November 4, 2025 - 10:30am Committee of the Whole

001Good morning everyone, colleagues, district staff, and members of the public. I'd like to call to order the committee of the whole for this Tuesday, November 4th. Before we begin, it is election day and I want to acknowledge that. A day that reminds us that civic participation is a cornerstone of our democracy. Whether it's casting a ballot or showing up to a school meeting, civic engagement is what keeps our community strong and public institutions accountable. Last month, the board unanimous unanimously adopted a resolution to support Proposition 50, reaffirming LUSD's commitment to a strong democracy to ensure public schools receive all the supports and necessary to educating the whole child. Our agenda today continues with that spirit of democracy. We will examine how our task forces and committees can operate more effectively and inclusively. receive an update

002on the community engagement regarding the budget um and fiscal stabilization plan and conclude with a community submitted item under board rule 132. Before we move into these presentations, I want to pause and recognize the people who make our district run, the dedicated workers who open campuses, keep our students fed, keep our classrooms safe, and ensure that teaching and learning happens every single day. Thank you to all of you. And with that said, I'd like to move um to our labor partners. If we have any labor partners here who would like um to make any comments, please come forward. I see we have UTLA. Good morning board. My name is Denanisha Jordan and I am an LUSD graduate, a former parent of an LUSD student and an educator of 24 years representing United Teachers Los Angeles

003and a member of our bargaining team. LD senior finance team is coming to bargaining next week. It is our sincere hope that the district comes with sincere intentions to bargain on issues that matter to students, parents, and members. To date, the district has yet to change their stance on their proposal to pass healthc care costs on to employees. And yesterday evening, another bargaining session ended without any progress on salary, staffing, class size, and other urgent issues. I have attended the budget meetings and have been extremely disappointed in the lack of full transparency on the district's part and the fact that you added today's budget slides essentially overnight. On the agenda is the reintroduction of a resolution disguised as safety in schools. That being said, students, community, and UTLA members have repeatedly challenged this body to

004reimagine what safety looks like in our schools. Once again, I'm challenging all of us in this meeting to examine our definition of what safety looks like. What does it look like for our most marginalized students? What does it look like in the communities that are being terrorized and attacked by armed agents? For my students, my members in my community, it looks exactly like, excuse me, one second. It looks exactly like what UTLA has been asking for during the 13 bargaining sessions. Students feel safe when they can walk into fully staffed schools and have everything that they need. PSWs and other mental health supports at every school, regardless of the size. Climate just a climate justice advocates, safe passage, access to clean and well-maintained facilities, campus aids who build trusted relationships with our students and provide

005much neededed supports within our school communities. real support for our special education population and support for our immigrant students. All of these things are what constitute a safe environment for students and teachers. When I attended a school board meeting in board district 3, the um budget hearing, I met a parent from Lake Balboa Magnet. It was a black parent who had a fifth grade student. She was there for the sole purpose of finding out how can she get the PSW back at her school site. Her school had dropped enrollment by one student and they lost this this PSW. [snorts] What she shared with me was that this her student, her son had been traumatized with some racial issues at that school and this PSW was the only trusted adult at that school. and it was

006the reason why he would show up to school every day. And because of policies and underst staffing, this PSW is no longer at this school site. I pray for that student and that family. That being said, we can't wait for our schools to be safe, stable, and fully staffed. Our students cannot wait. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Are there any other labor partners who wish to come forward? Okay, with that we will move on. I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Yes, Mr. Gams. Sorry. >> I didn't realize I lost that much weight. >> Go ahead. >> Um, as usual, I was not going to speak, but I at at times when I hear other partner labor partners speaking, I feel compelled. My name is Gil Gam, school police union president. Um I

007in regards to to safety, um there there was a vote to defund a school police department a few years back and the vote was um I guess the push for the for the vote to defund was um [clears throat] out of UTLA and out of the labor community strategy center and it was from I would call it the brainchild of Mr. Eric Man. And just because Eric man has an affinity for um a Mr. George Jackson and he's very public about this. Um we we use students to push an ideological agenda to give Mr. Eric Man of the Strategy Center the opportunity to push for a a re-imagined way of safety. But his way came with allowing formerly incarcerated individuals on campus with our students. I think it's important for us to know this. And

008and I don't have a problem with formerly incarcerated individuals. I think that the the last fires that we had here in Los Angeles, there was a team of of firefighters from prison. They did a great job. And I and I think that they should be allowed into the fire department once they're released from prison. a a a great job. I think this is something different. I think when we're going to outsource as a union person, I mean, would would UTLA be very happy if if they outsource teaching to other groups, the answer would be no. So, am I very happy that we're outsourcing uh security um with school police budget money, LA Unified money outsourced to individuals that hire formerly incarcerated individuals? No, I do not like that. Um, but it's important to say that

009this is the path and this is why we are here in this reimagining of safety. If you're going to have people work with children on campus, they should be filtered through the LA Unified system. Make them employees and have them pass all the the background checks of the employees. Give them the opportunity to get an L to get a LA Unified salary. Give them the opportunity to get a um benefits in retirement. and give them the opportunity to be properly vetted to make sure that that we we should um they're okay to be around our children and staff that serves our children on LA Unified campuses. So, thank you. >> Thank you so much uh for your comments. Um so, I don't see any other labor partners coming forward. So, we'll move to our first

010agenda item. Um the discussion this is a discussion on task forces and committees um which is asking us to reflect on how we can operate more efficiently while still honoring our democratic values transparency inclusion and shared responsibility. So with that said, efficiency should never come at the cost of participation. And the goal is to ensure that as we streamline our processes, we continue creating spaces when students, staff, and families and committee members feel heard and valued and they have an opportunity to participate in the process. This conversation builds on the time is money resolution um introduced in September by Miss board member Ortiz Franklin and board member Melvoine and the independent um analysis units review uh which was uh provided to us which invite us to think carefully about how we balance balance focus and

011inclusion. With that said, uh to guide this conversation, I'd like to turn over uh the floor to board member Ortiz Franklin. >> Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Rivas, and thank you for providing the time. I think this was a good solution to our discussion when this uh resolution was raised to bring it to a place where we can discuss. And so to that end, it's on the uh board's materials, but also passed around at the DEIS, just how I thought we could structure our conversation. So Dr. Rivas provided some really helpful context. My hope is that within the next 40 to 50 minutes u maybe even less let's see how efficient we can be um that we think through next steps on this concept of exactly what you shared balancing efficiency with community participation. Um

012so we had the team look into board created committees, task forces, workg groups and there have been almost 15 in the last um 15 years or or 10 years or so uh more or less the IAU and the district did send around some materials that Mr. McClean I think also shared and maybe is sharing now. Um great um just what those uh groups are. Some of them have ended, some of them are currently existing. But I think uh that helps context for us as to like how where do we want to go from here. So we have the resolution, we have a memo from the IAU, we have staff's analysis of the existing task forces and resolutions that have been commit created by board resolution. Um and then there are others that we hadn't even

013contemplated. So I think for today I'm just going to use the word groups like participation groups. Thank you to the IAU for suggesting that um because that includes everything task force committee advisory groups all of these things created by um board resolution and again this is only about that. So not about you know what President Schmurson creates in terms of board committees not about union contract created committees. This is just for board created committees um as a result of resolutions. So I thought we could start with a little bit of a pulse check. I put four questions on here just thumbs up thumbs down from the board members around the deis. If any of them don't have unanimous thumbs ups or down, we can spend some time talking about it. Um, but then maybe five

014more in-depth questions that come from the resolution to see where we have agreement, disagreement, um, maybe solving any of the concerns that arise. So, let's just start with some quick pulse checks. Warm up your thumbs, ups and down, ups and downs. All right. Do we, uh, the board of education think it is important for staff to use their time efficiently and effectively? Thumbs up or thumbs down? I guess you could always do thumbs sideways. This is for you, board members. I mean, [laughter] >> who would love to know? >> I just this this is great, right? >> That would be weird. [laughter] It's just to start on some some basic agreements. Um because we do have disagreements, it's great to start where we do agree. Great. I saw mostly thumbs up. Um exclusively thumbs up.

015Right. Number two, do we want clear outcomes, tasks, and decision-making processes for each group? Seeing mostly thumbs up. Mr. Schmemell, you got a thumb? All right. Thanks. [laughter] [gasps] Number three, do we think it's important that all groups created by a board resolution have a staff lead? This was an area that the resolution addressed. Um, and I hadn't realized it was a challenge and and maybe we don't all agree that every group created by a resolution should have a staff lead. I um I think I wasn't present for part of the discussion, but did you define staff lead? Like what does that is it a a I guess I would surmize that maybe because some of the groups are kind of community-led that there might be concern about a staff person leading is it are

016they in charge of the committee or are they like a design who supports the committee? >> No, that's a great question. I I'm glad that you raised that. I think I was thinking someone who convenes the group um sort of the organizer of the group, not a decision maker, um but the person that the board can lean on to say you are the one we come to when we have questions about how this is going and so they organize the body, not that they hold all of the power. Does that make sense? I think I may saw another sideways on that question. Yeah. Questions or thoughts on that? Yeah, Carla. >> Yeah, I think we just need clarity on the role of staff. So I don't I don't think it's a it's it's one way

017or the other. It also you want staff who are who are committed to that committee as in they have an interest, they have knowledge, they have um they they serve a purpose beyond just organizing. They could also be a source of information and also a person who goes back to the board or to the district. That's how I see the role of a lead. So I I just think it's not a very, you know, um, black and white situation. I the the question you're asking, right? That's that's the reason why I'm sideways. >> No, that's great. And that's why we should have dialogue here. So I'm hearing and I think my team is helping take notes for next steps on this, too, is to define the role of the staff member. Is it a liaison?

018Is it the person we're holding accountable? Um, what is their responsibility respective to the rest of the members of the advisory group? um and if there are thoughts about how that should happen. I I think the IAU also gave us in their analysis uh some of these ideas here. Um and so maybe it depends on the type of body that it is like what the responsibilities of the staff members are. So um I think that can be something we clarify going forward as to what is the role of the staff member or members. Did I see another question thought on that? >> Yeah, I just was going to add um as a facilitator so to speak. >> Okay. Yeah, that's a great descriptor. Facilitator. Yeah. Um, and then the fourth one on the on the

019quick pulse check is, do we want an annual review of progress from these groups? Something that comes back to the board annually? >> Oh, great. Okay. Another >> Go ahead, Carla. >> Yeah, definitely an annual review, but maybe some some other points of some other checkpoints maybe like just only an annual review. So at least an annual review and some may have more. >> Yeah. >> Okay. That is that is helpful. >> Um great. So that is the quick pulse check. Uh these ones could take a little bit longer. So the first resolve in the resolution um had a couple of uh sub bullet points. Um but I know there were some concerns raised about eliminating or consolidating potentially duplicative or inactive group. So I wanted to make some space for that. what concerns, if

020any, about eliminating or consolidating duplicative or inactive groups does the board have? And then secondarily, you know, how can we solve for those concerns? Yeah, I mean I don't necessarily want to just address that one point because I read the IAU's report and I actually found it very helpful and useful in guiding um our decision on how we go about these um these committees, these task forces, these ad hocs. And I so I personally would like to begin with the next steps that were recommended in the IAU report because it seems um it seems prudent, right, to be able to pause and assess what we have. I did get this list um right now. I wasn't sure if these are all the committees, but it would be great for us to assess all of the

021current board centered committees um and to apply that topology that um was suggested in there because I think that was very helpful too to understand is it a standing committee, ad hoc, a working group, a mandated committee and then complete an assessment before deciding to consolidate or to sunset and um to ensure that because ultimately I think the The spirit of these committees is to have commi uh community input, right? We want a space for community to be able to share ideas and um and make proposals if any. So assessing that and making sure that there is a balance of that before sun setting before you know consolidating I think that's um that's important. And then I think the next recommendation was then once we've done this inventory assessment, let's schedule a conversation and then

022decide um on the policy that we want to that we want to to do. So that's my perspective on on this. I don't I I don't I don't necessarily have an issue with each of those things, but I just overall I think it I want to step back and and look at it like that. I appreciate that. I think when I wrote the resolution, I was thinking about saving time and so consolidating, eliminating in my mind was getting us closer to saving time. But I totally hear you on let's do the full assessment first and starting with the end in mind is maybe not appropriate when we want to um get the information and then determine what consolidates what terminates uh various committees. Um, and so I hear you on step one coming first, right,

023before starting with the just closing of things to um to tighten up staff time, which is where my perspective had come from at that point, but I I definitely hear where you're coming from and I think it makes a lot of sense. I have the feeling others might have agreed with that. >> Go ahead, Dr. >> Yes, I'll uh concur with uh board member GGO. Um I do I did find um the IU report very um helpful and help um sort of focus what what it is that the resolution was trying to um address. Um I do agree that each committee and each task force serves a distinct purpose um often representing unique communities and issues that require focus attention. Um I think it really depends also on the intent of a set resolution. Um,

024and also we also have to take in consideration that although we may have a timeline or a time that we sunset, we also have to be flexible because possibly there were issues within that committee or task force that they weren't able to come to an outcome or a desired result because of different issues. So I think we need to have time um or have space for flexibility rather than just saying okay at this time after a year we're going to sense it. I think it's something that has to um take in consideration the dynamics of the folks who are in these committees or the task forces. So that's why yeah >> I appreciate that and that gets to our second question and maybe they connect right because if we are I heard this in the

025discussion at the board meeting um you know sort of imposing timelines that no more than three years or within two years we assume that they'll be suns setting um that it doesn't allow for maybe six months to even get the committee going or what was the author intending when they wrote this resolution and so um maybe as a part of you know revising a policy and actually I'll I'll let Mr. McClean chime in on on where we're going with board rules, which is something that this might lead into in that revision process. Um that we can include starting with an assessment and then incorporating considerations for what would it take to consolidate to set a timeline um as a part of the um the the rule process that we're kind of going through. Do you

026want to share a little bit about that? So currently the board is at the very beginning of reviewing it the current board uh bylaws, rules and procedures. Most of it has to do with self-governance and how the board operates. Within the current rules, there's a couple two or three discrete rules about the resolution process. There's nothing in there about a sun setting or how to approach a resolution or how a resolution really should be processed specifically in a legislative committee like this. There's some there's some aspects of the resolution process that could be codified, I believe, into board rules as opposed to um the process that we have now. And and some of the things that you discussed today could fit in into what needs to be in a resolution in order for it to

027come before the board in terms of process and making things more more efficient. >> So maybe it's not just about committees that come out of a resolution, but more broadly, how do we approach resolutions as a board? because we have some of that in our board rules and I think we've talked about this as a board before too that maybe not everything do we do accurately. I think the current board rules say that every resolution is supposed to go to a committee first which has never happened since I've been on the board. So revisiting for what we actually want to be in in the board rules about that. >> That's right. And the committee process as stated in the board rules is almost even is is a little bit vague in terms of um how

028the committees uh come to be. So right now we're discussing there's two ways that a committee are basically created. that's initially by the board president at the annual meeting and then by resolution. So within the board rules themselves as they're re-reviewed um a discussion like this about committees and how they actually come into existence and continue to go on um would be valuable in other legislative settings. Uh committees will have a discrete purpose. Once achieved, the K committee may stop or a review process that you're talking about to achieve actual goals. >> Hopeful. And what's the timeline for revising the board rules? >> Uh, I would say March. Um, I don't think that they'll be complete, but the review process by board members themselves will be happening, I would say, by March. >> Just a

029clarifying question. I think you use the word committees. Are you refersing referring to all of these participatory groups as well or are you talking >> I'm sorry correct. Yes, I'll use the term groups like uh board member Ortiz Franklin said at the beginning groups groups created by the board in any fashion. >> Yeah, thanks for clarifying. Um, so that kind of gets to, you know, I sort of suggested it as one of the next step is part of the revision to the board rules incorporate some of these ideas and maybe it would be helpful to hear from the board, you know, during this conversation, um, what you would like to see in that process. Um, so some of the other discussion questions, you know, consolidating the two task forces, maybe that gets to what you

030were sharing earlier, but if there's something specific you want to share about, you know, the third um, question, I'm I'm definitely open to it. Um and it it kind of leans into the fourth one as well which is just the role of the district in this whole process. And so if we revise our board rule for prospective um group participatory groups what should we do about those that are already in existence? And I guess that's really the question for the board too for these you know nearly 15 groups. How do we look back? Go ahead, Kelly. >> Um, well, I mean, I I think we would I think we would want to include the existing groups and I mean, we wouldn't want different sets of of standards and expectations for groups that already existed versus

031ones that like if they're not adhering to best practice and however that's eventually defined, I think that we we would want to address that in some way. Um, and I'll bring up a different concern. I think I think like I have no sense of what the composition is of some of these committees and how that's determined and I think that's really a transparency problem. If um some committees maybe their composition was determined by the board member who author who authored that resolution that like creates real inequities in terms of participation both like geographically across board districts but also for for if it's has a particular focus um for certain high needs student groups and um groups of families as well. So I think in the interim like that is definitely something that we should that

032should be lifted up to ensure that there are not certain communities that do not have a voice in these decision making or advisory bodies. >> Yeah, that gets at some of I think the IU was sharing too about um some values in creating these groups and equity and equity of voice being one of them. Thanks for lifting that up. Other thoughts? Anyone we haven't heard from yet? We're so efficient with this, we don't even need 40 minutes. Okay. So what I'm hearing is that we are going to revise a board rule as it relates to resolutions including creating participatory groups and that will also address composition um and something about flexibility in this annual review process or you know the timelines having some appropriate flexibility there on the front end going forward. Um, and then

033looking back at what currently exists, what I heard from, you know, board member Grego is to start with an assessment, which staff has sort of started to do. Um, and that was the the second document that was attached in the materials last night of of the various groups that currently exist. Um, with that set of materials, there is a recommendation for most of them. Is that right? And some of them like for example um the culture task forces it does recommend transitioning them in into one body. Um for I think the arts one had the you know recommendation for a district representative. My question to the board is, you know, we get to decide. Do we want staff to recommend things that we need to vote on? And so that gives clear direction to the

