Pillar 6: More Money to Schools
In order to make the significant transformation envisioned by The Schoolhouse framework, we must change the resource equation and get more money into our classrooms. The first step is to move funds away from LAUSD’s central office and directly into schools. The central office and administrative structures of the district must shrink.
We should immediately look to Sacramento to increase funding for our schools. In the short term, we must work hard together to get a fair share from Sacramento for our low performing schools through programs such as SB 1133 and the new construction bond program.
In addition to increasing efficiency and advocacy, we need to launch an aggressive campaign to inspire foundations, corporations, and individuals to help support the improvements so needed in our public schools. We must rally the community around a Campaign for LAUSD and raise $200 million over the next five years to help propel and sustain the transformation.
In the longer term, after we have built a much more efficient central office, raised funds from foundations and individuals, and can show promising progress, we need to explore new local revenue sources to increase funding for our public schools.
It is the primary mission of the central office to support the daily efforts of teachers, administrators and schools site staff to educate all children. Schools should be given the financial resources, support systems and authority they need in order to serve students effectively. Unfortunately, the district’s current central office has a culture that has long been compliance-oriented, with a command and control mentality rather than by a service-oriented approach. We must invert the hierarchy so that schools are empowered and the central and regional offices play supporting roles. The adjustment envisioned here will necessarily shake up norms and habits long entrenched within the district. This reorientation is imperative. It reflects a deep shift in values and will require time.
Lastly, the systems and processes of the central office must be redesigned to allow for dollars to follow students directly to school sites rather than be centralized and redistributed.
1. Get Money Away from the Bureaucracy and into Our Schools
Far too much money continues to support LAUSD’s bureaucracy today and not enough is making it to school sites. For example, according to Education Resource Strategies, non-school positions at LAUSD increased by 985 positions or 12% between 2001 and 2006. We must change this pattern! Money, resources and people from the central office need to be moved to schools sites and focused directly on educating children. Additionally, the structures, systems and culture of the bureaucracy need to be transformed in order to improve organizational efficiencies and get more money into classrooms and schools.
2. Comprehensive Audit of Central Office to Identify Cost Savings
A thoughtful streamlining of the functions formerly provided by the central office will require a comprehensive audit to identify those areas where improved service and efficiencies can be gained. Organizations of scale and excellence routinely operate with strong mechanisms to ensure transparency and continuous improvement.
3. Drive More Funding through Increased Attendance
Implementing initiatives to improve attendance could dramatically improve school performance and drive more revenue to our schools. Schools, funded by the state based primarily on average daily attendance, receive more money per student as attendance improves. Not surprisingly, successful public schools have higher attendance rates.
4. Campaign for LAUSD
Public funds appropriately provide the bulk of operational funding for public education. Building on these and cognizant of the needs of our students, we should invite foundations and individual donors to join in the transformation effort as partners and funders. We will launch an aggressive campaign to raise $200 million over the next five years to provide additional support to our schools. For this campaign to be attractive, philanthropists’ confidence will need to increase on the belief that an investment in LAUSD will yield an important social return. A separate non-profit will be created to manage the fundraising for the district. Through a transparent process, donors should be able to earmark their funds to an array of specific efforts from uniforms to leadership development to funding for Mandarin language instruction.
5. Increase State Funding for Public Education
We must advocate for creative funding solutions in California’s post-Proposition 13 era. The first step is to make sure the LAUSD is getting its fair share of all of the current funding programs in Sacramento, in particular, SB 1133 funds for lower performing schools and funds for construction from bonds passed in the most recent election. In the long term, we need to explore other ways to increase funds for schools. Our state, once a national leader in public education, has fallen woefully behind. It is certain that the dollars spent on public education need to be reallocated and spent more wisely, as advocated throughout the Schoolhouse framework, but it is hard to imagine a compelling argument for improvement that could justify California ranking in the lower half of states in the country in per pupil funding. Ultimately, we will need to demonstrate that improvement has indeed begun to generate support for the thorny financial choices ahead.
