LAUSD board passes budget plan with painful future cuts, but saves Black student equity program

When the Los Angeles Unified School Board voted in May to finalize the elimination of more than 650 jobs as part of a plan to cut spending, its leaders promised that more painful decisions would be necessary and imminent.

On Tuesday, the board made one of them, approving a fiscal stabilization plan that is expected to prevent a multi-billion-dollar deficit. That deficit was previously projected to reach $3.6 billion by the 2028-29 school year. (California requires schools to plan budgets for three years at a time). The cuts proposed in the final plan will likely result in thousands of layoffs in the coming years.

The board did, however, save a signature program designed to improve equity for Black students.

At meetings over the past week, public comment focused on proposed cuts to the Black Student Achievement Plan and one of the district’s other major programs, the Student Equity Needs Index, which funnels money to schools with greater perceived needs.

“We’ve heard this district talk repeatedly about standing for equity. This is an opportunity for you all to put your money where your mouth is …,” said Joseph Williams of the advocacy group Students Deserve at a board meeting Friday. He also sits on the steering committee for BSAP. “A budget is a moral document. Please stand with the most marginalized students in this district.”

What is a fiscal stabilization plan?

School leaders say that without change, the district could deplete its budgetary reserves within a few years.

“These are difficult conversations because every decision affects people,” Acting Superintendent Andres Chait said Tuesday. "The reality is that we must do both: Address the district's fiscal challenges and continue investing in the people and services that directly support students."

There are also external pressures: California law gives county school superintendents the power to intervene when districts are at risk of not meeting their financial obligations. One of these interventions is the creation of a “roadmap” to address a budget deficit, called a fiscal stabilization plan. The Los Angeles County Office of Education advises districts to show what factors are straining the budget and include strategies to reduce spending, increase revenue and temporarily spend reserves or one-time funding.

Beyond its student equity programs, LAUSD's plan includes reductions to central office contracts and staff, and school consolidation. It also seeks savings through possible furlough days and by paying less into employee health insurance, options that require negotiation with the district's labor unions.

The county could intervene in LAUSD’s governance if the district can't right-size its finances, a possibility that hovered over Tuesday’s meeting.

"To the extent that we fall short on any of these items, we'll need to find a corresponding reduction somewhere else,” said Saman Bravo-Karimi, the district’s chief financial officer. “If we're unsuccessful in the items that require negotiation with our labor partners, we'll have to find a corresponding reduction somewhere else."

The board ultimately chose to do just that, protecting BSAP by using a drawdown from a pre-fund for retiree health benefits. The board also ordered that if the district receives additional revenue from the state, that money will be prioritized for the high-need SENI schools. Board Members Karla Griego and Kelly Gonez introduced the relevant amendments.

The board’s approval of the fiscal stabilization plan does not automatically enact all of the cuts the plan proposes. Actions such as eliminating jobs often require further board votes and the plan can be revised throughout the next year.

What is the Student Equity Needs Index?

The annual fund known as SENI is distributed to LAUSD schools based on several factors, including academic outcomes, rates of chronic absenteeism and the health and levels of violence in surrounding communities.

SENI debuted in 2018, offering school principals discretionary funding to target interventions toward students with the greatest needs. Originally $350 million, the board doubled SENI in 2021 while flush with COVID relief money — which is now gone.

“Reducing and eliminating SENI means fewer everything,” Griselda Perez, a mom of two current LAUSD students, told the board on June 12. “Counselors, tutors, less mental health and destruction of the progress that we fought for a decade ago.”

What is the Black Student Achievement Plan?

The Black Student Achievement Plan is a $125 million fund distributed primarily to schools that serve higher numbers of Black students. The LAUSD board voted to create BSAP in 2021 with the goal of closing gaps in academic outcomes between Black students and their peers.

Mariah Williams, a new graduate of San Pedro High School attending UCLA this fall, spoke to the board Friday in her graduation robe. She said she wanted the board to see what investment looks like.

“[Programs like BSAP] provide mentorship, advocacy, college readiness support, mental health support and opportunities that help students succeed,” she said, adding that when schools dismantle such programs, they advance an agenda that undermines efforts to improve outcomes for Black students.

Have something to say?

You can watch the fiscal stabilization plan presentation here, and you can use the information below to reach out to board members.