The Manhattan Beach schools held a budget session on Thursday that drew both supporters and opponents of
Measure A, the parcel tax on the June ballot to benefit schools.
The public hearing was part of an annual ritual that MBUSD (the Manhattan Beach Unified School District) goes through as it develops its budget for the coming school year.
However, this year's meeting drew unusually high interest because the numbers being presented could hold great import for the passage or failure of Measure A, a proposed 12-year, $1,095 per parcel tax to benefit Manhattan Beach public schools.
MBUSD's annual budget workshop is traditionally held after the governor's May Revise to the California state budget, a revision that is issued once current revenue and numbers have been updated from the original January proposal.
This year's workshop focused on the needs of the district, the impact of one-time versus ongoing funding, the potential need for future reductions as one-time and relief funds are expended, and potential opportunities to maintain and enhance existing programs if revenue is augmented through ongoing funding sources, including the proposed Measure A parcel tax that is on the Manhattan Beach ballot for June 7.
Potential Good News in May Revise
The governor's May Revise brought some good news for schools, said MBUSD Deputy Superintendent Dawnalyn Murakawa-Leopard in her
budget presentation. One certain addition will be a statutory COLA increase from a previously
projected 5.33% to 6.56%.
Secondly, she said, it appears likely that the state will be more forgiving of lower enrollment such as Manhattan Beach has recently experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ordinarily, funding is tied to current enrollment and attendance, but now the state may give schools the option of using either their current enrollment, prior enrollment, or a 3-prior-year rolling average. That three-year rolling average would allow schools to avoid "the cliff" from enrollment drop-offs, she said. "It makes the impact more gradual and gives us time to recover."
Third, she said that a possible change to the budget could be a base grant enhancement and a special education base grant increase, as well as possible one-time block grant and deferred maintenance funds. These increases, however, would be "maybes" until the state finalizes the budget at the end of June.
For right now, the 2022/23 MBUSD budget shows an estimated surplus of $470,505. However, that surplus is followed by deficits projected in the out-years 2023/24, 2024/25, and 2025/26, reaching an estimated deficit of $3.244 million in 2025/26. (As noted at the meeting, MBUSD includes several million dollars' worth of voluntary contributions to the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation in its official annual budget, and relies on those funds for core staff and programs.)
All told, Murakawa-Leopard said, "It looks good... When we saw the revenue coming in, it meant that we don’t have to make those significant reductions, and we no longer have to say that in order to balance our budget, we’re going to cut the equivalent of almost 40 positions. That helps us to be able to maintain the programs that we have in place currently."
Murakawa-Leopard continued: "We do still run a deficit, and we’re funding that deficit with reserves. We’ll see a decline in our reserves as those deficits appear, but it's much better and much less frightening that at [the last budget presentation]."
Nevertheless, she added, the policy officials she met with regularly in Sacramento seemed to agree that a recession is coming. "One year, funding is good; the next year, funding is taken away. I think we're on the precipice of that."
School Needs Lag Behind
Following years of cuts necessitated by the previous recession and by unpredictable funding, the school district continues to have many unmet needs, said Murakawa-Leopard.
In the context of losing programs with one-time funding, Murakawa-Leopard cited the Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) program that would only be funded through the summer; as well as the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding that provided for a district counselor, middle school interventions, and a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) teacher on special assignment and district coordinator. All of those positions would end when the funding ends in 2024.
Murakawa-Leopard also presented a series of long-term unaddressed budget needs, including textbook replacement, digital curricular resources, professional development, additional personnel, technology infrastructure, deferred maintenance, and vehicle replacement, totaling $12.34 million.
For textbooks, she said, the district has some that go back 20 years. The state used to have a very specific mandated cycle for replacement, she added, but after the 2008 recession, the state lifted those requirements to provide relief for schools. Now there is a backlog in replacing textbooks.
Murakawa-Leopard added that there was a time when Manhattan Beach "set the standard" in terms of teacher professional development, with 1% of the budget dedicated to professional development. "So this is something we’d like to bring back, to have our teachers work together to make sure that they are really able to keep up with the needs of our students; and to develop plans to stay current in both their pedagogy and curriculum."
In terms of personnel needs, she explained that during the recession MBUSD made "every effort" to make reductions away from direct services to students, so the district made cuts in clerical staff, maintenance staff, and "the people behind the scenes making classrooms ready for students and helping teachers to be able to focus on teaching."
Murakawa-Leopard continued: "But they weren’t brought back and so we continue to see a need for [positions such as] maintenance staff, security, risk management, and purchasing." She gave the example that a purchasing agent would be able to coordinate purchases district-wide, creating savings such that the position might actually pay for itself.
Measure A Opponents See Upside
Opponents to Measure A called for further scrutiny within the budget.