6. A Service-Minded Central Office
The district’s central office must become more service oriented. Service Level Agreements defining the services and service levels provided to schools should be developed by the central office and provided to each school. Expectations of what services the central office will provide, when they will provide them, and at what level of quality need to be clear and explicit. Departments within the district should be held accountable by the school sites for meeting these service levels. Additional operational flexibility should be provided to school sites if departments within the central office consistently fail to deliver. A performance culture must be developed within the central office which prioritizes and delivers on serving schools.
7. School-Site Autonomy over Budgets
If we are to hold schools and educators accountable, they must be provided with control over their own budgets. We have to support this autonomy with extensive professional development, clear accountability and measurable outcomes. A critical step is the redesign of financial management systems and processes to allow school site staffs to control budgets, ensuring that dollars follow students directly to school sites and to provide transparency. School leaders will be given training and parameters for managing their budgets.
8. Leverage Expertise of Other Districts and Education Providers to Implement Reforms
All of the initiatives proposed within the Pillars of School Excellence have been implemented successfully in some urban schools in the United States and in some schools in Los Angeles. We need to engage institutions of all kinds, including school districts, universities, education service providers, family support organizations and education providers to help transform our schools. The size of our endeavour and its urgency necessitates that we reach out to the very best education organizations in the country. Groups like New Leaders for New Schools, whose talent for training principals is highly regarded, and KIPP, which operates high performing middle schools throughout the country, need to be included in our efforts. We also must tap the expertise of leaders in such school districts as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and other cities that have already embarked on comprehensive reforms so that we can learn from their implementation experience.
9. Create a Data Driven Organization
Our school system needs accurate and extensive data to track student performance, employee performance, school performance and district performance. We need robust student information systems to enable the creation of a portfolio of student-related data including attendance, academic performance results by lesson, special education needs, and English language acquisition. We also need a financial management system that can provide school site leaders and the central office with real time financial information so that they can spend money in the most efficient way for kids. Critical in any information management system is the need for strong reporting capabilities that allow data to be delivered quickly and in a user friendly formant.
We should immediately look to Sacramento to increase funding for our schools. In the short term, we must work hard together to get a fair share from Sacramento for our low performing schools through programs such as SB 1133 and the new construction bond program.
In addition to increasing efficiency and advocacy, we need to launch an aggressive campaign to inspire foundations, corporations, and individuals to help support the improvements so needed in our public schools. We must rally the community around a Campaign for LAUSD and raise $200 million over the next five years to help propel and sustain the transformation.
In the longer term, after we have built a much more efficient central office, raised funds from foundations and individuals, and can show promising progress, we need to explore new local revenue sources to increase funding for our public schools.
It is the primary mission of the central office to support the daily efforts of teachers, administrators and schools site staff to educate all children. Schools should be given the financial resources, support systems and authority they need in order to serve students effectively. Unfortunately, the district’s current central office has a culture that has long been compliance-oriented, with a command and control mentality rather than by a service-oriented approach. We must invert the hierarchy so that schools are empowered and the central and regional offices play supporting roles. The adjustment envisioned here will necessarily shake up norms and habits long entrenched within the district. This reorientation is imperative. It reflects a deep shift in values and will require time.
Lastly, the systems and processes of the central office must be redesigned to allow for dollars to follow students directly to school sites rather than be centralized and redistributed.
More Money to Schools Initiatives:
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1. Get Money Away from the Bureaucracy and into Our Schools
Far too much money continues to support LAUSD’s bureaucracy today and not enough is making it to school sites. For example, according to Education Resource Strategies, non-school positions at LAUSD increased by 985 positions or 12% between 2001 and 2006. We must change this pattern! Money, resources and people from the central office need to be moved to schools sites and focused directly on educating children. Additionally, the structures, systems and culture of the bureaucracy need to be transformed in order to improve organizational efficiencies and get more money into classrooms and schools.