034staff or do we want um discussion enough to sort of encourage them to keep going? I guess how formal do we want uh to act on their recommendations? When when you make them mention how formal, meaning that it would come back to said items and you vote on this, yes, no, this is that what you're asking as far as would we be willing to do that or is that the direction we want to go to after the analysis, after what what's going to come before what? I guess that's the that's going to be the question because we're creating something that probably won't be prepared until March. Correct. We're getting an analysis to kind of break down everything that's here and then we'll be prepared to be able to answer whether we want to vote not

035vote. Is that the direction or the elevated progression? Yes, >> I think so. I think that sounds right. Okay. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Just want to be clear. for me um I mean I I see the recommendations and they're you know pretty much different for the existing uh committees or task forces um but I the recommendation is there but I think that it rather than just saying we will continue or we close this or turn this into advisory group I think it before making that decision um it would be important to at least hear from one um a designated member of that task force to come forward and say we agree or or not. Because if we go ahead and go with the recommendation without actually hearing from the members, at least one member that

036represents that task force to say, "Well, actually, no, we disagree." Then we're, you know, silencing voices. We're just going with a recommendation without actually knowing the full uh understanding of the work that they've been tasked to do. Um, so I will feel more comfortable saying yes, I see the recommendation by the district or the uh the staff, but I would also like to hear from a designated member of this body to come say do you agree with this? What is your input um based on what the work entails or what what are what are the um the sentiments or the feelings of other of other members as well before we make a decision. So I think it has to be inclusive of those who are part of that before we make a decision. Um because

037you know we want to make sure we're listening to them as well. >> Yeah, that's a really good point. Um somewhere maybe it was in the IU materials was also about like the leadership of these groups. If the chairs or co-chairs are members of the community and you know how that composition is determined I think is also really important and then how they present to the board. Is it just staff or is it um actually the chairs of these various groups? if if that's kind of the leadership structure that has been taken on. So I I really appreciate that addition. Yeah. And maybe as I'm thinking about next steps too. So I mean and going back to you know Miss Honey Nimble's point. So in March is when the board will start to look at

038these rules by when do we anticipate you know go or like what is the process after March? >> After March and the board takes a re a review of the of the board rules themselves. The board then the rules have to come before the board at a regular board meeting and get voted voted on uh and approved. Once they're approved, they are um active >> active. And how long do you think from March to when we vote to approve them? >> I find that question very hard very hard to answer >> looking backward in time and how the board um has done rules. It's very hard for me to predict >> uh the time period. I was just going to say that there was a there was an effort what five to six years ago

039to look at the board rules. There was a you know a subcommittee of the board that analyze them. I mean and I don't know if everyone on the board has looked closely at the board rules but is quite a lengthy document. So, um I just I I wonder if there might be a bifurcated process whereby we take a look at some of these like I don't know that consolidating it as part of a broader board rules review process which might be quite lengthy in terms of time whether that makes the most sense because there will be a lot of other issues that emerge as part of that discussion and so perhaps since we already have a jump start on this thanks to the IAU like maybe there's a way to to take go look at

040this issue on a slightly faster track. Um because I I don't know I I would estimate it would take a year probably from from March for for any review and revision to be complete. No, that's helpful because then you know a different route and and that was one of my questions in here too is you know should we bring the resolution back to the board for a vote um once we have a new process the assessment you know the cons um composition of the groups the decision-m you know once we have that as probably a piece of the board rules but before the board rules are voted on maybe we just vote on it I don't know if it's through a resolution or through something else if it's like a partial section of the board

041rules come this The board has full authority to always amend the board rules as they exist now. So if if the board wanted to to um edit the rules as they stand, they they could memorialize them. >> But maybe it comes back as a revised board rule rather than a resolution. >> That's correct. >> Okay. >> What do you think, Kelly? You have a face. >> No, no, it's okay. Please. I I well I I don't know exactly where in in the board rules it would come. Just like any we take one of the board rules there might be a number of other issues that are evident in that particular board rule. So are we like are we looking at the whole thing or are we just addressing this specific issue? I think probably the

042uh the approach maybe you could do a resolution that directs staff to um incorporate any changes as part of an an amended board rule as they undertake the process. That might be one way to do it. and you have a lot of experience with the Council of Great City Schools and Governance and so I I appreciate your lens on that. Um, go ahead, Carla. >> I'm confused. [laughter] I don't I I just don't understand why we I want to follow the steps that the IU recommends. To me, that just seems more prudent instead of just because part of the the recommendations is that we create policy once the the inventory has done. We've placed all of these uh committees that we have into a certain type that each type has a a a definition, right,

043of what type of of grouping it is and what um timelines they're held to, etc. And then and then schedule the discussion around these committees, these existing committees, and then adopt the board policy on on what we're going to do. And then they even say revise standard resolution template to include all required elements when creating new committees. So I don't understand why we can't just do that instead of trying to do a resolution or waiting because waiting until we have the discussion on on the the board rules. If if there's an urgency around this that we want to solve sooner than later, then let's start the work toward that. >> I agree on the substance. I think my point well like the board acts via board action, right? Like we vote as a whole board.

044That's how we act. We I don't know that maybe the board president could simply direct the IAU to do the things that they've listed. But I think my point was not ch I don't disagree with you on the substance that those sound like the right next steps. It was really more that like well then we'd need to vote to direct staff to do those things. >> Yeah, >> that's what I was going to say. It's it's really the who. Um, and then the adopting the policy could come through a rule or it could come through a resolution, but that is then like the action that makes it real. Um, and funny that you mentioned the last recommendation of the standard resolution template. I don't think we have a resolution template. So, to Kelly's point about

045this raising new ideas for us that is, you know, maybe we should have a resolution template. Um, maybe others do, other districts around the country. I'm seeing some head nods. Great. and then it could address many of the items that they raised here. Um so I think Miss Grego it's about like you know who does this? So you know staff has started to do an inventory which is what they shared with us here. Um but completing the assessment is this is a question for my colleagues. Should this go to the IAU since they are the independent analysis that reports to us? Um working with staff that already created the the template would that be helpful or should we have the secretariat's team do that assessment? Um, yeah, the question of who I I think is

046>> I see >> most important. Yeah, >> go for it. Yeah, >> I'm happy to jump in where I'm wherever wherever I'm muted. So, if my team needs to get on that, we will and we'll work with the IAU and share share what we do with the board president's office and then with the board uh generally can I add two >> please? Yeah, >> two small things in in considering how these groups are defined and what they do. There is a small piece that interacts with the Brown Act. So if you if you have if any group is created that takes any action or or actually directs a body to take action which we have a couple of that group must adhere to the Brown Act and when they adhere to the Brown Act that's

047document production that's uh agendas uh partic 72 hours in advance and um various reasons for attending or not attending. So in my work I deal with community members sometimes in this respect and and some of the feedback I get is I would like to participate in this committee but I cannot because there's almost no reasonable means to attend remotely because currently the way the law is set up it makes it somewhat challenging to attend remotely. If it's an advisory committee it they folks can attend remotely and it can be hybrid sometimes you'll see we have advisory committees that do that. So there's a practical implication in law and and procedure when it comes to defining what the group does in whatever document that defines the group. Um the other aspect of this is institutional knowledge.

048My office sort of sits in an estuary between the district and the board of education and the board members and when I came on we lost a huge amount of institutional knowledge. So part of this part of this process is making sure that whenever a new thing comes into existence, we have a central repository that will be there long after I'm gone and long after the next person is gone. And that's one of my pitches for board rules because the board rules are changed um in a much more formal fashion and things created by resolution can come real fast and furious depending on the tempo and the and the temperament of the board. So those are those are my two things to consider when defining when defining what these groups do and how how they

049operate. >> I'm feeling that there's multiple steps that need we need to take place, right? Um is an analysis um an assessment and um deciding um the current groups that are you know maybe learning from the current groups, what is working, what isn't. Um that should be part of the analysis. And then the next step would be do we want um is a a resolution appropriate? But I do agree with uh Mr. McClean that whatever whatever is decided has to be sort of institutionalized and I think that's institutionalized through a board rule. Um because we'll go like as it is now we're not adhering to the process. So if we have a board uh rule that has been vetted through different bodies and analyzed then we come to um a transparent very inclusive and collaborative

050process. I think that's for me what's ultimately to analyze the situation. what are the next moves to institutionalize this process but one that is inclusive, transparent, collaborative um and provides for some flexibility depending on what the task of this group is. So I think it's next steps is essential um but I think it's going to take sort of multiple ways of getting to where we want to go. So I think it's not like black or white we're going to do this and then this. I think it's it has to be sort of a process that we all agree on to make it fair >> and and you and I have started on a board subcommittee about the resolution process more generally and so this maybe IAU executive officer you know assessment is really about these

051participatory groups that come from resolutions and then that pairs up with the subcommittee process we're doing on the resolution process more broadly then ultimately codified in the rules when we get to that point. Um but we can get started on it since it's come to fruition as you know an important topic for for our team. Okay. Um so sounds like the secretariat and the IAU which you know work in tandem will we'll do a little bit more with this assessment. do think maybe it helps to have staff involved just because I think I think Amanda's and maybe Carolyn helped with the um kind of codifying where things are and I know sometimes when um well I guess the question is do we need to give really clear direction or encouragement on how you know the

052executive officer works with staff to get all the information if there's more information needed >> we'll be readily available um to support you know the work of the IU and the secretariat's office we know that you know given the inventory there there's still work to be done there just to make sure that we're capturing um all the task force committees established by RESZO and understanding which ones are currently active which ones are have not been active for several years. Um so so we'll be ready to support on that end. >> Great. And then to Miss Grego's point, maybe we come back in a committee of the whole to discuss where we are and so we'll work with your office on when to schedule that. Great. Um, so I appreciate that this started as a resolution

053and we weren't sure where it's going, but I think it's going to help, you know, tighten things up for our collaboration together and we're getting to the efficiency and effectiveness. Is there anything we didn't discuss that would be important before we tie up this conversation, please? >> I just want to appreciate the IAU for providing that report because that really did clear things up for me. So, thank you. >> Ditto for me. Um, yes. Sorry. Go ahead. Great. No, no, no. 30 minutes instead of 40. Love it. Thank you so much. Appreciate the time. >> Yes, I'm glad. I I just want to say that, you know, democracy overall is not streamlined and it's rarely convenient, but I think that it takes time. It takes dialogue and disagreement, but eventually we come to a shared

054um space where we, you know, we have like a happy medium. We can it's very inclusive. So, great. Thank you everyone for chiming in here. Um so, yeah. So now with that conclusion uh we will move on to our next presentation. Um so uh which is the which is what let me look at the agenda which is a budget fiscal stabilization plan update. So as uh the team comes forward I do just want to say a comment. Um I want to acknowledge that the materials for this agenda item was received and posted late. Um this is not a reflection on today's presenters. However, this is a pattern that unfortunately um it's not an isolated incident. It is becoming a pattern when board materials are delayed and not only for us the board members but also

055for the public. It compromises our ability to prepare, ask thoughtful questions and make informed decisions. It also weakens transparency and public trust. So many of us here on the days have raised this issue before. Uh but it has reached a point where it must be acknowledged once again. Um so I urge I highly urge the administration to treat this issue with urgency. um if the situation doesn't improve, if we continue to receive the these um items late, um I believe others will join me in taking struct stronger action because we need to address this. Um it's no longer acceptable. So because of insufficient time to review the materials, I'd like to ask a few uh clarifying questions before the throughout the presentation in addition to pausing at the end for broader board um discussion. So

056with that said, I'd like to invite Mr. San Bravo Karimi, chief financial officer, who's here on the podium for the budget and fiscal stabilization plan updates. So today's update will highlight the district physical out fiscal outlook and the process of our budgeting based on equity and need which is a resolution uh work um including [clears throat] feedback gathered from uh the community town halls across across every board district. So go ahead. >> Thank you. Oh >> I'll just jump in right quick and and I hear you um uh Dr. Revas um know that that the staff, you know, takes our our deadline seriously and making sure that the information is posted and communicated. Um um would ask just for an extension of some grace and and that the team has been collecting the community feedbacks

057and we had town halls as of last week as well and we wanted to make sure that that was you know incorporated into the presentation effectively. Um but know that you know our engagement is everything in terms of building that transparency and know that as we continue to provide budget updates to the board um we will make every effort to make sure that the materials provided earlier um we will make every effort to expand our engagement. We know that this budget process tied to the fiscal stabilization plan will require ongoing engagement. Um so I know we did engagement in the fall. Um, I expect that we will do another round in the springtime as we engage the community on a number of topics and continue to get that feedback to inform your all's decision for

058a June approval. >> Thank you. So, in this presentation, we're going to provide some brief updates on the state budget, state uh tax revenues and receipts. Uh we'll take a look at some fiscal projections through the 2728 school year and then we'll provide some updates on the town halls that have occurred across the district. And we'll have an opportunity to not only look at some of the major themes from the feedback that we received from the community uh but also an opportunity to discuss amongst the board uh key takeaways uh from those town halls as well as from the responses that were collected through the thought exchange tool. And then finally, we'll conclude with a summary of next steps um and some of the opportunities for additional engagement uh that Pedro just mentioned uh as

059well as additional meetings coming up with the board uh in November as well as early December where we'll continue uh discussions related to not just the fiscal stabilization plan but the the district's budget. So, first a quick update on the uh state's budget. So, folks may have seen uh reports from the legislative analyst office as well as elsewhere that monthly personal income tax revenues through September came in almost a billion dollars above the projections that were included in the state's budget, the state's enacted budget for the current school year. And so what that means uh at the highest level is that when the state adopted its budget for the current year for the current fiscal year uh it had a certain projected revenue for uh for the fiscal year and what it's showing what the

060LEO is showing is that the tax receipts so far up until the end of September are higher than what had be previously been projected. So this is unambiguously good news. Uh it's always good when revenues are higher than what had been projected and revenues in total, not just for income taxes are up by uh 13% compared to the prior year. So this is like I said, this is this is unambiguously good news. Um it's always a welcome news when uh tax receipts that the state collects are higher than what was previously projected. And it's really important for us because education funding relies very very heavily on state funding. While we receive funding from local sources and federal sources, the largest source of our funding comes from the state of California. However, there are other economic

061indicators that are less positive. Layoffs in California are now at their highest point since the pandemic. And long-term unemployment, which is unemployment that has extended for more than 27 weeks, is continuing to increase. And so there's some mixed news coming from uh economic indicators. And one reason for for that seeming discrepancy is so much of the higher tax revenues. The main contributor for why we're seeing higher than expected tax revenues at the state level is in the technology sector. And so due to substantial investments and employment in the artificial intelligence sector, we are seeing a very substantial amount of income tax collections from that that sector. And so to the extent that those that growth in that sector continues uh then we we hope that we'll see continued outperformance of the earlier projections. uh but

062to the extent we see um a slowdown in in artificial intelligence investments and in the technology sector then we will see a corresponding impact on our tax receipts. So while this is unambiguously good news, I do need to stress that this revenue is as compared to the forecast that the state provided when it adopted this year's budget. And that forecast already assumed that the state was facing very significant deficits. And so in the same LEO article where these revenues were being reported as above projections, what the LEO states is that revenue improvements are likely to translate to smaller deficits rather than new budget capacity. So this is just a direct quote from that same LEO article. And so the takeaway here is that because the state was already when it adopted this year's budget facing

063such substantial deficits at the state level, LAO's conclusion is that these extra revenues, these revenues that are above the forecasted revenues will likely go to making the deficit smaller and will not produce additional budget capacity. Now, we don't know for sure today. Um, we'll learn a lot more about the state's budget, about the governor's proposals for education funding when the January proposed budget is released. And so that's only a couple months from today. And so a lot more will um will be learned in January. But of course, we're going to continue to hope that this trend of revenues exceeding projections continues and that of course we hope that not only does it go to fill the deficit that the state was already facing, but that it does produce additional funding for California. But based on

064the LAO's conclusions, that does not seem the likeliest outcome. We're going to continue monitor developments and on the on the slide here you'll see some links to where the information from the LEO was uh collected. So next I want to show a multi-year projection and it includes some past years and this is general fund unrestricted. So at the town halls that have been conducted across the district, we looked at total general fund and the trend is similar. But for this presentation, I want to focus on general fund unrestricted because general fund unrestricted is where we are facing the fiscal challenge that needs to be addressed. The fiscal challenge that necessitated the adoption in June of a fiscal stabilization plan. So I want to draw your attention to what's you see there's FY25 that is fiscal

065year 25 which is last school year. The orange bars are expenditures what we spent and the blue bars are revenues what we brought in in income from all sources that come into general fund unrestricted. And what you'll see for last school year is that our expenditures or what we spent exceeded our revenues or what we brought in by $1.1 billion. So what that means is last school year which is already ended. So last school year in September we came with the unodudited actuals. Those are basically the beginning of the closing of the books for last school year. And we updated those numbers and we spent $1.1 billion more than we brought in. And so that spending beyond what our revenues provide for that money comes from somewhere. And where it comes from is from our

066reserves, from our savings account as we've been referring to it in our town halls. And so for many years before last year, the opposite happened. What was very typical was that we spent less than we brought in. We had a surplus. And that difference, the revenues beyond which we spent, built up our reserves. it built up our savings account. And so what we're seeing last school year, again, last school year is not a projection, it's what actually happened. That trend has shifted. And that trend where we're spending more than we bring in is projected to continue in every school year in the future. This school year, next school year, the following school year, and beyond. And so what you'll see there is for the current school year, there's already an assumption that we're going to

067spend less than last year. So you'll see the expenditures from 6.8 billion this year 6.5 billion. And even though we are projected to spend less than we did last year, we are still going to overspend by $1.3 billion. The following year overspend by $1.4 billion and the year after that $1.6 billion. And so this trend of spending more than we bring in is only possible when you have those reserves, when you have those savings accounts. And eventually if this trend continues, if there are no actions taken by the district to address this trend, what we'll see is that our reserves that savings account will not only be fully depleted, will not only be fully spent, but will go negative. And so what you see here is this is one of the slides that we did

068include in our town hall presentations that were expected in the general fund unrestricted for our unassigned ending balances to end this year at $1.4 billion. Next year at just a little bit more than zero at about $15 million and then by the end of the 2728 school year negative $1.6 billion. And this is what we were facing when uh the board adopted the budget in June. So this is just to demonstrate what happens when we spend more than we bring in each year and those reserves, those ending balances, that savings account is used to offset that difference. So we've faced this kind of trajectory before. Uh districts across the state, if not nationally, are facing a very similar trajectory. Uh the main drivers of that you're well aware of. We have declining enrollment like many

