LA Unified Approves ‘Student-Focused’ $18.5 Billion Budget Amid Enrollment Decline, Teacher Shortage

Alberto Carvalho, then Miami-Dade Schools superintendent, is seen during a school board meeting in Miami, Fla., on March 1, 2018. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Superintendent Alberto Carvalho has earned unanimous support from the district’s Board of Education on both his 2022–23 budget of $18.5 billion and his long-term vision for K–12 schools in Los Angeles.

The LAUSD—the second-largest school district in the nation—currently faces several challenges, such as student academic gaps brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, declining enrollment and funding, teacher and staff shortages, and student safety concerns in the wake of several mass shootings.

Carvalho’s strategic plan will focus on addressing these issues, with the next school year’s budget as the first step, including $1.9 billion in targeted investments to close learning gaps.

“This budget is values-based, enabling Los Angeles Unified to fund and support the critical priorities of this Board, even during a period of economic downturn,” Carvalho said in a statement. “Guided by our strategic plan, we will continue to implement strategies that enhance and inspire student achievement, support our highly effective workforce and protect taxpayers’ investments.”

A bus containing Los Angeles Unified School District students drives in Los Angeles, Calif., on Sept. 29, 2021. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

During the June 21 board meeting, where the budget (pdf) was approved, Carvalho noted that the district is getting less funding and will have to stay “vigilant” in its spending in the coming years.

This is in part due to enrollment decline, which is expected to drop by 30 percent over the next decade, according to a recent projection by the district.

A one-percent decline in enrollment can result in a loss of approximately $55 million in funding for the upcoming school year, according to the budget report.

In addition, Carvalho is preparing the district—which received about $5 billion in federal pandemic aid last year—for the time when such funding is no longer available.

“The approved budget devotes critical resources toward long-term renewal and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and demonstrates a clear commitment to equity, achievement and sustainability,” Board President Kelly Gonez said. “Through this budget, our District is investing in key priority areas, including support for our highest-need students, early education opportunities for our youngest learners and social emotional learning to meet our students’ holistic needs.”

Students and parents arrive masked for the first day of the school year at Grant Elementary School in Los Angeles, on Aug. 16, 2021. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

Closing Learning Gaps

To boost academic performance, the district allots $122 million for extended instruction days such as summer school programs.

Additionally, the following allocations are to ensure students with different needs can learn better in school:

• $100 million for high-needs students
• $100 million for special education
• $13 million for early education
• $6 million for English learners
• $4 million for tutoring

Over a four-year period, the district aims to raise third-grade students’ average English proficiency score on the Smarter Balanced Assessment by 30 points, algebra pass rates in elementary and middle schools, and math proficiency in grades 3–5 and 6–8 by 40 points on average.

A child wears a face mask as they attend an online class at a learning hub inside the Crenshaw Family YMCA during the Covid-19 pandemic in Los Angeles, Calif., on Feb. 17, 2021. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

The budget also designated $24 million for the Black Student Achievement Plan—launched in the 2021–2022 school year to address disparities between black students and their peers—and $200,000 to support other programs for black and indigenous students.

To promote hands-on, engaging learning for elementary school students outside of regular instructions, the state’s Expanded Learning Opportunities Program provides the district with $579.9 million to support the following activities:

• $112.6 million for summer school programs
• $92.6 million for afterschool programs
• $5.4 million for arts, music, and cultural experiences
• $335,000 for social-emotional learning, wellness, and mental health programs
• $300,000 for outdoor field trips

Elementary school children have a water break during a field trip to the Grand Park Earth Day celebration in downtown Los Angeles on April 22, 2016.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Student Safety

As part of Carvalho’s plans to boost safety operations in the wake of the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting, an additional $5 million—on top of the original $179.6 million—will go into campus security.

The superintendent stressed that the allocation would not go directly to the Los Angeles School Police Department, but to campus security aides and equipment to strengthen the perimeter of schools.

Despite calls from the local teachers’ union, United Teachers of LA, to further defund the school police department, Carvalho opted to keep the police budget at $13.2 million for the upcoming school year, roughly the same as the previous year’s.

In 2020, the Board of Education voted to reduce the school’s security and safety budget by one-third following the Black Lives Matter movement. The funds were then reallocated to the district’s Black Student Achievement Plan for the 2020–21 school year.

Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles supporters protest outside the Unified School District headquarters calling on the board of education to defund school police in Los Angeles on June 23, 2020. Mario Tama/Getty Images

Teacher and Staff Shortages

Amid a nationwide teacher shortage, Carvalho said the district is expanding its recruitment.

Carvalho’s strategic plan aims to ensure that teacher vacancies at high-needs schools do not exceed 6 percent.

Meanwhile, it prioritizes professional development for current teachers and better preparedness for new hires by increasing training.

LAUSD officials previously told The Epoch Times that the district is looking to fill about 1,000 staff positions and 1,500 teaching positions before the fall semester starts in August.

The district hosted four hiring fairs for graduating LAUSD high school seniors in June in hopes of filling staff positions and is working with school leaders to fill teaching vacancies by fall, according to officials.

Hollywood High Special Education teacher Shirley Woods conducts class remotely in Los Angeles on Sept. 8, 2020. Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images

This comes after the district fired more than 800 staff members during the 2021–22 school year for non-compliance with its COVID-19 staff vaccine mandate, which was enacted in November, according to the parent and teacher advocacy group Los Angeles Educators & Parents United.

In addition, about 600 teachers were forced to move out of classrooms to teach remotely in the district’s online learning program, City of Angels, according to the advocacy group.

The district was short of about 420 in-classroom teachers this spring semester, which prompted the superintendent to direct non-teaching district staff who held teaching credentials or who formerly held teaching positions to fill in the gap for the rest of the school year.

The district hasn’t confirmed the number of teachers who were fired because of being unvaccinated after multiple requests for comment.

A group of teachers and parents gathered in protest outside the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) headquarters in Los Angeles on May 16. Courtesy of Los Angeles Educators & Parents United

Where Are the Cuts?

The new budget is $1.5 billion less than the previous year’s $20 billion, which is due to significant cuts in the following areas:

• $91.3 million from counseling and after-school programs
• $88.7 million from food services
• $61 million from district operations
• $55.6 million from school instructional support
• $39.6 million from teachers’ professional development and supplies
• $17.7 million from central administration
• $14.7 million from transportation
• $2.1 million from early education