Apodaca: California population decline reveals harsh reality for education funding
The decline in K-12 public school enrollment across California, as predicted, is forcing many school districts to make some painful decisions.
We saw an example of this recently, when Santa Ana Unified School District, facing a $154-million budget deficit and 28% fewer students than a decade ago, announced it would lay off about 262 employees, including teachers, counselors and other staff members.
Decreasing enrollment isn't the only reason for Santa Ana Unified's budgetary bind. Most acutely, as with other districts, it is grappling with the loss of federal COVID bailout funds, which ended last fall.
Still, there's no question that the steady loss of public school students is putting Santa Ana Unified, and most districts throughout California, in a tough place financially.
Public schools are funded through a mix of federal, state and local money, but in California the state by far accounts for the largest share of education dollars.
Those state funds come from income taxes, property taxes and sales taxes, and a relatively tiny proportion from the state lottery.
The number of students in a district influence how much state funding it receives. That's why enrollment losses often lead to reductions in the amount of money allocated to each district by the state.
The picture can get a bit complicated, though. Under California's Local Control Funding Formula, which began in the 2013-2014 school year, some districts throughout the state receive additional funds if it's determined that they have a large share of 'high needs' students.
And a small number of the state's public school districts are so-called 'Basic Aid,' or 'Community Funded' districts, meaning that the revenue collected from local property taxes is more than sufficient to cover the districts' expenses; therefore, they don't rely on state aid. Newport-Mesa Unified School District, for example, is a Basic Aid district.
Despite such exceptions, however, most districts are struggling with the financial pressures tied to declining enrollment.
Last fall, the state Department of Finance reported that the number of public school students had fallen for the seventh straight year.
There are many reasons behind the slide. Enrollment took a big hit during the COVID pandemic, and some students never returned. Some moved out of state, while others migrated to private education or homeschooling.
California's high cost of living — particularly the state's stratospheric housing costs — are cited as a contributing factor. And critics from both the right and left of the political spectrum have taken aim at what they see as misguided priorities, both financial and social.
But the biggest factor, many analysts say, is declining birth rates, which have steadily fallen in the United States over the last 15 years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that the total national fertility rate was 1.6 children per woman, far below the 2.1 rate needed to naturally maintain the population.
Simply put, that means we have fewer kids entering, or who will enter, our schools. Some experts have referred to this as 'a demographic cliff.'
Growing enrollment in transitional kindergarten is mitigating the overall declines in enrollment numbers, at least somewhat. But the long-term picture isn't great.
The state Finance Department projects that in the coming decade 'if current trends in fertility and migration hold,' total enrollment will fall further.
The federal government projected California will lose another one million public school students by 2031.
The hits will affect different schools and their districts in different ways, and each one will have to navigate a path forward to maintain solvency without, hopefully, sacrificing educational goals. It won't be easy.
Last year, Anaheim Union High School District announced plans to lay off more than 100 teachers amid plummeting enrollment, but it later backtracked and instead made other cutbacks.
Other districts throughout Orange County are also considering closing schools or consolidating campuses.
For instance, Saddleback Valley Unified School District plans to close San Joaquin Elementary this year, and Anaheim Union High School District is closing Orangeview Junior High and shifting the middle school students to Western High School.
In announcing its plan to jettison some employees, Santa Ana Unified Supt. Jerry Almendarez said in a statement, 'Staffing adjustments are part of a long-term strategy to align our resources with student enrollment trends and financial realities.'
That rather dry statement doesn't mask the harsh reality that district administrators and school boards are increasingly faced with excruciating choices.
It's terrible that valued teachers are being laid off, and parents are understandably upset at the prospect of losing their beloved community schools.
The uncertainty and disruption alone are difficult to cope with.
Unfortunately, we must brace ourselves because we're sure to see more tough times for public schools in the coming years. More strained budgets, more layoffs, more school closures.
