III.Motion For Adoption

ADOPTED AS AMENDED (See Minutes)

A.Ms. Korenstein - Desegregation Funding and Economic Impact Aid (Waiver of Board Rule 72)

Whereas, The California Assembly has proposed to reallocate $250,000,000 from current funding for school districts with desegregation programs to other school districts which do not operate such programs;

Whereas, This proposal would reallocate the funds for Economic Impact Aid to various school districts;

Whereas, The Los Angeles Unified School District believes that all school districts should be adequately funded for the Economic Impact Aid program;

Whereas, The Los Angeles Unified School District believes that all school districts with racially isolated minority schools should be adequately funded for desegregation programs;

Whereas, Desegregation funds for the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) were established under Court Orders, to provide for physical integration of students as well as programs for students who would remain in isolation;

Whereas, The District's voluntary integration program has provided an integrated experience for 43,000 magnet students during the 1995-96 school year and the Permits With Transportation (PWT) program has transported 8,000 students to integrated schools;

Whereas, Efforts in Predominantly Hispanic, Black, Asian, and Other Non-Anglo (PHBAO) schools have provided exceptional instructional programs, such as the School Readiness Language Development (SRLDP) for students 3.9 - 4.9 years of age in over 500 classes during the 1995-96 school year and the Ten Schools Program which as enabled students in ten of the lowest achieving schools to excel academically over the last eight years;

Whereas, The Assembly proposal creates a race-based reallocation from high minority school districts to lower minority school districts; and

Whereas, The Assembly proposal could result in a de jure act of segregation and destructive litigation; therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Board of Education of the City of Los Angeles oppose the Assembly budget proposal which would reallocate funds dedicated for desegregation to the Economic Impact Aid Program; and be it

Resolved further, That the Board of Education support adequate funding for the Economic Impact Aid program from the funds owed to public education under the minimum funding guarantee of Proposition 98.

Whereas, Current statutes describe the responsibility of the State to reimburse school districts for both court-ordered and voluntary desegregation programs;

Whereas, The Budget Conference Committee has agreed that the 1996-97 State budget should not reallocate desegregation funding to the Economic Impact Aid program, which would have transferred the funds from school districts with desegregation programs to districts that do not operate such programs;

Whereas, This action was undoubtedly influenced by the opinion of California's Legislative Counsel in response to a request by Senator Polanco regarding the State's liability for desegregation costs;

Whereas, Some members of the Budget Conference Committee have now proposed the repeal of the statutes requiring the reimbursement of school districts for court-ordered and voluntary desegregation programs;

Whereas, Repeal of the statutes requiring reimbursement of the desegregation programs that certain districts must continue to provide would deprive those districts of funding for the remainder of the educational program commensurate with the funding provided to school districts not required to conduct such programs;

Whereas, California's Legislative Counsel has indicated that if statutes pertaining to reimbursement of school districts for the costs of desegregation were repealed, a basis would remain for a court to find that the State is liable for the costs of court-ordered or voluntary desegregation programs in a school district; and

Whereas, School districts threatened with the aggregate loss of $500 million previously provided for desegregation programs would be forced to sue the State for the retention of the funds, thereby threatening the enactment of the State budget; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Board of Education of the City of Los Angeles strongly oppose the repeal of the statutes that assure reimbursement of the costs of desegregation programs conducted in compliance with court orders or voluntarily to avoid imposition of a court order; and

Resolved further, That this resolution be transmitted to the Governor, the leadership of both houses of the Legislature, and the members of the Budget Conference Committee.

B.Speakers