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The Porter Ranch Community School is on the verge of completing its first two years of educating our community. Now that the honeymoon is over, so is the initial secure funding. Anticipating reduced funding of less than $60,000 for the 2014-2015 school year, PRCS applied for status as a Pilot School in January of this year. According to the LAUSD website, “Pilot Schools are a network of public schools that have autonomy over budget, staffing, governance, curriculum & assessment, and the school calendar. These autonomies allow them to operate with greater flexibility in order to meet their students' needs. Pilot Schools were created to be models of educational innovation and to serve as research and development sites for effective urban public schools.”
PRCS chose the Pilot School program because it gave them more autonomy than being an Affiliated Charter School, which is the status that Castlebay has. PRCS will have autonomy over curriculum, assessments and LAUSD initiatives. More than two thirds of the PRCS teachers voted for the Pilot which included their signing an elect to work agreement in line with the vision of the school. Pilot schools serve their local community whereas, Affiliated Charter Schools must offer any seats not occupied by local students to students outside the attendance boundaries.
PRCS was granted Pilot status for the 2014-2015 school year and expected a budget of at least $249,000 based on previous enrollment of 720 students and Pilot office projections. In fact, as next year’s enrollment is projected by LAUSD to be more than 1,100, the school was confident that their budget would exceed $249,000. For reasons relating to the implementation of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) legislation signed by the Governor on July 1, 2013, PRCS’ funding has been reduced to $24,900 according to the Pilot office. The LCFF is intended to increase funding for the state’s neediest children. It appears that the education for the rest of the children will be reduced as a result. This reduction means that the school would have to cut the following: Administrative Coordinator, Yard Supervision Aides, Parent Center Director, Korean Dual Language Program support (cultural materials, books, instructional aides, coordinator program support), school supplies and materials.
PRCS administrators have sought an explanation for the reduction and have yet to get any clarity from the Pilot office. As a result, PRCS parents have begun to mobilize and launched a campaign to restore funding.
Porter Ranch might well wonder if Castlebay is suffering from similar funding issues. While the budget concerns are not as severe at Castlebay, as technically speaking their budget was not cut, Castlebay has not been unscathed by the LCFF. In fact, the school has been required to use their budget for additional things they were not required to pay for before, such as $30,000 worth of text books and an additional teacher to facilitate class size reduction. That's a little like telling your child that her allowance is the same, but now she has to pay for her own meals.
Because this drastic reduction in funding is not acceptable to the PRCS parents or the Porter Ranch community, the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council will be hosting a Town Hall meeting on Tuesday, June 3, 7pm at Shepherd of the Hills Church. Addressing this issue will be representatives for LAUSD Superintendent Dr. Deasy, LAUSD Board Member Tamar Galatzan, City Councilmember Mitchell Englander and Assemblyman Scott Wilk. The PRNC invites you to review available information on this important issue, attend our Town Hall and make your voice heard.