In a perfect world, all of our public schools would be assured of a steady, predictable and sufficient level of funding to ensure that all students have access to a quality education. But that's not the world we live in, and the impact of population changes provides us with a stark reminder of that fact.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
42 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Texas parents and teachers worry bills to root out liberal sway from public schools pave the way for conservative bias
Halcyon Ramsey, a mother of three children in the McKinney school district, is active in her kids' elementary and middle schools. She knows how to reach administrators and has many teachers' cellphone numbers. Ramsey values having a voice in what her children will be taught, especially when schools are preparing to discuss complex topics like sexuality. 'I get a permission slip, and then I have an opportunity to preview and see what they're going to show to determine if I give my permission,' she said. 'So as a parent, I feel like my rights are being acknowledged, because I have the option to opt out.' During this year's legislative session, Republican lawmakers championed several proposals advocating for parents' right to guide their children's education in public schools, a sentiment Ramsey agrees with. Supporters of the legislation say it will give parents more control over their children's learning and push back against what they criticize as liberal bias in instruction. But Ramsey worries that some new laws might do more harm than good. Some teachers and parents note that Texas schools already have ways to take in feedback from families, and many work closely with parents in determining school activities and teaching plans. They say efforts to eliminate ideological bias in the classroom are contradicted by other conservative proposals approved this year that seek to push schools to the right. Ultimately, they warn, the proposals will further fan the flames of culture wars in schools, strain the trust between parents and teachers, and make it more difficult to navigate classroom instruction. 'I think when you have too many opinions and too many things involved, it muddies the water, then we don't get anything done,' Ramsey said. Frustration with schools The push for more parental involvement in schools gained traction during the COVID-19 pandemic, when schools closed and switched to remote learning. It led to plummeting grades and created challenges for many parents, who suddenly had to find child care during the day. Schools also introduced mask and vaccine requirements, which conflicted with some families' personal beliefs. Frustrations with public schools eventually extended to classroom instruction. Conservative groups said the way schools taught children about issues like race, racism, sex and gender amounted to forcing leftist ideologies onto students, and that parents should have the power to push back. Lawmakers echoed concerns that classrooms had become too politicized and that taxpayers' money was being used to promote certain ideologies. Conservative criticism led to legislation in 2021 banning public schools from teaching critical race theory, a college-level field of study that explores how race and racism influence laws and institutions, despite the discipline not being taught in K-12 schools. In 2023, the Texas Legislature approved a law prohibiting school libraries from acquiring or keeping sexually explicit materials, which was partially blocked last year. This session, many bills, big and small, sought to build on those efforts. Senate Bill 12, which supporters dubbed the Parental Bill of Rights, aims to give parents more authority over their children's curriculum and extracurricular activities. The bill's goal is to help parents 'make informed choices that align with their family's values,' Rep. Jeff Leach, the bill's sponsor, said on the Texas House floor in May. The legislation, which is headed to Gov. Greg Abbott's desk, will also ban Texas schools from considering diversity, equity and inclusion when hiring or training staff, as well as prohibit student clubs related to sexual orientation and gender identity. Under the law, parents must approve their child's participation in club activities. They will be able to report school employees whom they believe are violating the DEI ban to the principal. If they're not satisfied with the school's response, they can appeal to the Texas education commissioner, who can investigate the complaint and conduct a hearing. Meanwhile, one of the central arguments for Senate Bill 2, which will create a school voucher program in Texas that will allow families to use taxpayer funds to pay for their children's private schooling, was to make it easier for parents to opt out of public schools they believe are underperforming academically or unsafe. Other bills approved this year include Senate Bill 13, which will allow parents to have a bigger role in approving or challenging any school library materials, and Senate Bill 204, which orders the creation of a handbook outlining the ways in which parents can influence their schools. Mandy Drogin, a campaign director with the conservative think tank Texas Public Policy Foundation and a school voucher advocate, said she believes legislation approved this