By Lucas Shaw,
Staff Writer.
In response to a recent Marin County Grand Jury ruling, Santa Rosa City Schools Superintendent Dr. Daisy Morales reminded staff that they are not permitted to ask students for donations, in reference to the district’s legal obligation to provide students a free education. Morales has taken a step further and stated teachers can no longer reach out to communities outside the classroom to ask for donations through GoFundMe’s or similar programs. With the district’s fiscal deficit, it is puzzling teachers how they will acquire the funds they need.
As per the California Education Code Section 49011, students cannot provide funds for participation in a class, activity or program. Santa Rosa High School principal Dr. Mark Ryan has been a principal for over 20 years: “I will say this is the very first school I have been at that charges kids for. . . P.E. clothes, caps and gowns, TI83 graphing calculators, etc. No school has ever permitted that because it’s against the law.” SRHS does not have malicious intent and is not the only school technically breaking the law. Unfortunately, SRHS has been asking students to provide money for class materials for years and was not prepared for the recent enforcement of the district’s civil obligation.
Every year, SRHS is provided a sum of money by the district. This year, the campus was granted $181,791.93 worth of what is called LCFF (Local Control Funding Formula) dollars. The money is then sorted into a budget. Ryan said, “That 181 grand pays for 20% of our NTCF counselors salary benefits. That’s $25,000.” The school then uses the money to pay teachers who work overtime, adding up to around $40,000. “Then, we put in $25,000 for materials and supplies. The materials cost was over $200,000. We only had allocated $25,000 because, well, that’s what the district gave us,” Ryan said.
In an interview with Morales and Business Superintendent Lisa August, it was made clear that the district only provides schools with money they need to fund basic supplies demanded by district-approved curriculum. They stated that any expenses, extra lessons, units or field trips teachers take upon themselves — while impactful tools for students learning — are the school sites’ job to fund with whatever is provided to them. “If schools are struggling with the funding given to them, we know about it. Dr. Ryan hasn’t come to us about a lack of funding,” said August.
Many teachers have expressed the detriment this has to their curriculum as tough decisions are made about their former practices. ArtQuest program director Brooke Delello said, “I get where she [Morales] is coming from, but it’s creating animosity. How are we supposed to get the materials we need when the district doesn’t have the money?” Delello has been teaching at SRHS since 2006, and her request for students to donate is optional. They do not contribute to a student’s grade, nor are students denied materials if they do not provide.
Teachers like Delello are scrambling to figure out how their students will get what they deserve. The supply of pencils, paper and calculators — anything that may be used in a class’s curriculum — are threatened. Morales claimed that the district will deal with it, but where will the money come from?
