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At Pinedale Elementary in Fresno, there鈥檚 almost no classroom aides, after-school tutors or behavioral counselors. Literacy activities and parent workshops are scarce. Field trips? Almost non-existent. The school survives on one of the lowest per-pupil expenditures in the state: $16,700 a year, nearly $5,000 below the state average.

Less than two miles away, it鈥檚 a different story at Kratt Elementary, which is in a different school district. Kratt has almost identical demographics 鈥� predominantly low-income and Latino 鈥斅� but gets $25,000 per student and has the amenities to show for it.

And a few hours west in the Bay Area, you鈥檒l find Portola Valley Elementary, which spends almost $46,000 per student annually. It offers music and art classes, mental health counselors, small class sizes and state-of-the-art facilities.

The way California鈥檚 school funding works, schools with large numbers of students who are low-income, English learners, homeless or in foster care get extra funding. Schools in wealthy areas get less state funding but make up for it in local property taxes and parent donations. But those in the middle? They get much less money overall.

鈥淲hen I saw what other schools provide, I was like, what?鈥� said Tania Galeana-King, a mother of three and parent volunteer at Pinedale. 鈥淎s a parent, it鈥檚 really frustrating. I鈥檝e heard of No Child Left Behind, but this is like half the kids left behind.鈥�

Low funding, low test scores

When California adopted the Local Control Funding Formula a little more than , the idea was to bring equity to school funding and ensure students with the most needs got more support. But soaring costs, declining enrollment and inflation have led to gaping disparities in school funding.

Those in the wealthiest areas, such as Portola Valley, Menlo Park and other Silicon Valley enclaves, are typically 鈥渂asic aid鈥� districts, meaning they get most of their funding through local property taxes. Parents chip in the rest, often millions of dollars a year.

School districts that are not basic aid get their money through the state鈥檚 Local Control Funding Formula, which includes a base grant plus extra money depending how many students are low-income, English learners, homeless or in foster care. If more than 55% fall into that category, districts get even more money.

That鈥檚 why Fresno Unified, where Kratt Elementary is located, gets significantly more money than Pinedale Elementary, which is located in Clovis Unified. Clovis, where just under half the students are considered high-needs, receives little extra funding.

The consequences of the funding disparities are reflected in students鈥� test scores. At Pinedale, fewer than 30% of students met the state鈥檚 English language arts standard last year. Only 23.5% met the math standard. Kratt students scored 5 to 10 percentage points higher on both tests. At Portola Valley, about 85% of students met the standard on both tests.

鈥淚鈥檇 say the problem is urgent,鈥� said Michael Johnston, associate superintendent at Clovis Unified, noting the impact on student learning at schools with less funding. 鈥淔or many, many years, these kids have not gotten the same resources, and every year that goes by, it gets worse. It鈥檚 a group of students we are not treating fairly, and there needs to be a solution.鈥�

Solutions in Sacramento

A seeks to fix the problem. Authored by Sen. , a Democrat from San Jose, Senate Constitutional Amendment 5 would create a reserve account funded by surplus tax revenues in economically flush years. After the state doles out its Proposition 98 money 鈥� California鈥檚 primary vehicle for funding schools 鈥� every year, it would give extra funding to schools that aren鈥檛 in basic aid districts. The money would come from the interest generated on the reserve account. As the account grows, the extra funding would grow.

鈥淥ver time, we think this bill can certainly stop the bleeding,鈥� said Cortese, whose district includes a dozen basic aid districts. 鈥淚f we do nothing, the problem is just going to get worse and worse.鈥�

Cortese鈥檚 bill would amend the state constitution. If it passes the Legislature, the proposal would appear on the fall ballot.

Gov. Gavin Newsom鈥檚 also attempts to address the problem, providing almost $1 billion more toward school base grants.

That鈥檚 good news to the Association of California School Administrators. Although the money isn鈥檛 enough, it鈥檚 a start, said Naj Alikhan, the organization鈥檚 spokesman.

鈥�(We) strongly support efforts to raise the base grant,鈥� Alikhan said. 鈥淭he LCFF base grant is the foundation of school funding in California, and increasing it is one of the most effective ways to provide schools with greater stability, flexibility, and capacity to meet local needs.鈥�

Another bill, put forth by Assemblymember , a Democrat from Chula Vista, would expand school , but some worry that it would actually make funding shortfalls worse for some districts. Instead of raising the base grant, the bill would redirect more money to schools with large numbers of high-needs students.

