The document critiques California's education funding system, arguing it discriminates against suburban school districts by underfunding them while providing more to districts with higher percentages of English language learners and low-income students. It highlights the consequences of this inequity, including deteriorating facilities and limited educational programs, and claims that funds are being mismanaged in favor of employee compensation over student needs. The author calls for a reevaluation of the funding structure to ensure all students receive adequate educational opportunities, and criticizes state policies that hinder this goal.

1. Word of the Day
Treating a class of persons unequally in a manner that is Malicious, Hostile, or Damaging
Discrimination

2. An Education Funding Law that is intentionally designed to deny adequate funding for a
particular group of students to obtain a MINIMUM (not great) education violates the 14th
Amendment right that EVERY person has to enjoy EQUAL Protection under the law.
The Laws Of A State Must Apply To All Equally

3. CALIFORNIA’s
The "Base Grant" is universal for all students (EQUAL).
The "Supplemental Grant" provides additional funding to districts based on the percentage of students in the district
that are English Language Learners, Receiving Free and Reduced Lunch, and/or are in Foster Care.
The "Concentration Grant" provides even more funding for districts that have large concentrations of students that
are English Language Learners, Receiving Free and Reduced Lunch, and/or are in Foster Care.
Those districts with a low percentage of students who are English Language Learners, Receiving Free and Reduced
Lunch, and/or are in Foster Care are funded solely by the Base Grant.
LCFF Limits per pupil funding to 2007-08 levels + Inflation
Not to be reached until 2021 (per pupil funding has not
been restored to 2007-08 levels yet- not until 2021)

4. The BASE GRANT, (EQUAL for all students) must be set at a level that guarantees ALL
students a MINIMUM (not great) education.
High Quality Staff
Program Expansion
And Variety
Beneficial
Teacher-Pupil
Ratios and
Class sizes
A Minimum Education has been
defined by the Courts to be:
“Opportunity to obtain”…
Modern Equipment and Materials
High Quality Buildings
More
Than
Just the
CORE!

5. When California implemented the Local Control Funding Formula, the State set the Base
Funding Grant at $6,500 dollars, then gave substantially more funding to school districts
with a large percentage of students that are ELL, receiving Free and Reduced Lunch
and/or are in Foster Care through Supplemental Grants and Concentration Grants.
THAT IS NOT FAIR

6. California is using its public education system to promote a political agenda, not
provide a minimum education to every student.
REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH

7. What should the Base Funding Grant be set at to be FAIR?
In 2006 the State Commissioned a study to determine the cost to "adequately" educate
a student in California with special needs weightings. The 2007-08 Calculated per pupil
costs with special needs weightings were found to be no less than $8,932 + inflation.
$9,000 PER STUDENT MINIMUM IN 2007-08
$9,000 $9,000 +
$9,000 ++++++

8. Source: Efficiency and Adequacy in California School
Finance: A Professional Judgment Approach
https://cepa.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/19-AIR-PJP-
Report(3-07).pdf at page Xiii
The State of California has been INTENTIONALLY underfunding suburban school
districts by a minimum of $2,000 per pupil, and as much as $4,000 per pupil.
$2,000 per pupil X 50,000 kids = $100 million per year X 8 years = $800 million dollars
$4,000 per pupil X 50,000 kids = $200 million per year X 8 years = $1.6 Billion dollars
Per Pupil Funding Capistrano Unified School District
2007-08 $7,694
2008-09 $7,614
2009-10 $7,246
2010-11 $7,228
2011-12 $7,469
2012-13 $7,002
2013-14 $7,419
2014-15 $8,042
By 2021 $7,694 + Inflation or approximately $8,271
Laguna Beach Unified Gets
$16,941 per pupil.
CUSD Employees Are Paid
The Same As Laguna Beach
Suburban School Districts should be receiving between
$10,000 - $12,000 per student, and the State of California knows that.
$800
millionIsn’t that
Close to
Measure M’s
$889 million
dollar
School
Facilities Bond Amount?
The Study Showed

9. WHY WOULD CALIFORNIA WANT TO INTENTIONALLY UNDERFUND ANY STUDENT?

10. MONEY

11. By intentionally underfunding WEALTHY Suburban School Districts, the State has
accumulated $77 BILLION (with a “B”) in Excess Tax Revenue since 2007-08.
The State then uses that money to create NEW programs and entitlements that are not
constitutionally mandated.
CALIFORNORNIA IS ENJOYING RECORD HIGH REVENUES

12. CALIFORNIA has sufficient money to provide every student with a MINIMUM (not great)
education, but is CHOOSING not to give CERTAIN DISTRICTS the funds they need because
the State assumes that these “Wealthy” School Districts can raise sufficient money at the
“Local Level”!
Local Sales Tax
Mello Roos Tax
Bonds
Fundraising
Donations
Fees
ASB Fees
Parking Fees
… and the
List goes on.

13. WHERE IS THAT EXTRA MONEY GOING?
Not a single Penny
For K-12 Public Education

14. During the GREAT RECESSION, the State allowed school districts to drain deferred maintenance
funds to avoid cuts to salaries, pensions and benefits. As a result- school facilities have not been
fixed or maintained since 2007-08. Then the State decided to stop funding NEW school facilities
construction, forcing every school district in the State to try and pass a school facilities bond.

15. Lucky
Taxpayers
CUSD’s MEASURE M – the $889 million dollar school facilities bond FAILED
187 of 206 school measures have passed representing nearly $50 BILLION
in future property taxes.
162 of those are Prop 39 bonds. (Prop 39 bonds only require
55% voter approval to pass; not 75%, because they are suppose
to have strict over sight.