069large urban districts in the state. And we also had a very substantial influx of COVID relief funds that were used to pay for very important programs. And those funds have been fully expended. They're expired and we do not expect any additional funding of that type in the future. So it's important as always when we look at these projections to highlight the things that are not included and if they were included, they would change these numbers. So the first is any future changes in compensation, any future increased costs related to benefits, uh the potential reduction in federal funding, which of course we're paying very close attention to, or any changes in state funding. And so to the extent any of those things change, if our costs are higher than what's included, if our revenues are lower

070than what's included, you'll see those ending balances that are projected be even lower than what we're projecting. So next we want to provide an update. So we're going to have our next official update on this year's finances as well as the two additional school years after this year on December 16th when we ask the board to certify the first interim report. But we do want to provide some updates that take us from June to today. And so first you'll see at the top a table showing some it's a mix of things that have helped our ending balances and things that have hurt our ending balances. So as I mentioned in September we had an update on last year's finances unodudited actuals which are the beginning of the closing of last year's finances and there was

071in some $96 million of good news $96 million of higher balances at the end of last school year. And because our ending balances over this multi-year period, it's a running tally, they're cumulative ending balances, anything that increases balances last year or this year increases them by that same amount in every year in the multi-year projection. And so that was about $96 million of good news. Uh, additionally, after June, when the state enacted its budget, there was $118 million in discretionary block grant funds. This is a statewide program that all districts will receive and because it's discretionary, it can be used to address the financial challenges that we're facing. So those are two pieces of good news. On the on the bad news in terms of the fiscal impact, we had lower enrollment this year than

072what was projected back in June. Okay, so this year's enrollment was unfortunately lower than what had been projected in June. And so the estimated financial impact of that just over the three years you see here. Now the fiscal impact is going to extend beyond just the 2728 school year. But the fiscal impact just over the next three years of this year's enrollment being lower than projected is about $69 million. And if we are to assume that because this year's enrollment is lower than what was projected previously that next year's enrollment will be lower than what was previously projected. and that happens every year in the future then there will be additional impacts to lower enrollment in 26 27 27 28 and beyond. And so this is just providing some estimates of what the revenues lost

073would be if we also have lower enrollment than previously projected next year and beyond. And so you'll see over just this period of time between last school year and the end of the 2728 school year, you'll see in the bar graph below, the light blue showing where we were back in June, the green showing where we were as of September when unodited actuals were updated, and then the dark blue showing where we are now with the information that we're showing here. Now, at first interim, there will always be, as there always is, uh, additional updates to our finances. So, there will be updates that are helping our ending balances, updates that are hurting our ending balances, but based on things that we know of today, and things that we know are substantial in terms of

074the dollar value impact, things look just a little bit better by 2728 than they did in June by about $105 million. So, our projected negative ending balance and unassigned general fund from 1.6 down to about $1.49 almost $ 1.5 billion. So now using that updated my unofficial estimated my post basically where we are today based on all those pluses and minuses that I just shared. We also want to demonstrate the impact of one of the things that I said was not included. Okay. Okay. So, one of the things that is not included are the cost of any increases in compensation. And so, what you see here is the blue is where we just left off on the last slide, taking us to about 1.49 negative ending balance in 2728 and including the cost to the

075general fund unrestricted specifically. So only the cost of of what the salary increases that have already been offered as well as the assumption that all labor partners would receive the same level of salary increases as what has been offered. Okay. And again this is only showing the impact the cost related to those offered salary increases that impact general fund unrestricted specifically. And so, as you'll see, when we incorporate those costs, and again, assuming no other changes other than those that I've already described, we would then have a negative ending balance of about $2.1 billion by the end of the 2728 school year. And so, to the extent that compensation costs are even higher than what has been offered in what I'm showing here, then there will be a corresponding cost increase throughout this time period.

076and lower projected negative ending balances. But importantly, what this does not include are savings related to first the fiscal stabilization plan that was adopted by the board in June. Any other changes that may that may come to pass not only at first interim but also in January when the state first propos the governor first proposes the budget for next school year. um but also the cost of any other other uh programs that that may be uh implemented in the future. So that's just the context. Um a lot of that information was provided in the town halls, but some of this information is going to be new to uh the public and it's meant to provide the context for the next several slides that we're going to go over. And so back in June on June

07717th, the board adopted a resolution budgeting based on equity and need. Sorry. >> Of course. >> Just um I I just really quick before you move on to tunnels, I noticed that fund 17 and OPED was not included in these slides. >> That's right. >> Why why was it admitted? >> Just just to let us know for the public to also know they have that those funds there as well. >> Yeah. So, thank you for for adding that. So, what is not included here are what I mentioned none of the solutions related to none of the reductions or savings related to the fiscal stabilization plan. What's also not included are the funds that are in the special reserve, the fund 17, nor the funds that were freed up in June when the board uh when

078the district reduced the previously planned contributions towards retirey health benefits into the trust. Um so those are not included here. This is just to demonstrate before we add any of those solutions, before we add any of those additional uh reserves or funds that have been set aside, what the cost of just the compensation that's been offered, what that does to our ending balances. But there are solutions available to the district. Um the FSP among them, it was board approved back in June. Um and there are other solutions available. And so as we continue to have discussions at the board level uh next and we're going to cover this a little bit later in the presentation but of course there's a budget workshop on the 21st of November another committee of the whole on December 2nd

079where a lot of those different solutions are going to be discussed in more detail. Um, and of course any additional information that's available at that time with respect to additional costs that are not yet reflected will also be included as the board has a a broader discussion about the tradeoffs, the different options available to the district. Uh, today we're going to focus a lot on what we heard from the town halls, what you heard from the town halls, and how that information, how that feedback from the public might inform actions we'll take over the next several weeks and months. Oh, I understand that. I I see what But I think it's later when we do include them, then the numbers are going to look different. So, it's just kind of like it would be best

080just to include that in here because if we're going to discuss it later or it's going to come up later, it's just just good to because the numbers will change. So, I understand that. That's why I brought it up. It's >> appreciate it. Thank you. So the resolution uh there were several things uh in the resolution that the the team has been doing and and working on and one of the one of the items in the resolution was to conduct town halls in each board district and so far and we're going to provide an update on on those town halls and the feedback we've received. Uh there were other things included like presenting to today's cow and again we're presenting at the December cow and then of course there's as I mentioned on November 21st

081another budget workshop and there are other analysis and reports that are also being that will be provided uh to the board and the public as part of the June 17th resolution. But today we're going to focus on the town halls. Uh to date uh six of the seven town halls have been conducted with the the last town hall happening tomorrow. The town halls have been a mix depending on on board district preference. Uh some have been virtual, some have been hybrid, some have been in person. Uh but in all town halls, it given us an opportunity to prov to collect valuable feedback from our stakeholders. So attendees at the town halls included parents and and family members, a little bit more than half of the attendees, about a third were Lost staff members, uh about

0826% community members, and about 7% students. And so, um, while the majority of attendees were what I think what you would expect, a lot of family and and parents and guardians, there were also a good number of employees and other members of the community and even students that provided valuable feedback to the district. So, what was provided at the town halls? What was presented at the town halls? First, we shared information about the district's budget process and different opportunities for community input and engagement. We covered a lot on the fiscal outlook that the district's facing, the projected negative ending balances that I shared a few slides ago, and then we we provided uh detailed information about each of the strategies within the fiscal stabilization plan and what they meant. We collected feedback on three main

083questions. So there were three questions and we're going to go over in the next few slides those three questions and the the kinds of feedback we received from the from the public on each of these. The first was how can we make the district and school budget process more accessible and meaningful to you? Equity, student centered decision-m and valuing the workforce are board guiding principles. What do these principles mean to you? What resources and programs do you value at your school? And then third, what are your thoughts on the district's plan to address the deficit? So, as I mentioned before, we use thought exchange. It's a qualitative data analysis tool. Uh, it's used elsewhere in the district to collect valuable information and feedback from the public. And we collected information through the thought exchange. We

084have all of the responses that we received through the town halls and even after the town halls. Um, and allows us to summarize the responses in an objective manner. So I mentioned as I mentioned earlier that there's a breakdown of the how many of the uh respondents were parents as opposed to employees and members of the community and students. So on the three questions these are just word clouds. This is one of the functions one of the functionalities included in thought exchange and just give you an idea of some of the words that kept coming up uh in response to the three questions that we posed to the community during the town halls. So on question one again, how can the district how can we make the district and school budget process more accessible and

085meaningful to you? The major themes that came out of the responses we received were the first was to make the school budget process clear, easy to understand, open for community input. Uh another theme was to share important information through simple language and regular updates on how money is spent and where it goes. to clearly explain how funds are used, especially for teacher salaries, educational resources, and overall district spending, and to use technology to help everyone access information easily, provide bilingual options, and create chances for community feedback through surveys, workshops, and town hall meetings. And so, these are some of the major themes that came out of the responses that people provided to question number one. On the next slide, here are some direct quotes that came from question one. So these include things like wanting

086to be part of the budget development process, not just not just asked to vote on it once. It's all said and done. Schools can hold crossroll budget planning sessions where staff and different departments analyze data and code development spending priorities. So this is a an example of a direct quote that was submitted as part of question one. Again, you'll see a reference to you using plain language. Ensure that you gather feedback early before decisions are finalized. Use simple language. Make it a practice at school for principles to educate the community on the budget each month. That it's an ongoing dialogue, not just during budget development. And so again, these are I'm not going to read all of them, but these are some actual quotes that are representative of the many uh pieces of feedback we

087received on question one. So next we want uh to open it up for discussion and it's again question one was how can the district budget and school budget process be made more accessible and meaningful and we can answer these questions or discuss these questions uh together. So the first is most of the town halls have happened. Uh what did you hear at the town halls at your town halls on question one? And additionally, how might the budget development process be changed or enhanced based on the community input? And so again, this is based on what you heard, based on the information we've provided on the major themes and direct quotes. Um but we wanted to provide an opportunity for the board to discuss what they heard and and how it might inform changes in the

088budget process. Some of some of our board members are gone. So I don't know if Carla you want to go >> actually. >> Yeah. Actually I was I wanted to ask some questions about your finance slides. Uh not this. I thought we were going to have some time. So I'm going to go ahead and on um let's see here on slide um on slide the updates to LUSD fiscal outlook. I you were talking about the LAO um outlook. Is there an out did they did they report anything on Prop 98 outlook? Do they have >> So they provided updates on state revenue receipts as compared to what was forecasted in June, but did not provide any estimates if any for how it might as as far as I'm aware how it might impact education funding

089levels. Um they did mention in relation to whether it's going to just [clears throat] fill the deficit or provide additional budget capacity that quote that I that I mentioned that's on the slide that the improvements are likely to translate to smaller deficits rather than new budget capacity. >> Okay. Um then on slide six you are let's see here. Yeah. So here we're looking only at unassigned ending balances when we're talking about enrollment whereas in other slides we talk about um general unrestricted general fund. Why are why are we using unassigned ending balances here? >> These are our most unrestricted ending balances and so these are the ending balances that can be used for any educational purpose. Um it does correspond also to the general fund unrestricted graph we showed that showed revenues and expenditures and

090to the extent that we've had spending levels higher than the revenue levels. Um so what's not included here for example is the impact of lower enrollment on restricted revenues. Um so declining enrollment obviously impacts not only revenues on the unrestricted side. It does also have a negative impact on revenues in general fund restricted and and other sources of revenue. Um but because the fiscal challenge that we're facing is primarily in the general fund unrestricted is why we focus today and and in past presentations and almost always on general fund unrestricted. Um but but you're right to point out that there are impacts both good and and negative based on the trends that have happened since June elsewhere in the budget including the general fund restricted. >> So unassigned you're using unassigned and then general fund

091unrestricted. They're the same. >> They are so they are all general fund unrestricted. Yes. >> Unassigned. But are there are there two buckets? Unassigned unrestricted. >> Yeah. So that within within general fund unrestricted there are other balances such as assigned ending balances. And so the largest example of an assigned ending balance >> would be school carryovers. So an example of school carryovers are we don't include them in unassigned because based on past practice of the district when we've had carryover either at 100% or partial percentage on some of the major school allocations, the supplemental allocations that schools receive. um we don't include them in unassigned because they are kind of set aside specifically for for schools use in the future. And so that is a major example, the largest example of a balance that is

092within general fund unrestricted but is not based on past district policy and practice available to be used for any educational purpose because it's already been kind of earmarked for a specific purpose. Um >> that earmark is the one that we review every year, right? I just feel like when we only look at unassigned then the pool is super small. Right. If we were to add >> the assigned, which we are going to be having conversations about this year. >> That's right. >> Right. Then it would not look so dramatically low. That's what I'm And I just to me it it >> it's not a full picture. It just doesn't feel like a full picture when we don't show all of those potentials. and also the fact that we are going to have conversations on the

093assigned balances. It's not something that it's it's a given every year. So, I mean, if we could show >> if you don't want to lump them together for the reasons you just explained, but at least if we could show unassigned and the uh assigned unrestricted, right? That would be that would give us a a truer picture of what we're talking about. Thank you. So, um I would appreciate that especially for the public. >> I think it's important that um the public sees that. Um let me see here. Um and then on slide seven, >> there's this thing. It says with compensation offered and me too. What is Can you explain that to me? >> Yeah. So, this this me too. >> Yeah. So what it assumes is that whatever we've already offered in salary increases,

094the assumption would be that all labor partners to the extent they haven't been offered were were to receive the same level of salary increases at what as what has already been offered to to many. And so that is what's included here. The cost associated with offering every union the same as what has been offered to mo to many. Um but again only reflecting the cost of those salary increases that are within general fund unrestricted. So for example to the extent that there are salary increases in adult education, the cafeteria program, early childhood education, the restricted general fund, um those costs are not included here. They would be reflected in their respective funds. >> And like Dr. Dr. Ree said also fund 17 is not included in any of these, right? Which is um >> is

095is a pot of money that's that's sitting there for you know future. Um and but the me too not everybody gets the same though, right? Or >> Yeah. So the idea is the same increase >> it would be it's synced up with the school years that are still unsettled by unit by unit. So for example uh for those that have three years uh of you know agreements that are being contemplated then those would all have the cost attributable to three years for those that have two years it would be for those two years. So it's making some assumptions. Um and importantly what it's not including what's not included are any costs attributable to increases that are even higher than what's shown here. And so if uh for example the costs were to be higher than

096what has been currently offered then that would be uh is not included in this in this graph. >> All right, I'll pause for there right now. >> Yeah, I do think um well I appreciate that you were trying I think to show us maybe a snapshot like prefiscal stabilization plan what what was the direction that that our funds were trending in. Um because of course this conversation, the town halls all result from a conversation about really wanting to assess the fiscal stabilization plan and to what extent that affects our staff, our students and and particularly doing so from an an equity based standpoint. I do think it would be helpful to have a slightly fuller picture for the next version of this conversation. Um I don't know that there's a a dramatic difference in and

097where we end up after three years. like I I think that that uh that is still quite clear that that there's a lot of cause for concern. Um but I do think just to eliminate potential confusion, it would be helpful to do that. Um in terms of because there was a bit of a discussion about like the assigned balances versus the unassigned balances what is being held in in assignment if you could summarize. So the biggest is uh school carryover funds and so [snorts] funds the the largest examples of school carryover funds are in the student equity needs index or SENI and in the general fund school program. And so uh the funds that are carried over that accumulate over time uh that carry over that have carried over at the school level are the

098largest example of assigned ending balances. Um there are other assigned ending balances for specific projects uh that might be a multi-year project where funds are set aside for the implementation of uh of uh like cyber security for example um that are set aside. They're one-time funds but they're needed over multiple years. Uh committed funds, there are fewer of them than there were in the past. Uh but one example of a committed fund which is similar to an assigned balance. It's assigned but by board vote by board resolution are funds that had been set aside in June I believe related to funds set aside in the event that federal programs are reduced. Right. >> Um which which we're obviously closely monitoring. >> Okay. Yeah. And I think it's just helpful and and maybe we could get

099the full list when we reconvene. It's just, you know, I I don't want people to get the impression that these are funds that are uh not being used or are not impactful. For example, we know that schools utilize general school carryover to fund positions and and so like let's I think it's important for us not to um be misled that like these are dollars that just sit sit there and we could just go ahead and grab them and there would be no impact. I think similar for Senny, we know that schools use these for school site programs for additional staff. Um, so, uh, even if those were to be accounted for and if we released everything that was within those assignments, there would still still be school-based consequences and those would likely mean staff reductions

100and and when you're thinking about SENI more greatly impacting our highest need schools than than lower need schools, for example. Um, so I think that that's helpful just to have that full context and appreciate you being responsive to that feedback. Um on on slide six, uh just so it looks like the the impacts of lower enrollment this year and then the projections in future years like I'm totaling about $110 million or so lower over over three years. Is that is that about correct? And it's it's a compounding impact. >> That's exactly right. Um based on just what you see here, it is about $110 [snorts] million. But if you look at just the row for 2526 enrollment being lower, what's not shown is that we'll still be experiencing the negative impact of this year's enrollment

101being lower in 2829. So 2829 is not included in this graph. Right now the multi-year projection extends just through the 2728 school year, but the loss of revenue will actually last through 2829. the the revenue impact of enrollment being lower in 2627 will extend through 2930. And so each of these whenever enrollment is lower than we project in the in the current school year, the revenue impact extends for three additional school years just because of how the state funds the largest source of revenue that we receive which is local control funding formula or LCFF. So this is just showing to your point what is the impact through 2728 and these again are just estimates assuming that enrollment is not only lower this year which we already know it is but also lower than previous projections

102next year the year after and so on. And so we'll have our updated projections for next school year soon. I think it's safe to assume that it most likely based on this year's enrollment will be lower than previous projections for next school year. But we don't have those updated projections just yet. >> Yes, that makes sense. Um, well, I think and and obviously it's great news from the LAO's office that revenues are higher. I mean, there's a lot of pressures on the state with impending Medicaid reductions with um the need for food assistance at this time for families and we know that there's many other state programs that were cut this last year. Um, so I think they're going to be facing a lot of competing important priorities, but I certainly think like maybe there's

