Urban School Districts Plan Ways to Spend Share of Unexpected State Aid

Southeastern school districts with large numbers of poor and minority students are deciding how to spend their share of $83 million in unanticipated state aid aimed at meeting the special needs of urban schools.

The money, known as Urban Impact Aid, was cut from the state education budget in July by Gov. George Deukmejian. The Legislature restored the allocation earlier this month in a bill the governor is expected to sign shortly. The bill would also provide schools in Los Angeles County with $5.3 million in so-called Meade Aid, also designed to help defray higher costs in schools with many poor and minority students.

Locally, the big winners were the Lynwood Unified School District, which will receive almost $500,000 in Urban Impact Aid for the first time, and the Long Beach Unified School District. Long Beach received a 36% increase in funding over last year because recent increases in the number of its minority students were considered for the first time.

Eleven local districts, including the Los Angeles Unified School District, will receive the funds. Most will get 10% less than last year’s allocation because the aid is being extended to several additional districts throughout the state, including Lynwood. Districts receiving Meade Aid allocations will get the same amount as last year.

Urban Costs Higher

According to a spokesman for the state Department of Education, Urban Impact Aid is designed to help city school districts defray some of the higher costs associated with urban education.

“Urban, low-income, high-minority districts inevitably have greater costs for education,” the state official said.

Real estate is one example. “The cost of adding just one classroom in an urban district can be more than the cost of acquiring the land for an entire high school in Lassen County,” the official said. Urban real estate can cost $1 million an acre, while undeveloped land in rural districts may cost only $10,000 an acre, he estimated.

In contrast to some state funds, school districts may choose how they spend Urban Impact Aid.

‘Very Grateful’

Lynwood school board member Willard H. Reed said his district has not decided where the money will go. “We’re very grateful for the funds, and Lord knows we need them, but I can’t say how it’s going to used yet,” he said.

Reed said the district puts a high priority on providing adequate facilities for its 13,000 students. “We have a major housing problem,” he said. About half the district’s students are using temporary buildings.

Reed said the district also has a growing need for language services, especially in the lower grades, where the first language of more and more students is Spanish.

Elisa Sanchez, deputy superintendent for the Compton Unified School District, speculated that her district would use its $3.1 million in Urban Impact Aid to restore programs that have been cut, such as staff development and dropout prevention.

For One Year Only

Like officials in other districts, Sanchez was pleased that the aid had been restored. But she expressed concern that the funding is for one year only and therefore cannot be used to cover recurring costs.

Robert Booker, chief financial officer for the Los Angeles Unified School District, said the district may use its $31-million allocation--the most Urban Impact Aid any district in California will receive from the state--to pay salaries or strengthen unspecified programs.

Long Beach Unified spokesman Richard Van Der Laan said his district would use its $2.5-million allocation “to fund the things urban districts throughout the state need to fund.” Among these, he included school security costs and support for language and health assessment programs for new students.

“We have greater costs than the funding, but we’re grateful for the funding,” Van Der Laan said. “It would have been a very different year without it.”

Urban Impact Aid Final 1987-88 SCHOOL DISTRICTS Allocation Change Compton Unified $3,141,068 -10.00% East Whittier City $34,906 -10.00% Little Lake City $41,362 -10.00% Long Beach Unified $2,519,403 36.20% Los Angeles Unified $31,157,388 -8.12% Los Nietos $39,902 -10.00% Lynwood Unified $485,495 NEW Montebello Unified $1,514,842 -10.00% South Whittier $78,448 -10.00% Whittier City $84,292 1.29% Whittier Union $131,531 -10.00%

Meade Aid

DISTRICTS Amount El Rancho Unified $58,004 Los Angeles Uni. $3,731,176 Los Nietos $12,046 Lynwood Unified $38,240 Paramount Uni. $51,446 Whittier City $21,586