16. Employee
Recovery
Student
Recovery
Student Recovery Depends on
Our State Elected Leaders and
the Public Employee Unions who
pay to elect them, always put the
financial interests of employees
above the educational interests
of students.

17. When money is tight at the district level, the same thing happens. Union elected Board
Members will always vote to approve compensation increases and will do so even if that
means taking something away from the students. NO ONE CARES ABOUT THE KIDS
BUT – IT’S FOR THE KIDS
It has now been proven 80% of Prop 30 money went to Employee Pensions and Benefits

18. THE TRUTH ABOUT CUSD TEACHERS SALARIES
This is Salary Schedule Only and does not include
health and welfare benefits.
Average Total Compensation for CUSD Teachers
2012-13 $ 95,673
2013-14 $105,340
2014-15 $108,392
2015-16 $110,633
2016-17 $111,000
CUSD has cut $152 million from its budget since 2007-08
Teachers have taken a 1.2% reduction in their salary schedule.
All the cuts have come from the students.
CUSD’s #1 Priority
Has always been
Employee Compensation

19. CUSD has a Union Elected Board that always places the financial interest of employees
above the educational interests of students and the financial interest of taxpayers.

20. High Quality Staff
CUSD has a lot of tenured teachers that will be retiring soon. They will be replaced with
entry level teachers that may not have the knowledge and expertise to deal with CUSD’s
overcrowded classrooms, crumbling facilities. The money CUSD saves by replacing
teachers at $95,000 per year with teachers that make $50,000 per year will barely be
enough to cover the increased cost of CalPERS and CalSTRS that is being passed from
the State to districts which will be 10% of CUSD’s total budget by 2021.
Employee Compensation is 89% of CUSD’s Budget + 10% for CalSTRS and CalPERS = 99%
Program Expansion And Variety
Our students have no Art, Music or Science unless parents fundraise for it. District Staff
WITHOUT BOARD APPROVAL has made the decision to defund GATE and differentiated
programming for high achieving students. The State has made California Content
Standards and Curriculum Frameworks a “Recommendation” not a “Requirement”.
Instructional time, and content are now left to the discretion of the individual classroom
teacher. Some teachers are not completing an entire curriculum anymore. Even students
with “A”s will not know until they take college entrance exams and do not score well.
Beneficial Teacher-Pupil Ratios and Beneficial Class Sizes
CUSD has the largest class sizes in the State of California and the Nation
Does anyone believe 33 four year olds
per teacher is beneficial?

21. Modern Equipment and Materials
While CUSD students do not receive instruction in
core educational programs, and while the State
refuses to increase the Base Grant, the State does
provide one-time grant moneys to districts for some
State mandated projects. CUSD received an Energy
Grant.
Schnider Electric is performing energy audits at High
School sites. On February 22, 2017 BOT meeting PO
$2,490,333.00 paid for with an Energy Grant.
Under “Local Control” the State was
suppose to give Districts funding with
out mandating how the money is spent.
Now the State is giving one time grant
moneys for Professional Development,
Energy and Technology. As Grant
money increases, Ed Tech companies
and Builders are getting rich of school
districts. Teachers are paid to be out of
the classroom for Professional
Development. That money would be
better spent to broaden the curriculum,
reduce class sizes and fix facilities.
PAY TO PLAY

22. High Quality Buildings
According to CUSD’s measure M documentation, CUSD facilities
needs are at emergency levels needing $899 million dollars in
maintenance and repairs. Is it CUSD's position that very few of the
2009 facilities issues have been addressed or fixed due to a lack of
funding. The 2009 plan contains $16,951,651.25 in
Structural/Safety/Fire Life Safety/ADA issues. Those would be
issues that should fall under Williams Legislation as "emergency"
issues that must; by law, be fixed for the health and safety of
students.
For 7 years CUSD has been fine
with letting its students attend
school in substandard facilities
so long as employees could
receive increased compensation
packages.
Every taxpayer should read the
following and listen to the Board
Audio for themselves:
See: Capistrano Unified School
District Facilities Report- "16,000
plumbing work orders - 3
plumbers on staff"- Never any
Williams Complaints?
4 years of across the Board
Compensation Increases totally
over $120 million.

23. Tonight Trustees will retroactively approve a purchase agreement to buy the Esencia
school site spending $24 million dollars above it’s value – a gift to Rancho Mission Viejo.
Money that could have been used to reduce class sizes, fix and repair facilities and
restore programs like Art, Music and Science. This is a very Corrupt School District in a
very corrupt state and taxpayers and students are at their mercy with no recourse from
CDE or OCDE or any Elected Officials at the State or County Level. If City leaders also look
the other way, the only recourse tax payers have is to pull their kids from public school or
move out of State where the government is not so abusive or oppressive.
Governor Brown will go down in history as having destroyed
The California public education system, so that he could fund
His legacy – HIGH SPEED RAIL
As school districts go bankrupt, employees will continue to be
Taken care of. Right now there is a bill to give teachers 10 years
without paying any California income tax (equivalent to a 5% raise)
There are also efforts under way for school districts
provide new teachers with subsidized housing. At the
Same time Legislators are looking for new ways to tax citizens.

24. SPECIAL BOARD MEETING
5:00 pm tonight
CUSD Staff is asking Trustees to ratify a resolution
to purchase the Esencia K-8 School site (vacant land
- with NO ENTITLEMENTS) for $33.86 million ($2.4
million per acre (valued as if it has 100 homes on it)
when ALL documentation presented to the Public
prior to the resolution stated that the cost of the
land would be $21 million ($1.5 million per acre)
and fair market value is $11 million.