Area Schools Didn’t Apply for State Funds

When state officials tentatively awarded grants this week to help local school districts reduce the size of elementary school classes, a few districts found themselves left off the list.

But the biggest of those districts, Simi Valley Unified, never actually applied for the grants.

The $4.42 million committed to Ventura County schools Wednesday is part of the state’s effort to cut the number of students assigned to each teacher.

More specifically, the money will help districts pay for the portable classrooms that will be needed to house newly created classes.

The Simi Valley school district would have been happy to receive state money, Assistant Supt. David Kanthak said.

The district, however, owns about 50 more classrooms than it uses. The extra space is in former school buildings now leased out after the district’s enrollment declined over the past 20 years.

Consequently, because the district technically has plenty of spare rooms, it was not eligible for the grants and could not apply for them, Kanthak said.

The district has been able to meet the need for more elementary class space with existing rooms that had been used for other purposes, such as conference rooms.

Officials are also conducting a study to determine whether the boundary maps that determine which elementary schools serve each of the city’s neighborhoods need to be adjusted because of reduced class size.