103a window to appeal for um some relief around enrollment declines, which I think are I don't want to say directly caused, but like seem largely caused by um by the ICE rates and the direct attacks on our immigrant families. And we know that they're impacting districts like ours to a much greater extent than other parts of the state. Um, so I would hope that that's something that we plan to advocate for. And then just one, um, I appreciate the readout in terms of the feedback that was shared. Um, one of the comments noted that, um, that there are not materials available in other languages, only verbal interpretations. Um, is that is that correct? And if so, can we can we do something about that, please? >> Yeah. So the the presentations that were shared during

104the town halls were the slides were in both English and Spanish. Um, we did include for the benefit of the attendees, instead of having a separate for most of the tunnels, instead of having a separate slideshow that was in Spanish and one that was in English, we did put both English and Spanish on the same slides so that folks that were receiving translation in Spanish simultaneously during the town halls would still be able to look at the slides on the screen or in the room and see what's being shared on the slide. And then of course also receiving uh translation verbal translation in Spanish and uh for sign language. >> Got it. Okay. Um and and I think that makes sense just to uh technologically make it a little bit more simple. I I hope

105that as um you know I think what we heard from these comments is a desire for an ongoing dialogue and to get feedback throughout the process not after a plan has been approved which I strongly agree with. I think like maybe we went back in time and did this last year, the timing would have been um a little bit more appropriate to ensure stakeholders have a chance to weigh in before the vote board votes on a plan. That being said, moving forward, I hope that we can we can provide um dedicated written materials um ideally not just in Spanish, but also in the major languages spoken by our communities. You know, I would advocate for Armenian and Korean. Um the languages that we know that comprise the the largest language groups within our district. Thank

106you. Thank you. Uh >> you can go ahead and continue. I know we left off on um slide 14. So we'll go and then we'll come back to ask further questions on the entire presentation. So >> thank you. >> So we left off on 14. >> Great. Thank you so much. So the question was question one that we asked the community and we provided in the previous slides some major themes and direct direct quotes that we received through the thought exchange. So what did you hear at your town halls on question one? How might the budget development process be changed based on the community input that you either heard or that you've seen in these slides or in in uh the responses that you've seen uh to question one? >> I think we can go

107yeah we we'll come back to that. >> All right. So question two was that um you know based on the go the guiding principles what do the principles mean to you? What resources and programs do you evaluate your school? So some major themes were respondents shared a variety of opinions regarding the guiding principles. Overall they described equity as providing necessary resources to students who require the most assistance and recognizing the efforts of educators. In terms of resources, some respondents highlighted the need for smaller class sizes, higher teacher salaries, and programs that cater to diverse student needs such as tutoring and after school activities. Also emphasized were the importance of better facilities, equitable distribution of resources, and increased student accountability. And there was a consensus among respondents that various enrichment programs including sports, arts, mental health

108services are essential for student development and [snorts] engagement. And so on slide 16, you'll just see some direct quotes. Again, the last slide, we were giving you the major themes that were summarizing the different feedback that we received. And here are some examples of direct quotes that were collected at as part of the the thought exchange. So here again, you'll see direct quotes that really speak a lot to equity and the need for resources to be allocated based on on the needs of our students. So on this question, what what did you hear on question two in in the town halls and how might the district prioritize programs and resources based on the community input that that was heard through the town halls and thought exchange? Okay. >> Okay. Fair enough. And then we'll skip

109the discussion. So on on question three was what are your thoughts on the district's plan to address the deficit? Major themes were that respondents provided of course as always a diverse range of opinions. Many expressed concerns about cuts affecting teachers, students, and essential programs, urging for retention of resources directly benefiting students. Respondents suggested reducing administrative costs, cutting external contracts, improving transparency about allocations, and more community involvement in the decision-making. And they called for prioritizing equity and safeguarding highnee schools. Respondents also recognized that the complexity of the financial challenges with some voicing a lack of clarity or understanding about the plan's specifics. And so again, here are just some direct quotes, but they were summarized previously on the major themes on what we heard. heard you heard a lot of concern about the impact of cuts

110on students, on schools, um and the need to to keep that first and foremost in our minds as we move forward. All right. So finally in summary of course we we uh very much appreciate the feedback that we received the thoughtful input that we received during the town halls since the town halls through the thought exchange and this is just kind of we obviously we we looked at the feedback too and obviously I know that the board was very interested in knowing what the community feedback was and that feedback was going to inform decisions and priorities but it also helps to inform actions that we as staff might take moving forward and so some examples of that especially in response to the feedback we got about the budget process and how folks might be better

111engaged throughout the process. So, some things that that we're going to work to do to improve in our processes in the tools that we provide the public are a better understanding of school budgets. So, there were a lot of questions about discretionary resources at the school level as opposed to kind of allocated or norm based resources. Also want a better to provide a better understanding of how the district can have both reserves and projected a future deficit. So we got questions about how is it possible that we have these reserves today but we won't have them in the future. So that was a question that we definitely want to continue to explain what causes that. And then finally clarifying how those reserves are already planned to be used for critical school resources in the future.

112And so the third point is is certainly related to the second point, but based on some of the feedback and questions and and need for clarification that we received during the town halls and through reading the responses to the thought exchange, these are some of the things that we as staff know we're going to continue to work on to not only improve clarity around the budget, clarity around impact of changes that might be making be being made um as well as the process and the level of engagement that we have uh available to the community. So, additional opportunities for engagement that have already been scheduled. So, tomorrow, November 5th, there's LCAP community partner engagement where we're going to provide a lot of the same information that we've provided in the town halls. Also, November 14th,

113there's going to be a joint pack, DAC, and CAC meeting where we'll be be able to engage with those very important parent groups and community groups. And then finally, as I mentioned a few times throughout the presentation, we are coming back on the 21st for a budget workshop. I've already received today some helpful feedback on what might be included in that presentation to provide more clarity for the public on different reserve levels, the use of fund 17 and other available resources that will pro help provide more clarity. Then another committee of the whole on December 2nd and as I mentioned first interim also right around the corner December 16th where there'll be a regular meeting of the board to consider the certification of first interim. So a lot of opportunities for discussion. We've done a

114lot of community engagement already through the town halls. There's a lot of additional opportunities for the public to engage throughout the process. And of course, what you see here, additional opportunities for the board in the coming weeks to also continue to discuss uh the fiscal stabilization plan and the district's fiscal outlook. >> Thank you very much. Now, I will open it up to other board members. Well, all of us, but um for to start with those who haven't asked any questions yet. Mr. Schmson, go ahead. You know, San, we have a very nice TV station at the district and I think it would benefit you and other people because you explain things so well. You do you and others who would be able to do a program for parents directed to parents, not directed to

115budget people, but directed to parents explaining the budget and how it works and being able to make this available to parents in parentfriendly language. And I think it would be a marvelous idea to do. We have a station. Let's use it. Let's use it. That's my uh opinion. Thank you. Thank you. I I would also add adding it to our website. I think it's our website gets a lot of traction and views. So, I think it would be good to also included and our website and also KLCS. So, I agree. Anyone else? Oh, Mr. Shlet. >> Yes. Um, thank you for um giving us this update. Um, had a few questions. one and you may have mentioned it while I was at the restroom but um the actual amounts that we received from the state

116was that in the presentation >> we did cover general fund unrestricted and the revenues that were received in the past three years as well as what's projected into the future >> and then the actual formula for allocations per school. How do how do we know that? Where's that information? >> So, the print the the biggest allocations or resources that schools received are based on enrollment. So, classroom teachers, uh administrators, clerical staff, counseling, um custodians, um cafeteria workers. So, there are different formulas typically for for those different resources that are allocated to schools. um information about those allocations are on the district's website. So on the school fiscal services website, there are several bulletins that describe in some detail how those resources are are allocated. And so it'll show based on different school types in elementary,

117middle, high school, um how the allocation for classroom teachers, for example, is determined based on enrollment. Additionally, there are discretionary allocations on on top of those student equity needs index or SENI being uh an example of those supplemental allocations that are in addition to those teachers and counselors and administrators that I mentioned. Uh information about those allocations also is on the school fiscal services website. Information can be found on the individual school allocations and the rankings etc. that allocation is based on different student characteristics, uh, different school characteristics. And so unlike the core norm allocations that are principally based on enrollment, um the student equity needs index is using a formula where different student and school characteristics are taken into account so that the schools that through that formula that receive that are the highest

118ranked or have the most need receive more funding per unduplicated student. So, those are just two major examples. There are other programs that are also allocated to schools that are important resources like the Black Student Achievement Plan, BSAP. There are restricted funds like Title One that also get allocated to schools. So, those are just some major examples of the the big allocations that schools receive that are used for the very important programs that we provide our students. >> Got it. And just I mean to Scott's point when when that uh show on on our TV station comes comes true um to be able to explain where these documents are so that parents [clears throat] um to one of the takeaways just being able in plain language understand because oftent times it's not real clear and

119as you were explaining to go to the bulletin to find the link to find the it has to be a little more succinct so folks can get it so that um and then I know we're projecting obviously attrition in enrollment but is there any trend that because now we're gone full-blown with TK that there is some improvement in enrollment. >> So the growth of TK has made the enrollment decline less severe. So it certainly has had a positive impact. The growth of TK has not been enough for us to experience flat or growing enrollment when you look at all grade levels together, but it's certainly had a a benefit. So, were it not for transitional kindergarten or the expansion of transitional kindergarten, then our decline in enrollment would have been more substantial even than what

120we've experienced. And um I just wanted to reiterate I think um Kelly mentioned just that when speaking about the budget at school sites often and as we're projecting here three years out I think schools tend to do the same thing three years out um although the carryover has been you know obviously off the table however we're going to figure that part out. But to keep that in mind because I think leaders of their campus is thinking the same way how the district is thinking, right? They weren't able to fulfill a position. Now they're going to figure out a program that will provide the same information for that position. Um so as we do this I think keeping that in mind or even educating our families to understand that because to you know take away carryover

121which has been a practice which you know to some degree we're saying you know spend the dollars on our students today but again here we are we're looking at a projection we're looking at multi-year and I think our leaders at campus sites have been doing the same thing like we're looking at projection we're looking at how we're able to you know meet the needs of these students without having that said, you know, if TE fulfilled, but we know that we want to get this program in. So, I think just making sure that all of that is spelled out so that we all are at the table with the same information. >> Thank you. >> Thanks so much. I just wanted to thank you for your flexibility with the board district 7 town hall. I like

122to do things a little bit different. So, we definitely did the baseline, but we also incorporated, I mean, probably about 30 minutes for some really hard questions. And so, I just wanted to share with my colleagues and and we're happy to, you know, share with you all directly. Um, but I told them, you know, in 20121, um, when we got all the ESR dollars coming in, we voted to grow our budget by 6,000 positions. And so, I fully anticipated us needing to reduce our district by those six same 6,000 positions, right? So, I gave them that cold like personal experience. That was really tough. And then I gave him a series of questions and I said, "You're not going to like any of these and these are not currently contemplated, but I think districts around

123the country are looking at them and whether it's this year or in the future, like we should talk about what do those, you know, reductions in force look like." And so, would you rather lose teachers or lose counselors? And I gave them polls to do this. And some of them were like, "We're not going to answer these questions, but like this is what we have to do." I said, "Would you rather increase class sizes or lay off teachers?" I asked them, would you rather have people pay into their healthcare or freeze their salaries? Would you rather um what did I ask them? Cut the school year short, which we can't do now, though we did after the great recession, right? We asked the state for some help with that. Um or would you rather close

124schools? And you know, it was really interesting to hear directly from people these hard choices. And some of them were like, why are you telling us to do these things? This is too hard to do. It's exactly what we're going to have to do in a couple of weeks because these dollars will translate to people and positions who are going to be um [clears throat] you know exited from our district in some way or another whether it's through early incentives for retirement which is something we also did in the Great Recession. And so that came up a lot in in my conversations and I I know we haven't explicitly talked about that but the idea of encouraging folks to retire a little bit earlier so we could spend a little less on on salaries for

125folks at the upper end of the scale. A lot of our community asked about just revenue generation. If we'd be willing to take on a tax, I know Measure E was very hopeful but sad years ago and and parcel taxes right now are difficult, but what about a millionaire's tax or something else? Could we consider? Um they asked about renting space for all of our facilities, like are we making any money off of that? Could we be doing more off of that? And then of course, you know, advocacy at the statewide uh level on just the way we're funded generally rather than um uh attendance, looking at enrollment, which I know our district has been trying for some time. So, you know, I just wanted to let my colleagues know that um people appreciated being

126asked those hard and impossible questions. And it's not like we're actually going to tell them, do you want to close this school or do you want to lay off this teacher? Like we're not putting the specific choices in front of them, but just the concepts of like we will have to consolidate our footprint. We've talked about that at some point, right? We will have to let people go at some point. Um and being very real with people I I think was um hard but helpful. And so I wanted to thank you for, you know, being a part of that. Um, but just on the last piece about revenue generation, I feel like that's something we haven't really talked about. Like what is the team contemplating there? >> Well, I mean, we always advocate at the

127state and federal level for for more funding. So, you mentioned that as one of the strategies, and of course, that's something that the district has always done and will continue to do. Um obviously there are strategies in place to try to address the loss of enrollment uh to promote our schools and our programs so that we capture more families. Um there are still fewer people in the district, fewer child uh school age children, but um but those strategies are still important to try to attract as many students within our boundaries as possible. So those are just some examples of things that have been happening over the last several years that are going to continue um in other revenue generating with the those are just a couple examples I think of >> I think historically that

128you know when confronted with these choices you know we will always take a very hard stance on advocacy in Sacramento whether it's you know looking at LCFF and I know there's a lot of conversations today you know given that there's been such a significant turnover on legislative members I don't exactly remember why we implemented LCFF and then the intent was to implement a formula that serves our neediest students. Um, and so I think there's definitely conversations about a duplicated account effort for foster homeless youth and looking at revamping the formula in a way that would benefit the district. The enrollment versus ADA conversation is one that's very real, especially in the context of um, I would say heightened numbers around chronic absenteeism. Um and so I I think there's there's conversations whether we can bank

129that as a solution for our immediate needs. Um we have to look within first. Um I think in the broader is really thinking about how do we coalition build so that we have a collective unified effort um with all stakeholders you know calling for those broader financial reforms that would benefit the district. um when it comes to just a local revenue and the parcel tax approach um you know it's not something that we've considered um in the immediate um it's something it's a tool that's been available to us but there's also an opportunity to think about modifying the threshold for ala or school-based parcel taxes currently it's 2/3 a bond initiative is at 55% so there's different avenues of getting to a potential solution set there or expanding our ability uh to to tax on

130a broader scale. So right now we're limited to property tax. Um what avenues might alas have in the future through legislative or constitutional amendment that would allow us to tax on services or or goods um that would create a local revenue source. Um those are all options, ideas, concepts to put on the table. I would say in the immediate our solution set that we've put for consideration is one that is an internal one. Um I think you spoke about um a lot of the drivers as to why our deficit exists and it is partly we've grown significantly from a FTE count when we've seen a significant decline in students that we serve today. And so that's the area where you know we need to do we need to have that hard conversation is it you

131know sustaining a particular set of investments that we know our students need and sustaining those resources at school sites at the cost of central office reductions uh modifying contract values that the district currently has executed on. Those are things that we're definitely going to be exhausting as part of the fiscal stabilization plan. But at a certain point that'll be just one step. We have to have a broader conversation about what are those other alternatives and revenues is is one of them. It's just not going to solve the broader challenges that we have. >> I appreciate that and I think reminding our community of the structural deficit and that uh image you showed with declining enrollment during the town halls I think helped visualize for folks too because they saw this alongside the student enrollment going

132down. I don't think we had that in today's slides, but that's a helpful visual because the other thing I asked them during Simon's presentation was, "Do you understand why we're in a deficit and why we need a fiscal stabilization plan?" We were at about 75% on both of those. So, you know, it takes time to really wrap your head around this. Um, and so I appreciate, you know, having the hard conversations with our community. And we definitely heard, you know, cut further away from schools. And yet, we also need to remind our communities because of union bargaining rights, there will be bumping, right? folks who've been here longer from central office can bump back to school sites, can bump back to classrooms. And so I also want to remind us of the Reed lawsuit from

133years ago. We don't want to have the same sort of inequitable layoffs that we had back in 2009 2010 where some of our schools lost 40 50% of their staff because they were newer folks, right? So we're we're playing with all these um not playing but we're we're um grappling with all these tensions. And so I I just want to um you know thank the budget team but also remind our community that these things are in real tension for us to be equitable for students and equal and and fair for staff is not the the same thing. Sometimes they actually are butting heads against each other. And so that is what this board will have to contemplate you know with any adjustments to the fiscal stabilization plan and going forward with labor negotiations right now.