2. Comprehensive Audit of Central Office to Identify Cost Savings
A thoughtful streamlining of the functions formerly provided by the central office will require a comprehensive audit to identify those areas where improved service and efficiencies can be gained. Organizations of scale and excellence routinely operate with strong mechanisms to ensure transparency and continuous improvement.
3. Drive More Funding through Increased Attendance
Implementing initiatives to improve attendance could dramatically improve school performance and drive more revenue to our schools. Schools, funded by the state based primarily on average daily attendance, receive more money per student as attendance improves. Not surprisingly, successful public schools have higher attendance rates.
4. Campaign for LAUSD
Public funds appropriately provide the bulk of operational funding for public education. Building on these and cognizant of the needs of our students, we should invite foundations and individual donors to join in the transformation effort as partners and funders. We will launch an aggressive campaign to raise $200 million over the next five years to provide additional support to our schools. For this campaign to be attractive, philanthropists’ confidence will need to increase on the belief that an investment in LAUSD will yield an important social return. A separate non-profit will be created to manage the fundraising for the district. Through a transparent process, donors should be able to earmark their funds to an array of specific efforts from uniforms to leadership development to funding for Mandarin language instruction.
5. Increase State Funding for Public Education
We must advocate for creative funding solutions in California’s post-Proposition 13 era. The first step is to make sure the LAUSD is getting its fair share of all of the current funding programs in Sacramento, in particular, SB 1133 funds for lower performing schools and funds for construction from bonds passed in the most recent election. In the long term, we need to explore other ways to increase funds for schools. Our state, once a national leader in public education, has fallen woefully behind. It is certain that the dollars spent on public education need to be reallocated and spent more wisely, as advocated throughout the Schoolhouse framework, but it is hard to imagine a compelling argument for improvement that could justify California ranking in the lower half of states in the country in per pupil funding. Ultimately, we will need to demonstrate that improvement has indeed begun to generate support for the thorny financial choices ahead.
6. A Service-Minded Central Office
The district’s central office must become more service oriented. Service Level Agreements defining the services and service levels provided to schools should be developed by the central office and provided to each school. Expectations of what services the central office will provide, when they will provide them, and at what level of quality need to be clear and explicit. Departments within the district should be held accountable by the school sites for meeting these service levels. Additional operational flexibility should be provided to school sites if departments within the central office consistently fail to deliver. A performance culture must be developed within the central office which prioritizes and delivers on serving schools.
7. School-Site Autonomy over Budgets
If we are to hold schools and educators accountable, they must be provided with control over their own budgets. We have to support this autonomy with extensive professional development, clear accountability and measurable outcomes. A critical step is the redesign of financial management systems and processes to allow school site staffs to control budgets, ensuring that dollars follow students directly to school sites and to provide transparency. School leaders will be given training and parameters for managing their budgets.
8. Leverage Expertise of Other Districts and Education Providers to Implement Reforms
All of the initiatives proposed within the Pillars of School Excellence have been implemented successfully in some urban schools in the United States and in some schools in Los Angeles. We need to engage institutions of all kinds, including school districts, universities, education service providers, family support organizations and education providers to help transform our schools. The size of our endeavour and its urgency necessitates that we reach out to the very best education organizations in the country. Groups like New Leaders for New Schools, whose talent for training principals is highly regarded, and KIPP, which operates high performing middle schools throughout the country, need to be included in our efforts. We also must tap the expertise of leaders in such school districts as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and other cities that have already embarked on comprehensive reforms so that we can learn from their implementation experience.
9. Create a Data Driven Organization
Our school system needs accurate and extensive data to track student performance, employee performance, school performance and district performance. We need robust student information systems to enable the creation of a portfolio of student-related data including attendance, academic performance results by lesson, special education needs, and English language acquisition. We also need a financial management system that can provide school site leaders and the central office with real time financial information so that they can spend money in the most efficient way for kids. Critical in any information management system is the need for strong reporting capabilities that allow data to be delivered quickly and in a user friendly formant.