session will give more control to parents worried that what their children are learning in classrooms contradicts some families' traditional values. But Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, a critic of those efforts, said the bills don't give parents anything they didn't have before. Even before the recent parental rights movement, families have been encouraged to reach out to their school board members or participate in parent-teacher associations to advocate for changes and improvements in their children's schools. According to Charles Butt Foundation research, nine in 10 Texas public school parents feel comfortable communicating with teachers on safety, academic performance and mental health. Before the passage of the school libraries bill, parents already had ways to provide input on what content their children could access, Wu said. He also criticized a feature of the bill that will allow school boards to oversee book approvals and removals, or delegate that responsibility to local school advisory councils if parents in a district sign a petition allowing their creation. The bill requires only 50 parents or 10% of parents in the district, whichever is less, to sign the petition. 'If a parent really objected to a book, they could have gone to the library. They could have gone to the school. They go talk to the school board,' Wu told The Texas Tribune. 'What these bills do is allow a very small minority to override and to control the process.' Like other priority Republican legislation this year, Wu said, parental rights bills misrepresent what they do. During the Texas House debate on the DEI ban on K-12 schools last month, he blasted Leach for referring to LGBTQ+ student groups as 'sex clubs.' 'Just like school vouchers are really about school choice, banning books is really couched as parental rights,' he said. 'This has been the consistent M.O. of the religious right, of the Republican right, for a long time now. You call things what [they are] not. And after a while, you say it enough times, the lie becomes true.' 'That is a culture war' For Nicole Hill, communications director for Texas' chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, these bills will ultimately limit how children behave and what they read. 'That's not parents' rights. That is a culture war,' Hill said of legislation like the K-12 DEI ban and the school libraries bill. "It's nothing to do with an actual parent's right to be involved in their child's education and to have all the information they need to make good choices.' Hill said some teachers worry the new legislation will make it harder to teach certain topics and increase self-censorship among educators fearful of getting reported. For Drogin, teachers should exercise a certain level of restraint. For instance, she criticized teachers who have read in class, 'My Shadow Is Purple,' a children's picture book about gender identity. Drogin said that kind of material doesn't belong in the classroom. Teachers 'should be self-censoring. That has no business in a classroom with children,' she said. 'If parents want to read those books to their children, by all means, you can go on Amazon and buy it, but my tax dollars and my children should not be exposed to that ideology, which is a radical ideology.' Some teachers said the vague language of the new bills leaves many unsure of what is actually prohibited. Rachel Preston, who teaches AP French language and culture at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy in Austin, said she's rethinking her curriculum. She's concerned that some topics she teaches could be misunderstood or taken out of context under the DEI ban. For instance, her textbook includes a section titled 'La sexualité,' which she fears could be misinterpreted under the new rules and viewed as the promotion of a certain ideology. 'We talk about gender issues, and sometimes sexuality comes up in that. But this is a college-level coursework that we're expected to deal with in high school. So it just feels like it will make teaching my AP class a lot harder next year when I get around to those issues,' she said. Megan Holden, an English and AP art history teacher at Bowie High School in Austin, said she's concerned that teachers won't know what to expect from parents. Every parent has their own views, she said, which will make it hard for teachers to know what's considered acceptable. 'We're not even sure what parents are looking for, and so we have to guess that,' Holden said. 'We have to guess what might be offensive to every parent, which is a lot to have to figure out.' Preston and Holden pushed back against the notion that teachers are trying to indoctrinate children. 'We don't tell them what to think. We tell them how to think. It's the how, not the what, and it feels like it's being assumed that we're telling them the what,' Preston said. Ramsey, the McKinney ISD mom, agrees with the idea that classrooms shouldn't be used to promote any ideology. However, she said other bills prioritized by GOP legislators and approved this session seem to do just that. She pointed to Senate Bill 10, which will require schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms. Ramsey is concerned that, in trying to keep ideology out of the classroom, lawmakers are actually depriving students of important knowledge and exposing them to more political influence. 