Cutting the basics

David Roth, superintendent of Buckeye Union Elementary School District in El Dorado County, has gathered a cadre of school administrators to oppose Alvarez鈥檚 bill and fight for an increase in the base grant.

He鈥檚 created a database called , which calculates school districts鈥� funding disparities over the past 15 years. About 25 parent organizations and 60 small and mid-sized school districts have signed on to support Roth鈥檚 campaign. Among the largest: Clovis Unified, Fremont Unified, San Ramon Valley Unified and Murrieta Valley Unified.

鈥淲e support the idea that some student populations need more resources. At the end of the day, we鈥檙e all underfunded,鈥� Roth said. 鈥淏ut the base grant has not kept up with escalating costs, and districts are falling further and further behind.鈥�

Buckeye, a K-12 district in the Sierra foothills, receives only $15,100 per student, far below the state average of $21,000. The district has pockets of wealth, but also areas of poverty. Because of low per-pupil funding the district is in jeopardy of losing long-standing programs that serve all students, Roth said.

If base funding doesn鈥檛 improve, Roth anticipates cuts to P.E., libraries, counselors and music in the next few years.

鈥淚n my mind, these are the basics,鈥� Roth said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e patching things together now with bubblegum and shoestrings, but that can鈥檛 last forever. Soon we鈥檒l be unable to fund a reasonable education program.鈥�

‘There’s such a demand’

Pinedale Elementary is in a working-class neighborhood in north Fresno with no sidewalks and a smattering of crime and homelessness. Galeana-King described the area as tough but close-knit. 鈥淓veryone looks after each other,鈥� she said.

Galeana-King has been a parent at Pinedale for 15 years 鈥� all three of her children attended the school. She volunteers in the classroom and is active in the parent club, which raises a few thousand dollars a year through after-school snack sales, a salsa festival, jog-a-thon and other events.

But it鈥檚 not easy raising money in a community where most parents work multiple jobs to make ends meet.

鈥淲e have to be understanding,鈥� Galeana-King said. 鈥淲e want families to participate, but we need to be reasonable. People are struggling.鈥�

Teachers often pay for classroom supplies out of their own pockets, while the parent club pays for things like new chess boards for the chess club and the second-grade field trip to Monterey. But the needs are endless. If the parent club could raise more money, they鈥檇 like to provide snacks for the classrooms, new sports equipment, backpacks for students and other amenities.

鈥淚鈥檓 incredibly proud to send my kids to Pinedale. It might not always have the most financial resources, but it has a school full of people who deeply care about and love the kids,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat said, our students and staff urgently need more support.鈥�

This article was and was republished under the license.

Districts across the state reported they did not receive nearly as many applicants as anticipated and, as a result, there is some legislative momentum right now to extend the deadline.

School officials attributed the weak response to a number of factors, including summer communication lags and a concern among students that having pass/no pass outcomes on their transcripts would hurt their college prospects.

鈥淪ometimes it feels like our families have some school messenger fatigue, where they don’t always hear them or listen to them,鈥� said Tess Seay, head counselor at Fresno High School in the state鈥檚 Central Valley. Of their over 2,000 students, roughly 50 requested grade changes before their district鈥檚 Aug. 17 deadline, five days after their first day of school. They expected at least 100.

The ability to purge a low letter grade from your record has very real consequences. For two students on the cusp of 2.0 GPAs, Seay said the grade change option pushed them over that eligibility threshold for Cal Grants, the state鈥檚 loan-free financial aid. Some Cal Grants could provide for college tuition, making a significant financial impact for low-income students.

California legislators in July designed to not penalize students for the challenges that came with remote learning during the pandemic. In addition to the pass/no pass option, families could also request that their child repeat a grade or waive particular high school graduation requirements not mandated by the state.

The law required that districts notify families by Aug. 2 and provide a two-week application period. Many have questioned whether the timeline adequately enabled families 鈥� particularly those without regular internet access, or who may have been offline during the summer 鈥� to seriously consider their grade change options.

In San Bernardino, students returned to in-person learning Aug. 2 for the first time since March 2020. Anticipating a more hectic than usual back-to-school season as a result, the district opened English and Spanish-language grade-change on Aug. 16 for their 14,911 high schoolers, weeks after many other districts.

By Aug. 31, the district east of Los Angeles received 256 applications 鈥� just under 2 percent of those eligible.

