School Trustees Soften Blow of Funding Loss

In an effort to cushion a pending financial crisis for six schools, San Diego city schools trustees Tuesday voted to give $149,500 in district money to the schools to soften the imminent loss of $1.14 million in federal funds.

The money, to be divided among the six schools at $25 per pupil according to enrollment, is a “small, small way to try and ease the shock” among principals who found out only last month that their schools no longer qualify for special federal money intended for sites with large numbers of low-income students, board president Kay Davis said.

A February federal audit of San Diego’s use of the so-called Chapter 1 money found that San Diego used improper criteria to distribute part of the $23 million the district receives under the program. The district must redistribute the $1.14 million to its other schools that meet federal poverty guidelines in order to continue receiving all of the federal money, schools Supt. Tom Payzant has been told by state and federal officials.

The federal audit said the district must rank schools for eligibility based only on poverty levels--as measured by the number of students who qualify for free or reduced lunches--rather than combining poverty data with measures of academic achievement.

The district has used the combination of data for years but was only audited on the procedure this year.

The schools affected are Bell Junior High School and Boone, Field, Lee, Penn and Paradise Hills elementaries. All but Field are in the Paradise Hills area and have predominantly Filipino enrollments.

Although the federal auditors came to San Diego in February and notified district administrators of their findings orally a month later, they did not send official notices to the state until late April. As a result, an aide to Congressman Jim Bates said Tuesday that their office will ask the federal Department of Education for a one-year waiver for the schools because of the lateness of the official notification.

Bell Junior High stands to lose $439,000, Lee Elementary $187,000, Boone Elementary 186,000, Paradise Hills $144,000, Penn Elementary $131,000 and Field $76,000 in federal funds. The losses will mean cutbacks in numerous educational support programs at the schools, such as computer labs, library time and classroom aides.