'I feel like that is under attack here in Texas, the freedom to have a child actually be educated without being indoctrinated with religion,' Ramsey said. 'I want my children to be able to make choices in their life based on what they have been taught at home, not what is being controlled and put in their heads at school, and I see public education headed in the wrong direction based on the decisions that the Legislature is making.' Disclosure: Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Texas Public Policy Foundation have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here. Big news: 20 more speakers join the TribFest lineup! New additions include Margaret Spellings, former U.S. secretary of education and CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center; Michael Curry, former presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church; Beto O'Rourke, former U.S. Representative, D-El Paso; Joe Lonsdale, entrepreneur, founder and managing partner at 8VC; and Katie Phang, journalist and trial lawyer. Get tickets. TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
Yahoo
42 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Standoff with troops in Los Angeles reignites old feud as Newsom resists Trump's immigration raids
WASHINGTON (AP) — It was earlier this year that California Gov. Gavin Newsom was making nice with President Donald Trump as he sought help for his wildfire-battered state and moderating his approach ahead of a potential bid for the White House. But now the gloves are off after Trump took the extraordinary step of federalizing the National Guard in Los Angeles over Newsom's objections and the governor responded by suing the administration, alleging abuse of power that marked an 'unmistakable step toward authoritarianism.' The escalating clash pits the leader of the Republican Party against a Democrat with ambitions of leading his own party, with a striking backdrop of a domestic troop deployment meant to control a city in unrest and now to assist in arresting migrants — the centerpiece of the president's agenda. For Trump, it's another chance to battle with Newsom, a frequent foil who leads a heavily Democratic state the president has long criticized. And for Newsom, the feud has handed him a national platform as a beleaguered Democratic Party seeks a leader able to resist Trump. 'He has shown he's not going to be intimidated, and we're all for that,' Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said of Newsom on Wednesday. Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, a former California resident, said Newsom's motivations for taking on Trump are clear. 'This is all about Gavin Newsom running for president in 2028, and what he is hoping is that becoming the face of a resistance to Trump is going to jog him to victory in Democratic primaries,' he said in his podcast 'The Ben Shapiro Show.' Trump wages a war against California Trump has long been a foe of California, which overwhelmingly rejected him in all three of his presidential campaigns. Over the years, Trump has threatened to intercede in the state's long-running homeless crisis, vowed to withhold federal wildfire aid as political leverage in a dispute over water rights, called on police to shoot people robbing stores and warned residents 'your children are in danger' because of illegal immigration. As a candidate in 2023, Trump said California was once a symbol of American prosperity but is 'becoming a symbol of our nation's decline.' 'This is not a great state anymore. This is a dumping ground,' Trump said at the time. 'The world is being dumped into California. Prisoners. Terrorists. Mental patients.' Newsom would learn to balance the dueling imperatives of a governor who needs to work with the federal government with being one of the Democratic Party's most prominent figures. As governor-elect, Newsom joined Trump in November 2018 as the then-president viewed wildfire damage in Paradise, California, and they pledged to put aside political differences to help the community recover. He was also overly complimentary of the Trump administration's assistance to California during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, praising Trump's 'focus on treatments' for the virus and thanking him for sending masks and gloves to his state. But Newsom was also a top surrogate for Democrats in the 2024 campaign and frequently warned of the consequences of Trump's return to the White House. Trump and Newsom make nice over wildfire catastrophe There was a handshake and a warm pat on the back. Newsom was there on the tarmac in Los Angeles in January, welcoming Trump and first lady Melania Trump, who had traveled west to survey the damage from the deadly wildfires in Southern California. Then they spoke to reporters together, pledging cooperation to rebuild the area and appreciating each other's presence. 'You were there for us during COVID. I don't forget that,' Newsom said. 