District selects schools for aid

The Los Angeles Board of Education approved a priority list Thursday for funding its struggling middle schools and most of its lowest-achieving high schools under a new state program that will reduce class size, add counselors and increase teacher training. Some campuses will receive as much as $1,000 per student in additional state funding.

The unanimous board vote came after students and community members described crowded classrooms, inexperienced teachers and other problems at their low-performing schools. They were among more than 200 -- mostly students -- who asked the board to approve the priority list.

“This money is not going to solve all these issues,” said Hector Sanchez, a parent organizer for the grass-roots group Community Coalition. “But it’s going to begin to address these issues.”

The bottom 20% of California schools qualify, but there’s enough money for only about a third of the 1,455 eligible campuses. The Los Angeles Unified School District, with 236 such schools, will reap substantial benefit. About 80 campuses will probably be approved in May by the state Board of Education.

Schools at the top of the district list include Jefferson, Fremont and Manual Arts high schools.

Each campus has its own stories of persisting struggles and ongoing improvement efforts.

The environment at Jefferson, for example, has brightened because new schools have opened to relieve overcrowding and allow the formerly year-round campus to return to a traditional schedule.

A relatively new principal, Juan Flecha, is trying to invigorate recently established small learning communities -- an effort to help students by dividing the campus into more-attentive, responsive units. In the surrounding neighborhood, charter school operator Steve Barr has opened five small public charter campuses to offer another option.

Such efforts have calmed Jefferson High since several racially tinged disturbances in 2005 but showed little effect on test scores. In 2006, the school scored a 457 on the state’s Academic Performance Index -- a decline from the previous year.

In L.A., Jefferson rated ahead of only brand-new Santee High, which took much of Jefferson’s overflow. (Santee does not qualify for the state funding because it wasn’t open during the 2005 testing cycle, which was used to determine eligibility.)

Inevitably, some schools needing help are almost certain to lose out, including Gardena High, which ranked 152 on the district priority list despite being among the state’s lowest 10% academically. Three San Fernando Valley high schools do rank highly, despite somewhat better scores. And some bottom-rated elementary schools won’t make the cut because the district decided to focus more on middle schools.

For the fortunate, the cash infusion will be huge, but won’t mark the state’s first such effort. Jefferson already has received more than $1.65 million in special, additional state aid since 2005; Fremont has gotten more than $7.7 million and Manual Arts more than $5 million, both since 2002.

The issue of throwing good money after bad came up at a Thursday morning district meeting prior to the vote.

“One can’t say clearly that additional resources are the answer,” said Randy Ross, the district’s director of educational policy.

Jefferson also is among numerous L.A. schools with a logistical stumbling block: It lacks the space to achieve the required smaller class sizes. To qualify, Jefferson will have to devise an alternative improvement plan.

Last week, a potential conflict arose over concerns that the school board would spread out aid among schools represented by each school board member, regardless of need. But despite those qualms, community groups stood down after noting that poor neighborhoods south and east of downtown would get the most benefit.

“Ninety percent of our schools are getting funded,” said Sheilagh Polk of Community Coalition. “It’s such a big difference from what the school board has done in the past.”

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howard.blume@latimes.com