rolled into one big pot and then comes back out to us it might be less, it might be more," Rhinerson said of the governor's funding formula for categorical programs.
San Diego Unified can ill-afford less. The district is staring at a possible $72 million deficit out of a general fund of slightly more than $1.1 billion in 2012-13, Rhinerson noted.
Class-size reduction is probably one of the most popular, yet most costly of the categorical programs. Lawmakers, convinced smaller class sizes are key to student success, adopted in 1996 a goal of keeping a 20-1 student-teacher ratio in K-3 classrooms. In return, districts were offered bonus per-pupil payments.
Brown wants to change that approach.
"If they think they can save money by adding a few kids to a class, instead of something else, then they can do that. That's their choice," Brown said.
San Diego schools are paying a price for not meeting the class-size goal. The district loses $214.20 in incentive funds for each student in K-3 classes because they are at a ratio of nearly 25-1.
District officials are weighing the costs and benefits of approving 30 students in each K-3 class, which would bump up the incentive loss to $321.30 per pupil. But that would still mean a net savings of $16 million because of lower staff costs.
Brown's plan does build on a major overhaul in 2009 that granted schools some flexibility over a number of categorical programs. As a result, in 2011-12 San Diego Unified was able to steer $98.5 million toward other uses.
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