'And I have all the expectations that we'll be able to work together to get this speedy recovery.' Trump added: 'We will. We're going to get it done.' Newsom also traveled to Washington in February to press Trump and lawmakers for more federal wildfire relief. The governor called his meeting with Trump 'productive' and one that was marked with a 'spirit of collaboration and cooperation.' The cordial attitude was part of Newsom's unmistakable appeal to the center, painting himself as a pragmatist to reach out to those who had fled from a party that had just lost all battleground states in the 2024 presidential election. Newsom spoke to conservative allies of Trump on a new podcast the governor billed as a way for Democrats to learn from the political successes of Trump's 'Make America Great Again' movement. He voiced opposition to transgender athletes participating in female sports while shifting focus away from efforts in Sacramento to 'Trump-proof' California — which Newsom embarked on after Trump's victory in November — as the wildfires raged. In an April interview with YouTube commentator Brian Tyler Cohen, Newsom acknowledged Trump's ability to appeal to the public. 'His success is his ability to win every damn news cycle and get us distracted and moving in 25 different directions,' he said. Newsom warns of democracy 'under assault' as Trump sends troops The Democratic governor and Trump have been feuding publicly about the response to protests, with Newsom claiming Trump didn't warn him he'd deploy troops in a Friday phone call and Trump claiming the conversation was about that. Newsom has taunted Trump administration officials with arresting him, and Trump first appeared receptive to the idea and then walked back earlier remarks. After Newsom filed an emergency request in federal court Tuesday to block the Trump administration from using the National Guard and Marines to assist with immigration raids in Los Angeles, he gave a public address accusing Trump of going beyond arresting criminals. 'California may be first, but it clearly will not end here,' he warned. 'Other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes.' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed Newsom's speech as performative. 'I know Gavin Newsom had a big address to the nation last night — I guess he thought that's what it was for maybe his future political ambitions,' Leavitt said Wednesday. 'But he spoke a lot of words. We haven't seen action.' The filing this week wasn't the first time this year that California had sued the Trump administration. In April, Newsom filed a lawsuit that challenged Trump's authority to impose sweeping tariffs that the governor asserted would inflate prices and inflict billions of dollars in damage to California, which has the nation's largest economy. And California — not just Newsom — continues to be a foil. Just this month, the Trump administration signaled that it intends to cut off federal funding for a long-delayed California high-speed rail project plagued by multibillion-dollar cost overruns. He's threatened to pull federal funding in California if the state did not bar transgender students from participating in girls sports. The Justice Department warned districts they could face legal trouble if they don't bar trans athletes from competition. And on Thursday, he's expected to sign a measure blocking California's vehicle emissions rules. ___ Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Blood from Los Angeles. Associated Press writer Kevin Freking in Washington contributed.
Hamilton Spectator
44 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Standoff with troops in Los Angeles reignites old feud as Newsom resists Trump's immigration raids
WASHINGTON (AP) — It was earlier this year that California Gov. Gavin Newsom was making nice with President Donald Trump as he sought help for his wildfire-battered state and moderating his approach ahead of a potential bid for the White House. But now the gloves are off after Trump took the extraordinary step of federalizing the National Guard in Los Angeles over Newsom's objections and the governor responded by suing the administration, alleging abuse of power that marked an 'unmistakable step toward authoritarianism.' The escalating clash pits the leader of the Republican Party against a Democrat with ambitions of leading his own party, with a striking backdrop of a domestic troop deployment meant to control a city in unrest and now to assist in arresting migrants — the centerpiece of the president's agenda. For Trump, it's another chance to battle with Newsom, a frequent foil who leads a heavily Democratic state the president has long criticized. And for Newsom, the feud has handed him a national platform as a beleaguered Democratic Party seeks a leader able to resist Trump. 'He has shown he's not going to be intimidated, and we're all for that,' Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said of Newsom on Wednesday. Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, a former California resident, said Newsom's motivations for taking on Trump are clear. 'This is all about Gavin Newsom running for president in 2028, and what he is hoping is that becoming the face of a resistance to Trump is going to jog him to victory in Democratic primaries,' he said in his podcast 'The Ben Shapiro Show.' Trump wages a war against California Trump has long been a foe of California, which overwhelmingly rejected him in all three of his presidential campaigns. Over the years, Trump has threatened to intercede in the state's long-running homeless crisis, vowed to withhold federal wildfire aid as political leverage in a dispute over water rights , called on police to shoot people robbing stores and warned residents 'your children are in danger' because of illegal immigration. As a candidate in 2023, Trump said California was once a symbol of American prosperity but is 'becoming a symbol of our nation's decline.' 