134Um, so just want to appreciate our community for giving us your real thoughts on this because these are people's lives, both our students and our staff. Um, and we have avenues potentially to to grow um in ways that maybe we haven't talked enough about yet, like revenue generation. Not that it's going to solve everything, but I appreciate the creative solutions and and continue to welcome them from our community. Thanks. >> That's fine. And if it's a response to that, you're happy to. >> No. >> Okay, >> I'll continue. >> Um, thank you. You know, this is definitely a more robust, I think, series of conversations. So, thanks to the board as well, um, around our budget and, uh, I know we've always talked about trying to do this in October. Um, so that's can be

135meaningful for next year's budget. It's early November, so I'll consider it a win, at least a partial win. Um, my colleagues asked similar questions to mine and hit on comments. I I'll think I'll say that related to question one in the town hall, one of the things that that I also heard in ours that I pointed out many times is when we use different buckets of numbers in different places and presentations, even if there is a logic to it, it definitely makes it look like a kind of um hidden ball trick or like we're trying to tell a narrative by well, if we want a dire projection, we're only showing that fund. And so I do think it behooves us to put us all put it all there. I know that like general fund is

136more is less restrictive than certain assigned or restrictive funds, but I think it helps us to put it all together. Um, and I think on slides four to seven in this presentation, it only shows the general fund unrestricted. And so one of my questions was why you you address that, but I think that would be helpful. It also because when you look at slide four for example, you know, and this goes to this narrative which I think is one of the challenges that we're all seeing in these town halls about the narrative and one of those is um you talk about deficit spending but in 23 and 24 your revenue increases you know are higher than your expenditures. Um and also we also heard well how you don't have a real deficit because you have

137a reserve. So I guess my two questions and that was more on questions two and three of the town hall but for you related to this slide and I know we've talked about it before but I think given this narrative it's important um we say both that we have a def that we are in deficit spending um and that we have a reserve. So when someone looks at those first two years and says well revenues are higher than expenditures and how can you have a deficit if you have reserve why aren't you using the reserve? Which is also something we heard a lot in our town hall. How do we respond? So, a an operating deficit is refers to within a 12-month period, within a school year, we spent more than we brought in. Our

138expenditures exceeded our revenues during that 12-month period. So, we have an operating deficit in a year whenever, and this can be true in any fund, not just general fund unrestricted or general fund restricted, it can happen in the cafeteria fund elsewhere. And so that is an operating deficit within a school year, within a fiscal year, within a 12-month period. And the re the way you can have both that and a reserve is you actually you can only spend more than you have brought in. If you have reserves, if we started the year with zero reserves and then we spent more than we brought in, we would have ended the year with an overdrawn bank account, with a negative ending balance. And we're not as school districts, you're not allowed to to to do that in

139the current school year. And so were that to happen then, you know, we'd be hearing from the county and the state about our our fiscal condition. So the only way we can deficit spend, the only way we can spend more in a 12-month period than we've brought in is if you have those reserves. And as you pointed out, in the past several years, we have grown those reserves. We've had years where the revenues were higher than the expenditures. And so those reserves don't just disappear. They're available to be used in the future as they were last school year as they're expected to be used again this school year until eventually they're fully spent. And so the example of like a household budget would be you have a savings account. you have money saved up over

140a long period of time, let's say, and then for whatever reason you have a year where your expenses are higher than your income, you know, your rent, your gas, your car, your utilities, those expenses, you add them all together and you spent more than you earned an income in that year. You can only do that if you have that savings account. And if you don't have those savings, then your account's going to be overdrawn and then you're going to hear from from your bank. And so I don't mean to trivialize by by providing that household example, but it works very it works very very similar. I mean that the concept is similar. So that's how you have reserves and a deficit. The deficit will lower your reserves. Every year you have that operating deficit. Your

141reserves will go down. Eventually they'll be zero and eventually [clears throat] they'll go negative. if action isn't taken by by districts. >> But in FY23 and just for the public, our fiscal year is our school year, give or take. >> Yes. >> Right. Because I think federal fiscal year start October and there's other fiscal years that start that are calendar year. But I think because sometimes we talk call about school year and others we call it fiscal year and obviously >> it's July. Yeah. >> Um >> we mean the same thing. It's July 1 to June 30th. But in fiscal years 23 and 24, looking at just that chart, we were not in a deficit >> in general fund unrestricted, that's right, we had more revenues and expenditures which went into our savings account into

142our reserves, >> right? Which we're now using or projected to use in the out years. >> That's exactly right. >> So when people said in our town hall, why aren't we using our reserves? The answer is we are >> correct. >> And what are we using them for? >> To maintain current program levels. And so those current program levels, those current spending levels are sustainable as long as those reserves are around, which they're projected to not be around. They're projected to be fully spent and then go negative. And so this is the whole reason why the county and the state ask districts require districts to project their finances not just for the current school year, but for two additional years. They want to to be able, the county and the districts be able, the county

143and the districts themselves need to be able to see what things look like if uh at existing levels of programming and resources so that there's a early warning system, an early warning projection that tells us a school district, not just LUSD, any districts and most districts are facing the exact same circumstances we are that there's a problem either next year or in the following year if actions aren't taken by the district. They want aren't taken by the district. And the reason why we have these projections, and you might say, hey, a few years ago when 2526 was the last year in a three-year projection. It was the last year in a three-year projection. It was three years before this year, you were projecting a negative ending balance. But hug, lo and behold, it's 25 26

144and there is no negative ending balance. Yeah. The district takes action necessary to avoid that negative ending balance happening in the current school year. We look at the projection, we see the warning signs, we take action. So that is the main reason why historically when we face a negative ending balance, an overdrawn bank account balance in the future and it doesn't come to pass is because districts take the necessary action. Of course, also the S3 years were were unique. We got an inflow of revenues >> and that I think is important because I think you're talking the broader scale but if you're looking at or the broader timeline but if you're looking at 23 and 24 those years in general fund unrestricted we did not have a deficit. >> Correct. >> Right. And I and

145I think we should just own that like this is broader. We had positive ending. That's right. >> And there are reasons for that. That's right. Underspends and a lot mostly esser >> huge influx of federal co funds really record levels of even state funding levels. >> Right. Um but but we didn't have a deficit. And then to the question of well how do you have a deficit with a reserve? We are using the reserves to like you said keep that ending balance. Now if someone's rebuttal to that was well I mean use the reserves now use the reserves for increases in salary then what happens to the so because that I think to like we definitely heard comments in the hall about you can't have a deficit if you have a reserve you just so

146what we just articulated is there were two years with at least for general fund unrestricted we did not have a deficit and we put that extra money in in a reserve >> that's right >> and then now we say okay so we use the reserve we are using the reserve and then if they come back and say well use it now use it faster >> we could but then this changes this projection >> so if we were to use it faster and one way we would use it faster is would be to delay actions related to this projected negative ending balance to this projected overdrawn bank account if we were to delay those actions and instead rely even more heavily on the reserves that we have left in the short term, what we would project

147in those final years of this multi-year projection is a substantially larger overdrawn bank account, a substantially larger negative ending balance. And what that would require once we get closer to that year is much more severe and disruptive reductions between one school year and the next if we take the approach that was contemplated in the June fiscal stabilization plan, which is to make substantial reductions that, you know, will be felt. Don't get me wrong, there are there's substantial reductions contemplated, but making them with enough time is going to minimize the drastic impact on students that would be uh necessary if we used all of the reserved, if we delayed action for the future. If we use those reserves all now, then the amount of reductions that we would need to implement would be much larger, much

148faster. So, few other remaining questions. one and I know you addressed this earlier. I think it's a bit I don't want to say misleading because that implies some intent. It's confusing to not have the fiscal stabilization plan included in this because the board did adopt it which does change the the picture and so I don't want to this idea of why are you showing certain things like I don't want the public to think we are painting a d more dire picture because the board has already approved actions to improve it even if we're talking about amendments to that or >> that's that's exactly right. So when we covered this slide, we I did, you know, it was important that we stress that the fiscal stabilization plan savings, whatever they turn out to be, are not

149included here. And board members also rightfully pointed out that what's not included here are the fund 17 balances. And so when as we have additional opportunities to engage with the board and the public, next being the budget workshop on November 21st, we'll certainly provide a more comprehensive look at updates to the FSP, uh, additional options for reductions outside of the FSP, uh, so that we can have a more fullome conversation. Then >> the other thing we heard in the town hall is why isn't the district, you know, why did you let it get this bad? Why aren't you already making like cuts and downsizing the central budget and all that? And we have. Yes. Um and so can you articulate a little bit and maybe part of this we can have in the upcoming conversations

150but what are the cuts that have already been made um you know in the last few years to kind of prepare us for less pain in >> so there yes there have been substantial reductions throughout the last couple years because we knew even when we first got esser funds that they were one time and that we were not going to get any more and so we already had started scaling down some of the investments that were funded with not all of Not all of them. Some of those programs continue and remain, but some are half the size as they used to be. Some were eliminated completely. So that's one example is a lot of the different programs and positions and and resources that were provided with those ESSER funds have been reduced but not eliminated.

151There were also in substantial allocations that were provided to schools like the staffing equity grant that was eliminated over the last few years. There were the consolidation of local districts into four regions that eliminated the total number of positions very substantially. There were the substantial closure of positions in the central office, reductions in non-position spending at the central office. And so there have been substantial reductions, strategies that have allowed us to keep things going the way they have over the last few years. But it's not the case that we've not acted up until today. we have acted. And the fact that in spite of those reductions that we've seen incredible growth in student learning and student outcomes to me gives me great comfort and pride. Um and that while we're still facing a very challenging

152fiscal outlook, um you know, we're confident that those gains for our students will continue. >> And carryover sweeping was another strategy the district. >> Yeah, that's Thank you. There's another example. So certain programs that carry over went from 100% carryover to partial carryover. And so those are just several of the examples and I appreciate you bringing up the the carryover example of things that have already happened that helped address the financial challenges we've been facing. >> And one thing too just because it's come up a few times today with the Esser um staffing investments. And at the time we did flag and I've said this many times the difficulty and challenge of using one-time money for ongoing costs. But the asterisk is that I will say that in all the districts communications that are celebrating

153the uh gains in student achievement over the last few years on that list is a lot of those investments that were made around tutoring. And so it is I mean we we talked a lot at this day about for the first time at least in years we felt like we were adequately funded during co now or getting close to adequacy. It was onetime funding which was difficult and now we're having to look at the consequences of that. But just so we're not talking out of both sides of our mouths, we're up here saying, "How did the district do all that?" Those of us who are here ask the same question, but then we're also saying, "Well, look what all the district did and look at this achievement in ESPback." So, uh, there is definitely, I

154wouldn't even say a correlation, I would say a causation. Um, one or two more questions. The other thing that I know we hear a lot here and in our town hall was around these outside contracts and consultants and, um, you know, it's a few hundred million um, and I don't know that we've had it in a public setting. the accounting. My understanding is that many of these are missionritical like non-public school special ed providers via um but I get when you're saying well why aren't we hiring our internal staff and what the contracting so maybe again on the 21st we can have that breakdown of that bucket because it's definitely been advoc asked for and I don't know if it's been explicitly shown what all those outside contractors are. Um my final two points, you

155know, one is a was a suggestion and question and the other is a question. You know, I know again and I I think our labor partners, some of whom are here right now, are doing their own budgetary analysis. Um and state partners are as well. And I I really appreciate that and I've met with them about their budget assumptions and sometimes they're different than ours. And sometimes that's because of the assumptions, sometimes that's because of the way we we uh project things like fund 17. And I would just hope that as part of this process, we're meeting with those folks. Um and uh and in public settings too to kind of look at what's underlying those assumptions and because one of the things I said in the introductory remarks for my town hall was, you

156know, we can dis disagree on the opinions, but we really should try to have the same facts. You know, so we should be talking about hund00 million and then figure out do we want to reduce class size or increase salary or but if one side's saying hundred million, the other saying a billion, we're never going to get there. So I would encourage more of that and I appreciate the labor partners who are are tuning in who are doing their analysis and publishing blog posts and and having the conversation. I've always been a fan obviously of that transparency and think we we should have nothing to hide. So that's a comment. And then you mentioned a little on slide three the projected revenue and gross receipts but also the LAO's analysis that some of that's going

157to go to deficit. Can you just for us articulate the Prop 98 guarantee and what discretion does the state actually have to not give us money that's coming in as part of the uh those increased revenue projections? >> Sure. So as you know as as we know the education funding formulas are are very complex. Uh the Prop 98 guarantee is uh the funding guarantee for education both is found in the constitution as well as in edode. And given the state's fiscal challenges, um there have been certain maneuvers that the state has used and could use in the future that would impact the ultimate level of funding that school districts in LA Unified receive in the future. And so it's a little hard to predict uh what exactly funding levels will be based on the revenues

158being higher than projected based on the reports from the LAO and from the department of finance. Um as I mentioned earlier, the the earliest indication of how things might look is going to be in January when the governor releases the governor's proposed budget. Um but basically the there's a by law in the state of California there's a guaranteed level of funding for education and there are different tests and formulas that can be used based on different factors um and those determine the basically the total pot of funding that the state must allocate to education in any given year. In addition to that there are individual allocations like the local control funding formula that have their own formulas for how districts get funded. So LCFF is one is an example where we get funding for every

159student. We get funding for unduplicated student. Those are our students that are either uh socioeconomically disadvantaged, low income or um English limited English proficiency, English learners or foster youth. And then we also get funding when we have a high concentration of those students of greater than 55%. So there's kind of formulas on formulas on formulas, but basically there's a certain level of funding in the state's budget that must go to education. But what I hear you saying is that to the public when their understanding to the extent any of us pay you know have an understanding of the state budget the Prop 98 guarantee is roughly 40% of gross receipts go to or general fund goes to education. You're saying that it's not if we see a increase billion dollars in tax revenue, it's not

160fair to say 400 million is going to come to schools because there are tricks really or ways that they can defer the guarantee or do do other things. >> So that and and then Pedro can chime in. He's very knowledgeable about this u about the Prop 98 guarantee. But the first response to will this LAO this update of revenue produce 400 million from LAD? versus the revenue that's been collected has been higher than what the last forecast was. Okay, higher than the last forecast. The last forecast was the state was not going to have sufficient funding to cover its cost. There was a deficit at the state level. So that's the first response that I would provide is while it's welcome news. I think I said earlier this is unambiguously good news. is like this

161is good news, but it doesn't necessarily follow that it's going to mean $400 million more for LA USD, $1 more for LUD. We don't know. We don't know yet. I hope it means that, but we don't know yet. >> I think we have to acknowledge that the states also deficit spending and they also are trying to address their own deficit. So any new revenue is primarily going to go to pay that down over a multi-year um projection. I think when you look at Prop 98 really comes down to what test uh they define and there's three tests. One is the 40% revenue. The other one is driven by per capita income that's calculated and if there is a change in that per capita um personal income that usually will put you into test two and

162test three looks at prior year versus current year growth in expenditures and spending. Um so it'll really come down to how the department of finance wants to look at uh the definition of what is the driver around the growth in in uh general fund availability at the state level. And so I said that right now we're kind of shooting in the dark in terms of what they'll determine. But we will see at the end of November is a LAOO report that's usually published for K12 um spending and and forecasts and they'll put out an initial analysis. Um but I think this is where you know we collectively will we'll wait and see what January has you know the January proposal will bring forward um from the governor's budget proposal. That's why we have second interim

163and where we will update um our budget based off of um the projections that the state publishes. Um the other thing that we will track closely is is cola um and what has been published today versus what will be um presented in January. >> Uh thank you. >> So essentially all of this will change depending on all of that. So there's a lot of unknowns. So we're talking about something that come January or you know it's going to look totally different particularly maybe receiving a block grant. So that graph that you have can have a block grant and that can change. So there's a lot of unknowns and there's a lot of assumptions that we're basing our discussions but with that said I know that Carla and then Scott and then and then Kelly and

164so we'll go. So I have Carla Scott and Kelly. All right. Thank you. Um, you know, I'm trying to breathe here because when I heard Tanya's questions, you really hit me right here, Tanya. >> You did because I feel like especially in this time as we're visiting our school sites. I've been visiting I've shared with some folks that people feel like there's not enough and they're asking themselves, how can we do anything with less? We're already we are already struggling. And then to put that burden on families to make these choices when really our goal here should be that we never have to put that on our families on our students. In fact, we should be we are a huge district with a huge budget with many departments that focus on very specific things. So,

165we should be using that to advocate and to and to push the state to give more before we ever have to put that on our families and on our students because the students who are going to hurt the most by any cuts are our poorest students and our most vulnerable students. And we should work hard to protect them. That should be our mission. That should be our goal always. Besides trying to balance budgets, we should never balance a budget on our students learning and on their holistic well-being. Never. So I urge us to to think beyond that, to think creatively and to always center our kids when we are making decisions. And that is what we did at our town hall meeting. And thank you Simon and your team because you you did you did

166really well. You you know we had online and we had in-person and we had people giving reports you know taking notes and then we also had people responding to the thought exchange and we let folks know that there is this potential deficit but we wanted to know what matters to them. We wanted them to tell us what are the things that they want protected in this budget. What are the things that they want me to come and advocate for? Not what are we going to cut? What are we going to preserve? What are we going to protect? And these are the things that came back which have been coming back throughout my conversations with people. Support for mental health and the physical health of our students. PSWs and counseling are a priority. Social emotional learning

167is so important. And they asked, "How are we protecting and even increasing support for mental health?" Out of the classroom, student support staff are targeted for cuts, including APs, APIs's, PSWs, PSAs, coordinators, supervision aids. These are all experienced as vital to keeping our schools safe. How can we create safe schools in conditions of scarcity? Those are the questions we need to be answering. Continuity of care, knowing that people and having regular connections is what keeps kids safe. How will these cuts not disrupt and destabilize already destabilized school sites? Because again, they're the ones who are going to be impacted. School sites should be protected. Can we protect school sites and make cuts in regions and centrally? That was a question that came up. How are we protecting and increasing our special education students, our English

168language learner students? What exactly is happening without outside contracts, especially those that could be handled internally? For example, tutoring, Naviance, College Board, and I Ready. Those were the things that people wanted to know about. and how are schools expected to respond to increasing crisis with less resources and less continuity? And lastly, what is the impact of charter schools on our budget? These are the things that matter in board district 5, not only at the town hall meetings, but even in small group meetings that we're having with parents, with students, with community members, and with educators as well. We are gathering because to me, this is very important. And I'm grateful that we're having these town I'm grateful that Kelly brought that budget transparency resolution that called for these town hall meetings and I encourage in

169fact what people were saying is they want more of these. They want all of us to have these more and more. They want to be part of this conversation. And I feel like as elected people, as people who we went and knocked doors and asked for support, we owe it to our constituents to get them involved in this situation, not to make decisions for the community without getting their input. So, I'm glad that we're doing this and I urge us to continue these conversations with our community members throughout and I urge us to have conversations based on the needs of our students and what we want to protect, not on the things that we want to cut because all of those things are going to impact our kids. They're going to impact our scores. And

170frankly, it goes against what our superintendent said he was going to do anyway. He made a commitment that whatever cuts would happen would be very far away from the classroom. So, I want us to stick to that. Now, regarding fund 17 on your slide, um the one that has a multi-year projection, uh the other one, the one the orange and the in the blue bar one. Okay. So I came in to office December 2024 and I remember the first vote was fund 17 moving money from fund from the general fund to fund 17. I you know I'm going to be honest it was very confusing but I voted yes I believe. Um how much do you remember how much it is that we moved into that fund? I I think good >> not at that

171time but the accumulated value currently is $574 million. >> Okay. When we move that money would that be reflected in FY24 or FY25 >> was December 24 you said so it would have been the 242 FY25. So, is that part of the decrease in revenue because we moved that fund, that money? >> I I'd have to follow up. I I think I understand you're you're asking would revenue have been higher >> in 24 in fiscal year 25? I don't I don't believe so. and it would not have affected the revenue in 2425 but we can certainly confirm >> because I remember the previous CFO was accounting that as an expenditure right not necessarily that it was a a a savings right like money put aside for the future but rather it was seen as an

