SCHOOL FUNDING CHANGES DEBATED AT EDUCATORS MEETING

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez | Pass / Fail  | 89.3 KPCC |  http://bit.ly/Ww8J8B

Rich Pedroncelli/AP

November 28th, 2012, 6:00am  ::  Educators at a private meeting Tuesday sounded off on an expected proposal to increase state funding to disadvantaged school districts. Conversation focused on Governor Jerry Brown's proposal to redistribute education funding pots known as categoricals among districts with high proportions of kids in poverty and English learners.

Educators at a private meeting Tuesday sounded off on an expected proposal to increase state financial support to disadvantaged school districts. The 90-minute meeting was convened in Hawthorne by area State Senator Rod Wright. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson attended, as did representatives of nearly a dozen public school districts.

The conversation,Wright said, focused on Governor Jerry Brown's proposal to redistribute education funding pots known as categoricals among districts with high proportions of kids in poverty and English learners.

That idea died on the vine earlier this year after a coalition of school district officials and teachers unions opposed it. Inglewood area State Senator Rod Wright said the proposal would pit district against district.

“The problem with that is that if you’re, say, a district like Long Beach then that could hurt you, right? Because Long Beach may not be as disadvantaged as might be, Lawndale,” Wright said.

Wright expects the governor to reintroduce a similar proposal next year.

Recent cuts in state education spending have led many educators to call on lawmakers to streamline the state’s ultra-complicated formula for education funding.