'This is not a great state anymore. This is a dumping ground,' Trump said at the time. 'The world is being dumped into California. Prisoners. Terrorists. Mental patients.' Newsom would learn to balance the dueling imperatives of a governor who needs to work with the federal government with being one of the Democratic Party's most prominent figures. As governor-elect, Newsom joined Trump in November 2018 as the then-president viewed wildfire damage in Paradise, California, and they pledged to put aside political differences to help the community recover. He was also overly complimentary of the Trump administration's assistance to California during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, praising Trump's 'focus on treatments' for the virus and thanking him for sending masks and gloves to his state. But Newsom was also a top surrogate for Democrats in the 2024 campaign and frequently warned of the consequences of Trump's return to the White House. Trump and Newsom make nice over wildfire catastrophe There was a handshake and a warm pat on the back. Newsom was there on the tarmac in Los Angeles in January, welcoming Trump and first lady Melania Trump, who had traveled west to survey the damage from the deadly wildfires in Southern California. Then they spoke to reporters together, pledging cooperation to rebuild the area and appreciating each other's presence. 'You were there for us during COVID. I don't forget that,' Newsom said. 'And I have all the expectations that we'll be able to work together to get this speedy recovery.' Trump added: 'We will. We're going to get it done.' Newsom also traveled to Washington in February to press Trump and lawmakers for more federal wildfire relief. The governor called his meeting with Trump 'productive' and one that was marked with a 'spirit of collaboration and cooperation.' The cordial attitude was part of Newsom's unmistakable appeal to the center, painting himself as a pragmatist to reach out to those who had fled from a party that had just lost all battleground states in the 2024 presidential election. Newsom spoke to conservative allies of Trump on a new podcast the governor billed as a way for Democrats to learn from the political successes of Trump's 'Make America Great Again' movement. He voiced opposition to transgender athletes participating in female sports while shifting focus away from efforts in Sacramento to 'Trump-proof' California — which Newsom embarked on after Trump's victory in November — as the wildfires raged. In an April interview with YouTube commentator Brian Tyler Cohen, Newsom acknowledged Trump's ability to appeal to the public. 'His success is his ability to win every damn news cycle and get us distracted and moving in 25 different directions,' he said. Newsom warns of democracy 'under assault' as Trump sends troops The Democratic governor and Trump have been feuding publicly about the response to protests, with Newsom claiming Trump didn't warn him he'd deploy troops in a Friday phone call and Trump claiming the conversation was about that. Newsom has taunted Trump administration officials with arresting him, and Trump first appeared receptive to the idea and then walked back earlier remarks. After Newsom filed an emergency request in federal court Tuesday to block the Trump administration from using the National Guard and Marines to assist with immigration raids in Los Angeles, he gave a public address accusing Trump of going beyond arresting criminals. 'California may be first, but it clearly will not end here,' he warned. 'Other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes.' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed Newsom's speech as performative. 'I know Gavin Newsom had a big address to the nation last night — I guess he thought that's what it was for maybe his future political ambitions,' Leavitt said Wednesday. 'But he spoke a lot of words. We haven't seen action.' The filing this week wasn't the first time this year that California had sued the Trump administration. In April, Newsom filed a lawsuit that challenged Trump's authority to impose sweeping tariffs that the governor asserted would inflate prices and inflict billions of dollars in damage to California, which has the nation's largest economy. And California — not just Newsom — continues to be a foil. Just this month, the Trump administration signaled that it intends to cut off federal funding for a long-delayed California high-speed rail project plagued by multibillion-dollar cost overruns . He's threatened to pull federal funding in California if the state did not bar transgender students from participating in girls sports. The Justice Department warned districts they could face legal trouble if they don't bar trans athletes from competition. And on Thursday, he's expected to sign a measure blocking California's vehicle emissions rules. ___ Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Blood from Los Angeles. Associated Press writer Kevin Freking in Washington contributed. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
