EDUCATION: Money will be moved to disadvantaged schools under new legislation.
By Hannah Lerstad, Staff Writer
A new plan proposed by California Governor Jerry Brown shifts the focus of educational reform to helping students with economic disadvantages. The new system will distribute money to school districts based on their percentage of English learners, foster children and low-income students. By reallocating money from wealthier schools to struggling schools, Brown hopes to bring equality to California’s education system.
Implementation of the changes would start in the 2013-2014 school year and be completely integrated by the 2019-2020 school year.
The process will begin with a single grant given to all schools followed by a grant based on the number of English learners, foster children and students on free and reduced lunch; a third grant will be given to districts in which these disadvantaged students make up more than 50 percent of the population.
A majority of the 18 main Riverside County school districts would benefit from the plan. According to the Press Enterprise, Riverside Unified School District’s per-student funding would jump from $6,165 to $10,637. The only two Riverside County school districts that would not see a large increase in per-student funding will be Temecula Valley Unified School District and Murrieta Valley Unified School District.
The plan will cut grants given to schools for specialized purposes, such as summer school, and give individual districts more power over how they spend their allocated money. However, other costs, such as school maintenance, will have to be supported from the fund.
There is evidence that Brown’s plan would dramatically increase the educational profits of California’s education system. The Atlantic featured a story on Finland’s highly-rated educational system, in which equal economic benefits are given to all students. Finland’s education system “offers all pupils free school meals, easy access to health care, psychological counseling, and individualized student guidance.” This eliminates the negative effects of economic and social issues on student performance. Finland has ranked in the top three countries in all Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests in the last twelve years. Unlike its other European counterparts, which tended to rank in the middle with America, Finland’s socioeconomic solutions put it in the top with East Asian countries like China.
However, the full funding of the California legislation will not be in place for several years, so only time will tell if Brown’s plan will improve California’s schools.