Is it just a coincidence that 85 percent of the unified school districts in Los Angeles County, which now receive the state’s added 50 percent concentration grants, are paying more in average salary than the Culver City USD? According to the 2015-16 J-90 County salary survey, the average salary of these other districts is $79,820. That’s $5,150 more than the Culver City’s average of $74,670.

Gov. Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula plan has left successful districts, like ours, in a precarious funding position when it comes to paying competitive salaries. Culver City is only receiving 89.75 percent of the county average of Average Daily Attendance funding.

No Cigar

Even though Culver City has the well-earned reputation of being a very good school district,  40 percent of its students are classified as high needs, being socio-economically disadvantaged. Forty percent is not enough for our district to receive any of the state’s added 50 percent concentration grants.

Actually, the governor’s LCFF plan takes away funding from our district (now, over 10 percent) and other successful L.A. County districts and gives it to less successful districts. This hands them a distinct funding advantage. If the governor would have chosen the cutoff point at 40 percent instead of the 55 percent of district enrollment, our small district might have had a chance to keep up with these larger, better state-funded districts in paying comparable salaries.

Fiscal Reality Hits Home

With four more years to go until the governor’s LCFF plan is fully-funded, if our share of state funding stays below 90 percent of the County average or drops even further, our School Board will have to come to a stark realization:

Under Gov. Brown’s current state funding, its goal of reaching the L.A. County median salary would not be within reach. Nor would it be sustainable.

Mr. Laase may be contacted at GMLaase@aol.com