172expenditure so I'm wondering is that the reason why the blue bar is less because we moved money and called it an expenditure. >> I I don't know the answer. Of >> course. If you can, you know, look into that and by the time we come back if we can confirm that because that would make a difference, right? And and that's why I want to know what the amount of money is that we moved. Um I think that's it. Thank you, Scott. And then Kelly, go ahead, Scott. I heard um lots of things about what can we do about enrollment and uh I know in board district three we have three goals. One is enrollment. The second one is achievement and the third one is safety. So uh I just want you to know that we

173everybody has to do his or her little part in enrollment at the school. So at board district 3 and my fellow board members are welcome to copy this idea use it as you wish. We have a program and it's called why I love my school and there are always parents who love the school. Always parents who love their school. So what we come about is talking to the staff and the parent reps and making a 30-se secondond video on their cell phone. why I like why I love my school because what I have found is people will look for what things are said about their school on these apps and some of these apps are real old and they'll say I don't like this school and when you find out why it's because the teacher

174refused to put the twins in the same classroom. So that app is on there that report is on there for years and years and years and nothing nice is said and nothing nice is put on the app. So to increase enrollment, we have that program and it's called why I love my school and it's very easy to do and it's very easy to put on YouTube and it's very easy to put on your web page and it has improved uh enrollment in board district 3. So just an idea for do our little part because every student counts because they're important and because they they create revenue for the districts. So that's it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Go ahead, Kelly. >> Thank you. Um, well, I appreciate the conversation and um, obviously the the town

175halls resulted from my resolution that we passed back in in June, which was around budgeting for equity and student need. And I do think that the regional and board district town halls should be a regular practice that we engage in as a as a district. Um we know that at the school site budgeting is participatory that there is a community-based process that happens um that is led at the school site involves parents and other stakeholders. Um we should we should hold ourselves to that very same standard. Voting on the budget is probably the most important responsibility that we hold as board members and our communities deserve an opportunity to to both understand what we are contemplating and and the reality of our budget. um but also to have a voice well in advance of of

176that process. So um I would personally advocate for a a continued effort to have this dedicated community engagement throughout our district as the budget process continues. I heard a reference to potentially doing it in the spring. I think that would be really important and not only should we engage in um you know the annual budget but also thinking long-term around those revenue generation opportunities. I think it is really important to involve our community in those decisions as well. Um and then just to lift up a couple of other components of the resolution which were were not addressed. Um the resolution also called for the publishing of an equity impact analysis wherein we would assess the impacts of the fiscal stabilization plan to high need students groups and there are uh specific student groups that are

177named in the resolution as well as to different school types. Um, it also calls for a departmental level review of consulting contracts, administrative overhead, and central office expenditures and present options to the board for rep prioritization. Um, you know, we we don't have those analyses done. They are not being presented today. I I think that those are really essential components for us in in assessing are we proceeding with the FSP as currently contemplated? Are there substantive changes that we should be making um if the fiscal stabilization plan is not in alignment with the priorities and principles that are laid out which are equity, budgeting based on student need and and valuing our workforce. So I wanted to check in as to when those analyses will be complete. Will will those be ready for the next

178board level conversation? >> Yes. >> Great. And I think that that would really address a lot of the questions that that came up in both the comments and and that we've heard raised by board members because all of those options should be things that we're considering. Um I appreciate that already. Like there are some process-based improvements we're going to make based on the comments that were shared. So you know like the ensuring fully translated materials and doing so in languages other than Spanish. um ensuring that our community members understand school budgets, understand you know the concept of a reserve while also having an operating deficit. But I would really advocate for we want the feedback to be substantively reflected in in what we decide as a board. And so I hope that in the in

179future versions of this conversation that we can look at the feedback that's offered and assess whether or not what has been approved by the board is in alignment with that feedback. That's all. Thank you. And I'd also like to add and I think we also had a discussion or comment of doing a survey and I think a survey should also be included as many opportunities for feedback possible in different mediums and ways um a survey also for principles and different stakeholders. I think it's important to hear from everyone and students as well. delivers. You um indicated a small amount of students, but I think having student input, particularly our our secondary students, our high school students, um will be very very essential as we gather as much feedback as possible. So, um I echo the

180same thing that >> and the resolution did call for online online surveys that were culturally and linguistically accessible to to the student to students, families, and staff. So, I hope that happens as well. >> Yeah. So, we definitely need that. But I think the the sooner the better if we can start getting I don't know if we're already um working on constructing that survey, but I think the sooner the better so we can have ample time rather than like two weeks to answer it or a month. I think we need you know several months for that to go um to out to stakeholders. And who was next? Oh, go ahead. >> Thank you. Does the thought exchange count as the survey? Well, I the thought exchange is only is it only available to those who

181attend the town halls? >> No, it's been kept open because there have been folks who've wanted to respond after the town hall at you know that night later later in the week and so it's remained open and will remain open at least through um the the final town hall, but we we also are thinking on ways to distribute it more widely. Yeah, I mean I think if it's communicated through some district-wide communication, multiple different mediums, then I think that that would address the need for a survey. But if you only can access the link be because you went to the town hall, then that would not meet the bar. >> And and just to that the thought exchange was on these three questions, right? So it's just specific for three. I think the survey would

182encompass or add other questions that were not, you know, included in this these community engagement um opportunities. Go ahead, Carter. >> Yeah, >> I was just going to say that we have I asked you if it was going to be open because we wanted to make sure that we distribute it in our district. So, we put it on our social media and then whenever I have school site meetings um with whatever constituency I'm meeting with, we give it to them. and it seems like people are responding to it. I was concerned if it was accessible to everyone. Um, but I guess because you can use your phone and you use a QR and people know how to use that. Um, that's why. But yeah, let's I think that's one thing I would encourage all of

183us to do to to share it broadly in your district. >> Thanks. Just two quick things. Um, one for the budget workshop. I would love if we started with some clear objectives like what are we trying to get the board to do? What's the verb? Um, and if you can share that ahead of time. I know we talk a lot about receiving materials ahead of time, but let us come already knowing what we're tasked with completing by the end of that workshop. And I know it's not direction. It's not a vote. Um, but still there's some learning or some, um, action, uh, if not like formal, maybe informal. Um, so just, you know, we're an institution of education and learning, so let's come with objectives. Um, and to that end, I'm curious if at all

184the board will be weighing in on any adjustments to carryover or SENI. I know th those allocations will be going out soon thereafter to school sites and if we're making any adjustments to the FSP, that's probably the last time we can do it, right? And again, I don't know that we all have like a formal vote on it considering it's a workshop and not a board meeting. Um, but just what is the level of board involvement at that point before schools receive their allocations? Um, and then the last thing I was going to say back on Mr. Moving's point about the couple of years that we didn't have a deficit. I don't know if it's accurate to say that we didn't have a deficit when we have a $9 billion OPED liability. Like is there

185ever a point that we didn't have a you know many billions of dollars in liability? And so in which case can we ever say that we have not had a deficit because we usually talk about a structural deficit, right? And that is both because of enrollment and because of this ongoing unfunded liability other post-employment benefits. So I just want to be clear that like maybe in the this one category of general fund unrestricted but overall I don't want our community to think that we have not had this cloud looming over us for decades. I think that you have to distinguish the operating deficit, structural deficit and as you know someone spoke to the 12 month period and snapshot of the existing expenditures and revenue that come in for that snapshot is very different than looking

186at those long-term liabilities and that's very real you know in terms of what is our outstanding 30-year liability associated with OPED but when you're talking about meeting today's payroll and today's needs we look at that I would say more limited snapshot and that's what the county looks at when they're looking at unrestricted ending balances and so um we focus on that conversation because that's has the more immediate real impact on student outcomes lives and staff um impacts when it comes to the district's operations >> I I appreciate that and I think you know this board to the extent we can both be focused on what our students need today who are in front of us and this year's kindergarteners who will be 12th graders years in 12 short years, we are responsible for those decisions

187as well. And so the more we kick certain decisions down the road, the more another body like this will have to make those decisions. But, you know, we're here today. What can we do for the short term and the long term? Um, but definitely looking forward to the 21st. And anything you can share with us ahead of time to help um prepare us to meet the objectives for that day, the better I think the time will be used. Thanks, >> Miss Evo. [applause] just just real brief um just to highlight what was mentioned. I appreciate you bringing up the fact that this board had, you know, made the the decision that there was going to be increase in FTEES and then now we see that there's going to be a decrease in FTEEs because there

188was a a quote unquote one-time aotment. And I think those points need to be reiterated when we talk about this because that history is important when we're making decision going forward. kind of to your point too, but we often don't think about it. And every time I've heard about the budget with LA Unifi, we always think about the fiscal cliff. We always talk about it. It's always been there. And when we look at things, we're looking at three years, but we never go back. And we've asked to go back because I would want to say when we go back, it always looks the same. Like the slides look the same. I'm like, [laughter] every 3 years the size looks the same. So when is it true? And I think that's what changed the narrative because

189people are like, well, it's always been a fiscal cliff and then 3 years later you guys are fine. So at some point the narrative has to change to say, you know what, it hasn't always been fine and this is why. And if we look historically, this is what actually happened three years ago and three years before that. Because often times we look in these three little bites and it's always the third year the the number flips the other way and for some reason it's never brought back to you know five years before. So we can actually look at it continuously to see exactly what's happened is to the point where this is a board of education. Are we learning from that so that we continue to paint the correct picture? because for some reason the

190narrative is all twisted and everybody have different numbers out there and if we're not working with the same numbers to Nick's point if we're not working with facts we're just going to be going around in circles. So appreciate that. And then with the the takeaways that we received you're going to have a meeting tomorrow. Would those be implemented in that meeting? I know it's really quick, but would they be able to get some of the um updated uh asks that the community asked for in those meetings that will be coming before the 21st? Yeah, we'll be we're collecting all feedback at future town halls as well as any other engagement opportunities where we're collecting feedback which there are several in addition to the final town hall and we will be able to provide uh updates

191on those additional responses. We we >> because I know tomorrow is quick so I don't know if you have time to make that turnaround because there were some some asks in here and I know if they ask and then they have another public meeting where you guys are presenting and those asks are not met. So, I don't know if it's the 21st or when will we see the implementation of what they were asking for. >> Sorry, I I misunderstood. I think Are you saying we got a lot of feedback on additional content [snorts] or data that would be helpful? Will that be used in tomorrow's town hall? Uh, we're trying to keep the town halls as consistent as possible so that the experience is the same, so that the feedback is as similar as so

192it can be aggregated and we can draw certain conclusions from it. So, I think it's unlikely that we'll change the presentation used in the town hall, but instead provide a lot of the the, you know, respond to the different ideas and feedback that were provided today at the workshop on the 21st. >> Okay. It's kind of been augmented. You know, Tanya did her own thing, so I appreciate you bringing that out, but it's kind of been augmented already. So, just saying. Um, but hopefully we can get some pointed questions like that >> in a in a survey to everyone. So, we do get, you know, and 400 people in a district this size is, you know, a drop in the bucket, but I know we're we're constantly trying to get the message out, but if

193there's, you know, way that folks can see it and then be able to respond within that time frame that we still can collect data, that's always helpful. So, thank you. >> Okay, just I think that's it. Just just to close us out, um I just have a quick questions. So I know you provided us the Excel spreadsheet with all of the comments from the committee. Was that also made public? Was that included public or >> It has not been provided publicly yet. >> Can it? >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> So people can see overall the raw data. So I appreciate because I did ask to make sure that you provided us with the the raw data. I know you looked at the all the questions limiting to like the pattern. So I appreciate that. So

194if you can make that public that would be great. Um my other question is um just looking forward I know that um the first interim will be discussed here by the board by us on December 16th. Yes. >> But I know on December 15th we need to provide it to the county. >> Right. >> That's right. So once again, are we be seeking a waiver or an excuse to >> So we've already informed LEO that we'll be providing the the underlying file that they need by the 15th by that deadline and they're well aware that the actual vote to certify first interm is happening on the 16th. >> So they're aware they are. and just remind us when will you present to the board um the revised multi-year projections that incorporate um um the governor's

195budget Elio or OPE trust allocations is that's in June. So that's all of or when will that be done? >> So the next official update to the multi-year projection is at first interim on December 16th. Okay. >> It won't include obviously the January proposed budget. We won't have that information yet. But it will include a lot of the updates that I went through today and that are information that will be released between now and and mid December. Um and as LEO has required us, it will we will need to provide updated assumptions on the fiscal stabilization plan. And so it doesn't mean that those decisions are final, but we do have to provide an update and how those impact our multi-year projection at first interim December 16th. >> Then the next time we officially update

196the multi-year projection is second interim, so mid-March. Um and then at that point we'll be able to incorporate a lot of the information that we're hearing from the state and the governor. And then as you pointed out then in June when the board has the budget hearing and then the budget adoption there'll be an updated multi-year projection which will include the 2829 school year for the first time. >> So just to lay out what's up ahead in the future. So November 21st we have a birthday workshop discussions um and also the cow right? We're going to have that. So, and then after that is December 16th and then 202026 we'll have that in March will look different than we have in December and then finally in June the final vote. That's right. >> Right. So,

197there's a lot of things that are going to be taking place. >> The one edit I'll add is generally we'll provide a governor's update budget proposal and in the late January February period um just to so folks have an understanding of what's being proposed. >> Right. So, we'll have another cow presentation on that. Um, I was going to say something else, but I forgot. So, thank you so much. We'll close this presentation now. So, I appreciate all of the questions and the sentiments that were heard and also um sharing the comments from from the public from our community members. So, with that, I am we will now move to our next item. Um sorry what did I say? So now we're moving on to um a presentation by our community member Miss Maria Luisa Palma.

198So as she's coming to the podium uh want to also state that this is this presentation is under board rule 132 ensuring local school site and community control regarding safe campuses which is a presentation here. So, for the public's awareness, board rule 132 allows members of the community to formally request that the board of education place an item on a public meeting agenda during a regularly scheduled meeting um of an appropriate committee. And here for this purpose is a committee of the whole. Uh before we begin, I'd like to ask Mr. McClean to briefly explain board rule 132 in its essence and at its intent, particularly how it provides a structured avenue for committee members to bring items forward while ensuring consistency [clears throat] with board procedures. H >> happy to happy to be put

199on the spot. I wasn't ready for that question. Let me see what I've got. So, it's not necessarily board 13 rule 132 that authorizes this action. It comes directly from the ED code. The ed code states that members of the public should be allowed to put items directly on an agenda that's relevant to school business and then the next step under the law is that the school district prepare appropriate procedures for the members of the public to do that. Miss Palma um nailed the procedure on that and so now here she stands before us to give us a presentation. The presentation uh time limit is governed by the board rule time limit for public speaking. Um so that's at two minutes. I understand that two minutes is a very short period of time to put

200in this amount of of work. Uh but we are very very happy to we have many people coming up coming up to hand hand us stuff which we'll collect. So uh the board rule authorizes it. Ed code demands it and here we are. It goes directly on the agenda. The materials were given to the board and produced to the public and there's hard copies both in the back posted online and all the board members have had it as well. And Miss Palma, we didn't have the chance to run through it first, but you're good at this. And then you also see the the clicker. Do you want to make sure it clicks right before Bam. Okay, Miss Palma and her steady hand. And um the the time is yours, Miss Palma. Thank you for coming.

201Well, I hope that I would be provided some extension of time beyond the two minutes. Uh, but my name is Marisa Palma and thank you for this opportunity to discuss this very important safety issue. This is a continuation of the many speakers that have come before you over the last couple few years and uh continuing the petition from parents and the community of 5,600 signatures who uh were advocating to return the school police assigned back in schools. Now uh we are a formal stakeholder providing input to the local control and accountability plan which is a requirement. You as a district get local control through the LCFF local control funding formula. We as stakeholders get the LCAP, the local control and accountability plan where we are supposed to be able to hold you, the board and

202executive management accountable for the effective use of funds based on your implementation of the plan and your metrics in the plan. But I believe that system is broken. Where is the accountability? Uh if it's not analyzed and discussed in terms of the metrics, no one can hold you accountable. When you approve the LCAP, as all of you did here, all of you made a commitment to be held accountable for implementing the actions for meeting or exceeding the metrics judging from the baseline to the targets that were used uh for the use of the assigned funding just like you see here on the slide. So this is about the use of funds. You said that you would be effective in based on the metric metrics that you established in that plan. Now these formal metrics and

203the program measures the problem is if they're not discussed that prohibits meaningful engagement with the stakeholders and so therefore the stakeholders cannot keep you accountable. Uh the resolution questions if the metrics are appropriate and proposes additional metrics such as IR incidents a school police calls for service. We're requesting a comprehensive safety accountability plan that would bring all of this together all towards allowing local >> at least another minute. Please take another minute. >> Thank you. Uh local control and decisionmaking to include uh the school police being assigned at the school level. Now we have a lot of data in this presentation. I hope we can have questions uh time to answer for you to ask questions. Uh the families and the parents that signed this petition don't blame the criminal justice system for what is

204wrong in our communities, but they do blame the education system for not creating a compelling alternative to gang culture, to a life path away from drugs, crime, addiction. They're looking for a life path that leads towards family values, discipline, order, economic growth. The families are desperate. They're being ripped apart from their children. and parents that sign this petition that want the school police back should not be demonized. We are asking you to be accountable for the outcomes and at least admit that these performance measures at best indicate that the performance is stagnating. We hope that you can open the door to further discussions and ask what else can be done. First, we need accurate information and I hope we can have a discussion on that. Uh I ask that you move this resolution forward to

205the board agenda in two parts. first to request additional data and transparency uh additional information on LCAP metrics and outcomes to the community which we shouldn't have to ask for to allow for more discussions in depth. Secondly, then once we have the information to bring that uh for a vote of the board to allow the schools to have the discretion to select officers inside assigned to the inside of secondary campuses. Uh so Mr. McLean, is that correct that the board can ask questions since this is an item that is agendaized and we can have a discussion about this the data here? >> That's correct. Once an item is placed on the board board agenda, it can be discussed back and forth on the board if they wish. >> Okay. Well, I have lots of information

206here. I'll wait for your questions. I hope we can have a discussion. >> Yes. Are there any board members that have any questions to the presentation or the information here? Scott, go ahead. >> I have a question. So, in other words, if have you made, let's say, a survey of uh let's say high school areas and asking parents, students, teachers, faculty members, and community if they wish to have a school police officer, is there some kind of surveys that have been made that you can show that this is what this school wants? Some schools may say no and some schools may say yes. >> Well, as part of the community, we don't have access to teachers or administrators or parents. We can't contact them. Uh we did have one of the parents here who did

207create a survey that was sent out to some school principles. Is that Jenna? >> Yes. >> Uh and she had presented that to you uh some months ago. Uh but that was a very very limited type of survey. Again, we don't have the capability to to question people. We were out in the community when we presented the petition to the community members and we had a very high response rate of of yes. I mean, I will estimate depending on the community. Um, upwards of 80% of people said yes and signed without really much hesitation. Uh, so I would love to be able to do surveys. I would hope that you here would direct a survey. >> Okay. Thank you for that. Thank you. Any other questions? >> No other questions. So, thank you. >> Wow.