鈥淏y design, we planned to start [the application window] the third week of school, allowing students, families, and counselors to focus on [the new state policy] and not overlook it in the rush of the start of the school year. This way students were settled into a routine before we brought it to their attention,鈥� Maria Garcia, the district鈥檚 communications officer, said in an email to 社区黑料.

Each San Bernardino high school website flags the policy and directs families to . Families were also notified via their district鈥檚 phone app [Parent Square], social media and email newsletters.

Nancy Witrado, director of counseling and guidance with Fresno Unified School District, said their application was made available via a fillable PDF, available in Hmong, Spanish and English. While they did not track the demographic details of who applied, she told 社区黑料 that many originated from a high school in northern Fresno county with a history of high parental engagement.

Many Fresno families filled out applications incorrectly, asking to change Bs or Fs to pass; the former would not benefit students and the latter would be impossible. The district is now paying overtime to several registrar and counseling employees to meet about 200 requests.

鈥淲e have a lot of follow-up to do, and to try to connect with parents to make sure that they have a full understanding of what it is they’re asking for,鈥� Witrado said.

Fresno Unified stuck to its Aug. 17 cutoff, though Witrado says not many families have reached out after-the-fact. One instance, of an application mistakenly submitted to a student鈥檚 teacher, will be honored because it came in before the deadline.

Problems reaching families may not be the only driver behind fewer grade-change requests 鈥斅爏ome college-bound students were warded off by the worry that a pass/no pass grade carried negative connotations with admissions officers.

Cecilia Roeder Chang, a senior at Gunn High School in affluent Palo Alto, said her district and school did a great job of getting the word out online, and her peers even posted about it on Instagram. Last school year she earned two Cs, in physics and foreign policy, that she considered changing to pass.

鈥淚 originally had decided that I was going to. Then I emailed my school counselor, and they replied back that colleges didn’t like that as much. So I decided against [it],鈥� she said.

Roeder Chang, who is applying to both in- and out-of-state schools, was not made aware that all California State Universities and all campuses within the University of California system must grades, or that some Cal Grants require a minimum 2.0 GPA. Her peers did not apply for grade changes, she said, given that they had mostly As and Bs.

The knowledge that some are able to change low grades for the better, after the school year鈥檚 end, has garnered mixed feelings.

鈥淚 sort of feel conflicted because on one hand, if you do have like lower grades it is helpful, but also on the other hand, if you are one of those people who are getting consistently like higher grades, you can feel like, I don’t want to say annoyance 鈥� maybe a little frustration.鈥�

North of Roeder Chang鈥檚 Palo Alto, Oakland Unified School District received 660 applications in Chinese, Arabic, English, Spanish and Vietnamese. All of the district鈥檚 13 high schools were represented, and the highest volume of applications were submitted by students at Skyline, Oakland Tech and Oakland High, the largest schools. Only two families have reached out after the district鈥檚 Aug. 16 deadline.

鈥淕iven this was the first legislation of its kind, we didn’t anticipate a certain number of requests and made sure we were prepared to handle a large number,鈥� John Sasaki, the district鈥檚 communications director, told 社区黑料 by email.

From a policy standpoint, advocates caution against permanent alternative grading. The , a national nonprofit that aims to make students prepared for post-secondary education, expressed concern for pass/no pass policies over longer periods, saying they may lead to decreased expectations for students and less accurate student data.

Short-term adjustments to grading policies can be beneficial for students who may need to heal from collective trauma, said one former high school math teacher who now works with the Collaborative. Recalling how his Las Vegas school let up on requirements after a mass shooting in October 2017, he said changing grading policies provided students with needed flexibility.

He said that other supports 鈥� like removing deadlines or penalties for late work 鈥� may adequately support students without overhauling A-F grading, which feeds into many other systems like financial aid, school report cards and state reporting.

San Diego Unified 鈥� the state鈥檚 second-largest district 鈥� during the pandemic. Only 290 of their 36,000 high schoolers applied for grade changes. The in its communications 鈥� recommending instead that the grade be 鈥渟uppressed鈥� by repeating the class.

Because of low application rates and school capacity to process applications at the start of the school year, San Diego state Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, who authored the state law, is now recommending districts extend deadlines voluntarily and is pursuing legislation to formally extend the deadline to October.

鈥淚 will say we鈥檙e a little disappointed with the lack of flexibility with some of the districts,鈥� . 鈥淚f you feel like you missed [the deadline], contact the school district. Really push.鈥