"We need to be fiscally responsible as a district," said said Tiffany Wright, a Manhattan Beach parent who has spoken out against the measure. Wright cited examples such as the $1 million under "desired funding" for professional development. "How much professional development do we need?... What I’m trying to get my arms around is the money we’re talking about spending."
Furthermore, opponent Greg Dickinson also noted that the district has increased staffing even while enrollment is declining. "How long can you sustain declining enrollment and increasing staffing?"
Measure A opponents added that the increase for schools proposed in the May Revise would be a boon for schools that could mean that the Measure A boost is not needed.
"If Newsom’s
increase to the LCFF [Local Control Funding Formula] base rate is passed by the legislature at the end
of June, there may not be a need for a parcel tax at all," said Wright after the meeting. "And, if there
is, the simple renewal of the $225 [Measure MB] tax may suffice."
Board Members Frustrated By Years of Cuts
But MBUSD board members, who have experienced years of see-saw funding levels and subsequent cuts, expressed frustration about enduring yet another cycle of receiving more one-time funding, only to have to make cuts when funding decreases.
Board member Jennifer Cochran explained what she called the "shell game" at the state level, where the state hesitates to increase the LCFF base grant, because it is committed to provide at least that number each year going forward. So instead, the state offers one-time grants, she said. "Then at district level, we all have to scrape together whatever one-time money we have to keep whatever programs we have."
Cochran used the example of the reading specialist program that was started when the reading curriculum changed, and how that funding came and then went. "There is not a way in which we can maintain quality programs like that without knowing that there is a guaranteed source of revenue," she said.
Legislators have even told the district that the only way to keep funding steady is to keep the money local, she said. (Parcel tax funds like those in the current, expiring Measure MB and proposed Measure A stay entirely in the district and do not flow to Sacramento.)
"It’s so reminiscent of every other year’s budget discussion, but it bears mentioning again because that is the reason why we have residents out there that are asking for the community to fund a sustained source of revenue - so we don’t have to do this every year," she added.
Board member Jennifer Fenton added that that was why she supported the parcel tax. "It can provide us with security when we’re sitting in here in a recession, or when we hit the cliff and we have to pink-slip over 40 employees. That’s devastating to our district, that’s devastating for our students and it’s devastating to our education system."
Board President Sally Peel added, "We scrape by on a lot less than what we need, and I hope we don’t have to scrape by anymore. Scraping by is not what we should have in our community, and it’s not what’s best for our students."
MBUSD Budget Situation Complex; Unusual
California funds its public school districts in one of two ways, as "basic aid" or "revenue limit" districts.
"Basic aid" districts have high property tax revenue dating back to before Prop. 13 was passed in 1978. These districts, such as Laguna Beach and Palo Alto, are able to collect enough property taxes to fully fund their schools and are allowed to keep the excess beyond what the state would have given them (resulting in high per-pupil amounts such as $23,000 per student in Laguna Beach).
Manhattan Beach, on the other hand, is a "revenue limit" district, meaning that it does not collect enough property tax to fully fund its schools, so it has to rely on the state for its funding.
To fund its school districts, California uses the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). The LCFF allocates
additional resources to public school districts with higher numbers of
students who qualify for the Free and Reduced Lunch Program, are English
Language Learners, and/or are foster youth. Since Manhattan Beach does not have high numbers of those students, MBUSD receives one of the lowest per-pupil funding levels in the state.
When discussing budgets for districts such as Manhattan Beach, the terms "equity" and "adequacy" are often mentioned. While LCFF is essential to
create more equity for districts with greater numbers of high-need
students, educators across the state say that the base level of education funding remains inadequate for all
California students.
Proponents of Measure A seek to bring the Manhattan Beach schools up to the state per-pupil average in funding. The 12-year term is designed to serve as a bridge until Manhattan Beach is expected to be able to reach "basic aid" status, in which it would keep its funding locally.
MBUSD Budget Discussions Continue
The timeline for the MBUSD budget process going forward is as follows:
June 1: MBUSD budget meeting
June 7: Election on Measure A parcel tax
June 15: Deadline for the California Legislature to pass the 2022/23 budget bill
June 16: MBEF grants are announced
June 22: MBUSD public hearing on the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) and the 2022/23 budget
June 23: MBUSD board meeting to approve LCAP and the 2022/23 budget
July 1: Deadline for the governor to sign the 2022/23 budget bill
August 15 (approximate): MBUSD must submit any material changes to its budget resulting from the final Budget Act.
Disclaimer: MB News publisher Dave Fratello is one of the signers of the official ballot argument
in favor of Measure A. Editor Jeanne Fratello is a 13-year Manhattan
Beach PTA member who has made multiple trips to Sacramento to advocate
for funding for Manhattan Beach public schools.