208Because we have slides and slides and slides about your LCAP uh metrics that are formal required metrics in the local control and accountability plan. I am shocked to hear that no one has questions. I would really love to discuss some of this. >> I have one question for you. So, with what you're sharing in your slides, how does the two combine or match or connect? What is the how do you connect the two? >> Well, the local control and accountability plan is based on goals and actions. Every action says how it will be measured based on these metrics that are in in a part of the plan that is called metrics and it's basically on a grid. It has the baseline number and then it has what the outcome is going to be in the

209different years and then it also has a target year at the end. And so they're all measurements of what it's going to be at at these different times. Uh then every action references additional progress measures. We've talked about I have some of these information back here in these additional slides. Um, and so every time the LCAP is revised every year, there's supposed to be a place where the district answers how effective were the actions according to as measured by the metrics that were in the plan as how that's going to be measured. Uh my biggest concern is that for example back here this is what gets presented to the to the um parent advisory committee for example and the DAC uh if you look at this let's see for uh 2.09 09 that metric it's

210from the school experience survey question I feel safe in the school from students uh 64 uh 64.3% in the most recent year uh said they feel strongly uh levels one and two the highest two values that's listed there as green but that just means that it went up from the prior year 63.5%. But if you look at it, the prior year was higher 67.3. So really it depends how long of a time you look at it to see how well are you doing. And when you look at it from one year to the next, which is how the LCAP document quantifies improvement just going from one year to the next. When you look at it here, this is this the data on the same exact question in the first uh uh line there. Is there

211a pointer? Is there something where I can >> We have not risen to the level of laser point yet. >> No pointer. Okay. Um so the very first uh section there where it says all students is the exact data from that. I pulled this from the open data portal. Uh so you can see there when you take it back to the 2122 school year, 72.7% of students said yes, they they did feel safe in the school. the next year which is the baseline year that's being used uh here 67.3% here we see it that's already a decline from the prior year. So um you see that when you look at the most recent year outcome 64.3 doesn't look so good when you compare it back to the baseline year uh and so that is what

212we would like to have shown to the committees uh the parent committees do not get shown that timeline I mean just look at the at the two bookends on every one of these measurements and in the in the student subgroups then you see how 2122 was much higher in every one of these measurements And then your target outcome for 2526 is the red. And you see they're pretty much aligned. And it makes sense that that would have been your target. But where we are is down in the dumps down here. We're not close to the target. And it's those targets that are missing. Every single time that any of these questions that this information is brought out to the community, you see a short timeline and and the target is not shown. Now for that

213first question, the strategic plan also has that question as as a goal and a measurement. And I don't understand for the life of me why there is a target outcome in the LCAP for the same exact year 2526 and in the strategic plan for the same exact year with almost a 10% difference in what the target outcome is supposed to be. So why what is it that we're working towards here? If if the target outcomes first are never shown to the parents and then in this case this particular question is also in the strategic plan. Why is the target goal so different? What are you managing towards? So this is just one example of the data the very detailed data of what is in the LCAP. The LCAP is intended to be a strategic planning

214process for the district. This is the strategic plan as required by state law and I don't see it brought forward here. The board doesn't discuss it. I don't see it brought to the committees in any way that's understandable. Look at the data here for this particular question versus here what was provided to to the parents. This was just provided the other day. This is misleading showing those those uh boxes as green. [laughter] I don't know how else to describe it. And we don't have any of the student subgroups up here. And this is and this is the way it gets provided to the parent um committees like this. >> Okay. Thank you, Miss Palma. Unless there are any further questions from the board. >> Yeah, I I just want to say briefly that I appreciate

215the time and effort that went into it. I appreciate you all being here consistently and the parent advocacy. Monica, it's nice to see you representing Hollywood and and others and and the conversation we I've had with some of you. You know, I appreciate um also the the role of our school police. I see our chief here and some of our officers. And I also appreciate the grace uh and composure that they've had over the last few years from difficult times to kind of reorient and pivot where the department is and and the work they do every day. Um see Mr. Chait here as well and the work here his team does. Um I also appreciate the need to be more transparent for sure and I think some of these suggestions around um evaluate safety related

216incident data to include minimum AR like I think the the third resolved here the penultimate resolved um I appreciate the need to do that the need for us to do better on a lot of these surveys and uh it's something we've flagged as well you know where I where I disagree um is which I don't think is surprising I disagree that the the way to improve those outcomes comes uh that you shared around feeling safe and uh for children and for parents is with the addition of school police back on school campuses. I you know I I agree in local control but I disagree with local control if one of those tools is something that's going to lead to a discriminatory impact. I think one of the things we talked a lot about in 2020

217was limiting what tools are available. And I also disagree candidly just about the efficacy. And in my conversations with our school police department and the chief, I think a deployment now where they're more flexible and nimble is is in the best interest of preserving both life and property when it comes to our students and our school communities. So, you know, I I'm glad that we've kind of moved at least or I think we've moved from a more uh um I guess rudimentary or like reductionist approach to yes or no when it comes to school police. It's just about how to deploy them. And I'm I'm comfortable with where we're at right now. I appreciate the work of the department. Um I also appreciate again the need to do better when it comes to these questions

218and think that we just have to find a way to to get these uh these metrics up and I just will you know remain committed to the idea that that's not by putting more officers on campus as opposed to patrolling our our uh our district. So but you know again appreciate the conversation and thank you for being here >> and may I respond to that? So since you mentioned a discriminatory approach, let me show you some of call your attention now to some of these um progress monitoring measurements. Uh because they're progress monitoring, these don't include baseline or target measurements. They're just written into the actions, but these are additional questions from the school experience survey. Now these this is a funding item for this uh what was uh the joy and wellness. We have

219base funded school climate support staff which I believe would be the campus aids and we have supplemental school climate support staff. Okay. So we have the differences in the responses to those questions based on the base funded which um they're still not great. The trend line does not look great here. So this is for all students bas so you would read these across right elementary school and high school. So the blues are all the elementary school students for example, you see there's still a declining trend. But then when you look at the supplemental and concentration funds. So this is what's been the funding that's supposed to be for these three targeted student groups. And so the ALCAP calls for measuring these separately by English learners, by low-income students, and by foster youth. And you see

220here as well how that trend line is going down here for the English learners. uh low income as well. So clearly these students are responding to you looking at them based on these subgroup categories that they don't they don't feel respected in in this particular question and you may disagree on the method for how to improve that. We would like to have an open discussion. This this is shows us that there is an issue with our most neediest uh populations. Um I can't look at additional information on the SENI funding under goal 2 joy and wellness because the metric there is based on seni highest need quintile data. I can't get that broken out by in the school experience survey data. So I would love to see what that looks like. I would hope here

221that somebody has that. I have not seen it anywhere. It is not in the research file from the school experience survey. It's not on open data. So there is much more slicing and dicing that can be done to even start to um evaluate how do the students feel based on the measurements that you have put into the LCAP. So that would be a good place to start. That's why I'm asking for more transparency, more information on on these these data points. Uh >> well and and yes, we'll talk to district staff about getting that for you. I appreciate as always your utilization of our open data platform. um and for uh pointing out what's not there yet. And so I'll talk to the deputy superintendent about what we can share. >> But it's also to

222bring this to the committees, to the parent advisory committee, to the DAC. The way that our information is provided, it's like this. Are you going to go through stacks and stacks? This is how they get this information. I put this together. I think this is much more clear. I know it's a lot of data. It's a lot of information, but that is what is in the LCAP. And that's where the the sense of how you're doing is supposed to come from the measurements you establish there. >> So you put this together from that information is what you're saying. >> Not from here. No. No. I don't use this. This is not useful to me. Th This is not I went to the open data portal and to the school experience survey research data files, the

223Excel files that are there. No, I can't get that out of here. This information is not here. that's not here in the information provided to the committees. Thank you. So, in speaking just plain old English, if I am the board member of board district 3 and I do a survey of a high school area and that survey turns out to be that the majority of the different groups that I mentioned before all want school police, I myself as board member would want an officer at that school if that's what the school wants. I'm just not sure if all board members would follow the uh will of the survey or is it a philosophical thing where I don't care what you say I don't believe in it. Now, you know, I represent my schools and I

224have to obey the will of the people as long as it's not harmful or going to hurt someone or or be discriminatory. But I I just don't understand. I want to see what we can do about getting a a survey out. You explained very well that you can't do it and I never thought about it that way. So, let's see what the results are when I do a survey. >> And in the backup for the resolution being put on the agenda, I did include the last survey that was done some years back uh before the decisions were made >> which was all positive to school police. I know I read that school >> police. So, okay. >> You know, we look at that and and maybe it's different now, maybe it isn't. That's an open

225question. I would love to know how how parents would respond to that. >> So would I. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Well, I also appreciate the the time that went into putting this together and um you know, I've been engaging in different conversations related to safety in my district. I appreciate you and and some other members of the group for taking the time to chat about those items. And I think we've been able to uplift and get additional investments in my community like the expansion of safe passage programs for the first time ever into the East San Fernando Valley which um is really responsive to a lot of the issues that we were seeing um impacting students uh commutes to and from school as well as work on more supervision because I think

226that was a a core need that we heard um as well as socio emotional learning, mental health supports, wraparound supports. I also want to, you know, appreciate and lift up that uh be beyond the school experience survey question around do I feel safe at the school, there are a number of other um survey questions that are raised in the presentation, there is an adult at my school whom I can trust and can talk to no matter what is bothering me. There is at least one adult at my school who supports me. And I think that some of the responses that are lifted up um on those slides are are concerning. you know, a 55% responding at the high school level that um all students are treated with respect by staff or um I think the

227do I have one adult I can turn to 55% at the high school level. And so for me that is a real reinforcement of of the fact that safety is based on connection and and respect and trust with all of the adults on campus. it it is really a holistic approach that we need to have where students feel seen and supported and cared for and that we have enough staff on campus to be able to do that work and staff who are trained to be able to do that work. So I I appreciate the conversation. I think the the issues with regard to metrics and the LCAP are certainly worthy of of further discussion and examination. Um and just appreciate you know the advocacy of of parents especially those in board district 6 for for

228being part of this conversation. as a district parent myself, safety is of course a huge a huge priority for us. Um, so I appreciate the time for the discussion. >> So all I'll say is you brought up the uh safe passage programs. I know that in this last item here, BAP community based pilots originally the safe passage the original safe passage I believe was included in that funding source. Um, I don't know where it is now. I don't know if it's in the LCAP in in if it comes from here. uh but but the measurements then for that how is the effectiveness measured around those programs that would that's the question I want to know that's where the accountability piece comes in and that's what the LCAP is supposed to do is how are we

229going to measure that so I don't know where the school climate advocates are funded in this I believe the BAP the ones at BAP schools I think are in um action number four under goal seven BAP school climate wellness and personnel support but I think there's a little carve out says at BAP schools. So I think in the in the San Frernando Valley, I don't think that those are are funded through BAP there. So again, I have huge huge questions. I don't know how we can uh be a part of discussing the effectiveness of the funds and the programs when we don't really have a connection to where this is funded and how it's supposed to be measured. So when I was a member of the parent advisory committee a couple of years back, we

230requested additional information because we weren't getting the information and this is what came out of that. Before that, we didn't have this. So it's it's an improvement. I'm going to say now I can follow this a little bit and start slicing and dicing from here because the LCAP document, it's a template. It's not intended. This the instructions say from the state it's a template for reporting to the state. it's not for community outreach for for the stakeholder outreach. Uh so it's just very difficult to slice and dice that. I mean, I spend a ridiculous amount of hours reading that and looking at every narrative line item. So we really need to be able to dissect it. And those programs you're talking about may be great and they may have great results, but how do we

231measure them? That that's the point. I'd like to see that information into the LCAP. But if the parents that are on the committees that are providing comments towards that, if they don't even know what's in there, and I'm kind of guessing, I'm not sure that the board knows what's in the LCAP. I can't seem to find anybody that knows what's in there in detail. Um, then how do we connect that? The LCAP is supposed to be about the use of funds and the accountability and the measurements of the effectiveness. And I think it's a huge missed opportunity that this is not discussed. This is in the safety area only. But of course we have a huge number of of actions in the academic excellence area and in all the others. So this is just one

232example of where we need more information from the outcap perspective. >> I I just wanted to say thank you again for I mean digging through the weeds to bring out the information that you did present and wanted to get clarification. And you mentioned that you had 6,000 signatures. >> 5,600 signatures. >> 5,000. Do you know where they lie? Where those signatures came from? Are they from the whole entire district? Because we have seven districts. So you have where they are. >> At one point I had quantified and we had representation from all of the regions, all of the board districts. Uh roughly equally. I'm not going to say exactly, but yes, we collected signatures across the entire district. And I can attempt to quantify that completely for the last batch. I have some data on

233the earlier batches on that. If you'd like to see that, I will I will go back. I'll circle back and I'll quantify that for you based on the schools that the the parents signed on and said, "This is my school, whether as a parent or as a community member. I I can dig that back up." Thank you. >> Yes. So, I also reiterate your appreciation for bringing this forward and all the work and the data that you analyzed. And I know that um we have our our deputy superintendent taking notes and also our uh chief school law of operations. So we'll be looking into this information and we'll move forward. So thank you so much. >> All right. Thank you. Thanks for allowing the time to discuss. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. >>

234So now we are going to move forward with um another area where public can uh weigh in. So we're moving on to our public comment. Mr. McClean if you want to. >> Okay, here we go. I'll call on the folks who listed themselves as being in person and then we will transition to those who listed themselves as being remote. So, uh, Ruben Dwenas, are you here? Ruben D, come on down. Uh, you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. And then after Mr. Dwyas is Keith Delequila, Delequila and then David Richardson. Good afternoon. My name is Ruben Dues. For the past 30 years, I've had the privilege to serve the Los Angeles community as a public school educator in East Los Angeles, Boil Heights, Pico Union, and Pquima. My career is inspired by the

235public educators who have supported me like Mr. Schaefer and Miss Williams at Rita High School and Larry Trillo and Lucy Costarita at UC Berkeley. You are all leading the district during extremely challenging times. The ICE raids and government shutdown is crushing our most valuable populations. As a son of proven immigrants, I want to thank each of you for doing everything possible to ensure that the district campuses continue to be safe and secure and that our children have access to breakfast, lunch, and supper. Our most vulnerable students and families need your support and protection. While I thank you for this effort, I want to remind this board that you also have the responsibility to ensure the safety of all public school children, including public charter schools. This board can ensure that public charter school children and

236communities feel safe by following the state law in oversight and renewal. Per AB1505, middle performing schools must be renewed for 5 years. Additionally, charter school communities must be given the necessary time for their voices to be heard. We are trying to survive. All of us through the chaos that and fear that the leadership of the federal government is creating by not following the law. Our city and communities need your leadership and protection. Now, closing any school, including a charter school that is meeting the needs of its students, does not align with your effort to keep our students safe. It does the contrary. In fact, it creates uncertainty, fear, and chaos in the specific communities that the schools are serving and across Los Angeles. As a parent, I close with this ask. Please protect all of

237our students regardless of the school the child attends. >> Thank you for your time. Uh Keith Delquila [applause] Good afternoon, board members. My name is Keith Dilquilla. I'm following up on Mr. Dyes's comments to represent the charter school families at more than 200 charter schools across LA Unified. It's more than 100,000 students. Today, nearly one in four children in LA Unified attends a public charter school. And that demands a level of respect and understanding in these trying times. [snorts] We believe deeply in accountability. It is core to the charter school movement. But accountability means that everyone should be held to high standards of transparency and performance. Last month, this board fell short of those values. In your decisions to non-renew two charter schools last month, you violated clear legal procedures. Communities did not have a

238chance to respond to the questions, the concerns raised at the deis. Some of those concerns were valid and deeply thought out. Others were based on innuendo, mere comments, or demonstrably false. That's a legal requirement. It was especially gling during the decision to non-renew the Gabriella charter schools when several comments made at the deis were again demonstrably false. When you use, excuse me, when you assess the performance of a school and ultimately reach a a determination to non-renew that school, but do so outside the bounds of the law and instead play politics, to settle scores, to delete contracts, it violates the law. It violates your moral authority. It violates the responsibilities you have to all of our communities. And so I ask you moving forward to correct those mistakes to ensure that you hear from communities

239before you make decisions and to ensure that when you're assessing the performance of schools, you're considering the whole impact on children. I'll leave here with you a collective letter signed by more than 200 charter schools across the district raising these concerns and we expect to see them addressed. Thank you. >> Thank you for your time. Uh David Richardson, come on up. And then after Mr. Richardson is Desan. >> Good afternoon board members. My name is David Richardson. I'm with the California Charter Schools Association. I'm a proud product of LSD public schools district magnet and charter and a South LA native. First I got to say go Dodgers. Um watching the Dodgers bring home another World Series championship reminding my reminded me why the city is special. We're a city of winners, resilience, and pride. And

240that same pride and unity we feel when our city wins. That's what every parent and student deserves to feel about their school. To echo my colleague over the past few weeks since the night of Gabriella and learning by design, I've heard real fear and anxiety from families and school leaders, especially in South LA. These are parents who believe in public education. These are parents who have children in both charter and district run schools. They want stability. They want fairness. And they want to know the system is working for all of our kids. Students need stability. And schools need fair processes that tell a full story with accurate data, clear communication, and space for leaders to respond. When reports and recommendations don't reflect the complete picture, it doesn't just hurt one school. It weakens the confidence

