A recent article in EdSource covers the funding inequality between school districts created by “Basic Aid” Districts. I’ve written about funding inequality in Solidarity News before (SN Oct 2024, 2022 numbers).  The EdSource article has more details and numbers than SN could produce, but the issue is the same.

Basic Aid districts (15% of California districts) collect more in property taxes than what they would otherwise get from the state— and they are allowed to keep all of it for their school district.  Yearly per-pupil spending ranges from $36 to $$9,400 more than other districts.  (Background: SN Oct 2024) Many of these same districts have parcel taxes (Background: SN March 2024 ) The most extreme result is that Palo Alto USD  can spend almost twice as much per pupil than the next-door  East Palo Alto USD!  

The wealthiest of the Basic Aid districts in the state are clustered in and around Silicon Valley.  Buying a home in these districts is only available to perhaps the top 10% (and up!) of the income distribution— and they are buying into better-funded schools. These are special schools for the children of the tech-wealthy!  The wealthy have always had different standards for their children’s schools: experienced teachers, small classes, lots of funded clubs and activities. In most places they have to send their children to private schools to get this, but Basic Aid lets them have that in their local schools.

Something the Ed Source article covers that I hadn’t thought about is the perverse effect of declining enrollments in Basic Aid districts.  Most districts lose funding when they lose students—but Basic Aid districts lose nothing and then are able to spend even more per pupil.

The article concludes with a list of ways to change this inequality. These are mostly very mild, but the article reminds us that when the California State Supreme Court  (Serrano vs.Priest, 1971) found school funding by property tax to be unconstitutionally unequal, they thought  the solution was to raise state funding to the poorest districts. If we raise the level of state funding (Tax the wealth in Silicon Valley, not just the property!) to the point where all districts can have experienced teachers, small classes, and lots of funded clubs and activities— then Basic Aid will disappear!

David de Leeuw.   Oakland Education Association, retired