241in the system that we're all trying to strengthen. Accountability and fairness under the law means accuracy, transparency, and shared responsibility. Charter school students, like I always say, are LUSD students. They deserve the same opportunity and the pride in any other child in this district. Lastly, I do want to thank the board members for visiting schools, engaging with leaders, and inspiring students. That work matters. So, let's continue to build on that partnership and do better. Please give our schools and families a fair shake. Help reduce the fear and anxiety that so many are feeling and ensure every student in LA has a choice, stability, and pride in their school. Thank you. >> Thank you for your time. believe I said Desan is next, but it's actually Aurelia uh Valdivia is in person. Desan is remote and

242we will come back to you at the right time. Come on up. You have two minutes to speak when you begin. And then after Miss uh >> Okay, Miss Valivia is going to seed her time. It looks like the speaker is going to be speaking in Spanish. So, if everyone who'd like to hear what the speaker is saying in Spanish in English while she's speaking, please put your hands up and we'll get you these translation headsets so you can experience simultaneous translation. >> Okay, gracias. >> Hi, good afternoon to all. My name is Maria Sanchez. I'm a mother of a special needs student attending Martin Martin School and leader of assets and reclaiming our schools of Los Angeles. I am here because I also worry about students safety. I want them to be away and

243safe from eyes so that they go and come back to school walking with safety and for them to have everything they need to prosper. But me as many parents from the district, they don't want more school police. They don't make our schools to be safer and they put our students in deportation or in jail. I want to be clear. We do agree that we should keep our students safe, but we also should be investing in safety measures that do not criminalize our students. We need to invest in safety, community safety, safe passages, more support and personnel assistance within the schools with the finance of. So when we do this, our students will know what it means to be safe in the schools because I have parents that are afraid because they don't want to take

244their students to school. Why? because school police criminalizes them because they don't know their deficiency and they don't know that some students are have autism and when they get criminalized and parents feel vulnerable because of that. I don't want school police in the schools. I want more support so that you can support us in the schools just as there should be more parent involvement and parent volunteers. That's what we need, more parent volunteers. >> Thank you for your time. >> Let's see. Diana Guen, I see you're there. Come on up, Miss Guian. And then after Miss Guen is Iet P. And then after Miss Evet P is Isabelle Gonzalez. So, >> good afternoon members of the board. My name is Diana Gillian and I'm representing the parents for safety. And as you you heard, Maria

245Palma in our name, she presented every question that us parents have. And we also want school police to come back to schools. It it's embarrassing to me to see how UTLA organizations use parents simply to what? To create their own political campaigns because honestly it angries me that you don't care that our children are at danger. They're at danger with gangs. You don't see anything. You just look at yourself in a corner where you want to see. But what happens when our students are being recluted by gangs? Will volunteers be able to do that? Will Safe Patches be able to save them? Safe patches are part of the gangs most of the time. They are still part of them. And we are tired that these people recruit our children, make them part of the organization

246crime and they are part of that process. They are acting in as an incorrect way. You are seeing that. You're seeing the big problem that you have right now. Miss Palma, place this in your hands and you need to put this on the board in the regular board meetings. Why? So that you can vote and have a discussion with this topic because we still have a lot of information. We can't just say, "Oh, we don't want school police or yes, we do want it." No, we need more information. And based on that information, you need to make your decision. It is sad and it's embarrassing that Miss Tanya Ortiz had gone immediately and as soon as Miss Palma began to speak and you, Miss Grigo, you left. You didn't care either. you didn't want to

247discuss or talk about this topic because you represent UTLA and there's a deficit right now and what happens with this deficit? They want uh higher pay. They want a higher pay because of their for their benefit. But you said it, we can't give raises when our children need those funds and they can't remove those services from them. But students are being reduced but employees aren't being removed. There are too many positions and there are less students in the schools and academically they're not bettering. Stop and listen to parents because the parents are the ones that are here to support our children and not the politic. >> Thank you for your time. I'll remind all those who come before the board. We have rules of decorum that are in our board rules and among those rules

248are uh not swearing at the board. So we this is an educational institution. And we encourage folks to speak passionately, but let's keep those expletives pretty please out of out of language so that uh we can have kids watch these broadcasts and maybe learn how we how we do things in a in an orderly and respectful fashion. So the next speaker is Iet Paz. Come on up. You have two minutes to speak. Why don't you begin pause? Okay, let's see. Isabel Gonzalez, are you here? Isabelle Gonzalez, come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Well, finally you took into account Miss Mart's presentation because of representing us and thanks for that. It is never too late because every minute counts. Members of the board, as a mother and have a student

249in the district and as an member of the committee of earned earned English learner and as a new member of the schools known as ELAC, I've heard the voice of many parents. I ask that you take in consideration our voice, the students voice, the teachers voice, and the community's voice. We want school police to come back. It's enough of deaths is enough of students lives that are stagnant. Enough to dro of destroying families and hurting our students and preventing the sale of drugs. It's enough of allowing fentanels to come into the schools and weapons inside the schools and it's enough to add bullying at our schools. Enough to be accompllices of all this. The only thing that we ask is to be able to see our children safe and sound just like we leave them

250at their schools. We want school police. [snorts] We also want transparency, uh, regular uniform and nonviolence at each school. And my the rest of the time, I will give it to Miss Daisy. Hello. Good evening. My name is Maria Desi Ortiz. and more. As you can see, you can see that I have a police uniform on because honestly I believe in quality and safety because of what's happening at our schools in which you silence that which is the exploitation and human trafficking. How many students are missing in the middle and high school? And you silence that. And you, Miss Rosio Rias, you have a double morality because when there were stabbings at Franklin, you asked for police, but you don't want school police to go back here. What a double morality you have. And thank

251you very much. What a hypocrite you are. >> Thank you for your time. >> Let's see. Alan Cicassie, come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Alan Kassie and then after Mr. Kacassi is Monica Razola, come on down, Mr. Kicassi. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. >> No. No. >> Okay. You want to share half your time? So, one minute and one minute. Is that okay, please? >> Okay. But we we we keep it we keep it at one minute. So, thank you. So, >> I timed it. >> Outstanding. So, please take your minute. >> Okay. So, uh you may recognize me as Jenna Noise. Um I've made multiple public comments about school safety before and I'm ready to continue this year. Uh after years of unchecking bullying,

252we decided to withdraw one of my sons uh to enroll in a new school district. So, they had a spot waiting for him. The issue was getting him released. Do we had to go to a hearing where you made calculations to lose uh $19,000 in funding or risk a lawsuit over years of documented failure to protect him? So, you chose the $19,000. Uh that's what my son is worth to you, not as a child, but as a line item in a risk assessment, not Oh, so let me use the the language. Look at your numbers based on Maria's presentation. Uh so, safety perception is down, incidents are increasing, families are leaving. So my son is just one point, one data point in the system that's deteriorating while you watch. So what she explained would give

253the schools the local autonomy to act before families reach the lawsuit stage to actually protect students instead of calculating acceptable losses. So my son is safe now. Uh the value him and other students is more than $19,000 on a spreadsheet. So, based on her presentation, the schools could do the same, but will you let them? >> I'm Alica Cassie, and I've been at pretty much every safety committee that's existed since the the '9s when the first safety plans were developed and the safe school process. Um, couple points that were made. Uh, and then going back to something Mr. You said, you support the idea of a survey. It would be good specifically to survey the students and the parents about how they feel about school police. We're talking a lot of it subjective and based

254on ideological viewpoints, but we need hard data. Uh and I hope then it could be an effort to come before the whole board for a more inclusive conversation than this one right now. And and one last point if I may, I'm part >> wrap it up. Thank you. >> Yes. I'm part of the u the safe school task force. uh we were put on a list uh dealing with the idea of making the committees and the task force more competitive. Please talk to those groups. I know the task force has been very productive. >> Thank you. >> Given the chance, we would we would we would document how effective we >> Okay, the next speaker is Monica Razola. Come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. My name is Monica Rosola.

255>> Good morning. I'm Monica Rosola, mom of two students. Uh Mr. Scott, you asked about a survey and I just want to tell you of the 415 that I was able to collect. I talked to the parents personally. The parents were with their children and I spoke with the children and the parents and they were in agreement. All those people that I was talking to, they're all in agreement with the police. I didn't say just sign. I wanted to invest my time and theirs and for them to provide their actual point of view. And what another way or another uh uh yes way to have safety and also based on these it coincided. So Miss Carla from your school I've said that the money is really being spent with the safe passages from 7:30 to

2569:30. It's 8:45 and they're chit cchatting. They're at the store. They're talking on the phone. They're looking at themselves in the mirror. And I have here proof and pictures and in my phone I have more if you'd like. It's money that is wasted. You're they're not taking care of the kids. All we're doing is giving more work to the school police because when there is an alert for bombs or or weapons, police has to go rescue these 18, 19 year olds. They're young. What are you going to do when there's a a threat? This is so important. This I want to give my time to Miss Carla. I will be brief. Look at the parents here. We're we're not here with vests and all perfume. But one thing I will say, leadership is not being

257big in this country. Leadership is from home. Mom taught me what safety is. This country has five systems that are important. You are lacking respect to a police officer over here. He has authority. >> Five systems in the United States that are very important. And one of them is safety. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you for your time. >> Appreciate it. Next speaker is Mr. David Tokovski. Come on up, Mr. Tokovski. And then after Mr. Tokoski is Mao Tjo. Come on down, Mr. Tokoski. You have two minutes to speak once you begin. And then Mr. Tjo. And then we'll call on the folks who have listed themselves as speaking remotely. Okay, thank you very much. Today's uh committee of the hall was filled with good democracy. This is what democracy looks like. Uh

258to have that motion come from the public and have a good dialogue was very helpful. Couple things on the budget on charters and on the police. In terms of the budget, um you need to get for the next hearings which you're going to have copy of AB1200 which guides this copy of your fiscal stabilization plan and the ingredients in case you want to make amendments to it and to get correct information. The debt was a good question Mr. Melbourne. The debt comes out of the non-education Prop 98. So if there's $10 billion and education gets4 billion the debt is paid out of that education is protected. Now it can be as Mr. Saledo explained it can be temporarily moved but it has to come back with a maintenance factor which is a higher amount of

259money which was not presented today. So I want to make sure that you look at one uh your chart on page four where the expenses went up by $1 billion. Maybe you can get those itemized just like you've been asking many minutes to get itemized. What is in the uh uh reserve? What is in each of these accounts? Get that itemized for yourself. [snorts] Also, the revenue was presented very uh narrowly on the uh page three. Uh it is 9.8 billion more for 2526. So that's 40% to education. 9 billion in 2627 that's 4 billion or a little less than 4 billion. And it's also this year $2.3 billion plus whatever the new tax revenues came in last week. All of that it's got to be carefully looked at like you were presented with. But

260it has to be presented. It's not even on the sheet here. It the LAO it says here 980 million. That's for September, not for October. I made a mistake on a check today and wrote October, but we're in November. It's another billion dollars in October. So keep on looking at those things and above all with the charters, let me just say quickly that you're not asking them if they can be affiliated before you say goodbye to them. >> Thank you for your time. Appreciate it. Thank you for your time, sir. All right, Mr. Tjo, come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak. Why don't you begin? >> I think the disrespect was her wearing that costume today. Um, my name is Mal Tjo. Uh, I am a leader with students deserve in the police

261for coalition. I'm also a resident board district 1. Um, I think that today's proposal to bring school police back onto campuses is deeply rooted in racist rhetoric and dismisses the liv the lived experiences of black students and other students of color across Lusd. I think as a district decides how to spend its budget um crucial that we continue to invest in programs that are actually working programs that build real community safety, not fear. That means expanding programs like the Black Student Achievement Plan, which has directly improved the academic success and well-being of black students and other students of color. It means strengthening community schools, which in times that we're living on um have hosted grocery giveaways and community clinics to support families during times of need. It means fully funding dream centers which again in

262the time that we're leaving we're living in have provided critical support for immigrant students and their families especially as um the time of growing persecution and fear and so so much more of these programs and initiatives that we have fought for and when I say we as students parents teachers community members and families this is what real safety looks like care connection and investing in the whole child. But this proposal, it disregards the voices of students, parents, and even educators who have been calling for years to divest from policing. And let's remember, in 2016, school police pepper-sprayed students at Fremont High School, including themselves. In 22, the same thing happened. 2012, the same thing happened at Narbon High School. In 2023, Garfield High School students were pepper-sprayed. In 2018, a report showed how LA USD's

263use of random searches and metal detectors was not only criminalizing students but also proven ineffective. And then in 2023, LA Times investigation found that school police collective excessive overpay overtime pay between 2017 and 2020. So tell me, how does that any of that make sense? And how does that keep our students safe? Students, parents, and community members have sir have come here time and time again to demand real safety. Thank you. >> The car demands political is cowardly and disrespectful. It [music] >> Thank you for your time. And so the next speaker is Adelina Mloud speaking remotely. Adelina Mloud, please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Edelina Mloud. Adelina Mloud, I hear you unmuted. Yes, please go ahead. >> Yes, thank you. Um, hello board

264members and Superintendent Cardova, >> please. Can you please start over? It looks like you are muted. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, hello board members and superintendent. My name is Adelina Mloud and I'm a parent in the partnership with Los Angeles School Network, a community advocate and a participant in several local advisory groups and watch. Thank you for keeping Senna funding a 700 700 million this year and reducing u reducing year proposed cuts from 200 million to 75 million. A clear commitment to equity students who need it most. But the work isn't done. I'm here because I am a firsthand I've seen what firsthand seen of funding means for our schools. It's not just a budget line item. It allows smaller school sizes, mental health support, after school enrichment, and tutoring programs that help children stay

265on track and believe in themselves. Cutting Cena would take away opportunities from students already faced with the greatest barriers. Students in Watts, Bull Heights, and South LA who depend on these resources to thrive. I have worked along families, teachers, and students benefit from this program. Cena helps stabilize historically unfunded schools. Rolling back these supports would undo years of progress towards equity in education. I'm asking this board today to protect and strengthen senior funding, not reduce it. Please listen to the families telling you these dollar chains lies. Our students deserve more than survival. They deserve systems that invest in their full potential. Thank you for your time and commitment to educational equity. >> Thank you for your time. Desan, I see you're on the line. Please press star six to unmute yourself >> and you'll have

266two minutes to speak once you begin. Desan, Desan, I see you're with us. Please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. >> Hi, can you can you hear me? >> Yes, please go ahead. >> Perfect. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Dave Sun, uh, senior manager of K12 policy at Catalyst California, speaking on behalf of the Equity Alliance for LA's Kids, which is also co-led by Community Coalition, Inner City Struggle, and the Partnership for LA schools. At this moment, our communities of color and low-income families are facing an onslaught of attacks, uncertainty, and threats to basic necessities. We recognize LUD's proactive efforts to stand with and support its students and families from supplying meals amidst snap freezes and resources and sanctuary policy for immigrant and

267undocumented families. As a state and nationwide leader, LUSD has the opportunity to demonstrate that in tough times, we double down on equity investments because we know that those very tough times hit families disproportionately. This looks like not rolling back on LUSD's primary equity tool and investment created in partnership with community, the student equity needs index or semi. We call on the district to protect its full investment of 700 million for fiscal year 26 to 27 and its full flexibility and to use the Senny formula as a compass to approach budget decisions especially as we face hard choices. And further as community feedback has shown the district should partner with community in the budget process early and in accessible ways so that we can meaningfully participate in budget decisions. We also call on LUSD to protect

268and strengthen equity- based programs such as BSAP supports for undocumented students, indigenous students, LGBTQ plus students. It looks like leveraging strategies that do not further harm, but rather create safe and welcoming spaces for students. We must not counter enforcement with more enforcement. Instead of depending instead depending on school police, students need community-based safety approaches that center care. And so we stand ready to work together with the district and urge LUSD to hold firm to equity investments that support our highest need students and families. Thank you very much. >> Thank you for your time. Let's see. Uh Irene Rivera, please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Irene Rivera. Irene Rivera, please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you

269begin. >> Hi, thank you. Uh, can you guys hear me? >> Yes, we can. Please go ahead. >> Perfect. Thank you. Uh, good afternoon board members. My name is Ena Rivera and I'm speaking on behalf of the ACLU Southern California and the Police L Coalition. We stand firmly against any attempt to bring police back onto L USD campuses across California. There is no credible evidence that police presence improves safety. What it does do is criminalize normal adolescent behavior, erode trust between students and educators, and perpetuate the school to prison and deportation pipeline, which disproportionately harms black, latino, indigenous, immigrant, and disabled students. What does work is what we are already building. School climate coaches, campus aid, psychiatric social workers, restorative justice teachers, counselors, and safe passage programs. These rules deescalate conflict. They build relationships and

270heal harm without criminalization. And that's why the board's vote to expand the BAP um earlier this year is so critical. BAP's culturally affirming counselors, academic supports and family engagement efforts, raise attendance, it closes the opportunity gap, and it creates environments where black students feel seen and supported, which reduces the conflict before it even starts. If you pair those investments with expanded LGBTQ support and dream centers for immigrant students, you have a blueprint for real safety that includes mental health professionals, trauma-informed staff, and trusted adults to protect students rather than punish them. Every dollar, every dollar funneled back to policing is a dollar taken from these proven supports uh from BISA, from queer affirming spaces, and from dream centers that keep immigrant students enrolled and safe. The student surveys make this clear. These support systems foster

271belonging and reduce disruption far more effectively than policing ever did. Police free schools are not an idealistic dream. They're a working reality. And we cannot go backward because every dollar spent on policing is a dollar stolen from mental health care, culture responsive teaching, trauma informed training, and the affirming school uh that our students deserve. Thank you. >> Thank you for your time. The last listed caller is Maria Duran. She's listed as speaking remotely, but I do not have Maria Duran signed in. Is Maria Duran in the room? That's a no. So, that concludes uh public comment. >> Thank you, Mr. McClean. And thank you to all our public um speakers. Uh well, I remind you all today is election day. So, please make sure that you go to your polling polls, uh your centers, and

272submit your um your ballot. So, don't forget. Uh so, thank you everyone. Um and now this, uh I'm adjourning the committee of the whole. Thank you everyone. >> All right.