Culver City School Board Asks Feds To Prioritize Funding

CULVER CITY — The Culver City school board has voted unanimously in favor of a resolution that calls for the federal government to prioritize public school funding.

According to the resolution, introduced by board member Kelly Kent and approved April 28, the Culver City Unified School District is facing difficult decisions “to ensure the delivery of critical services in the short-term, such as extended learning or summer school, while grappling with the reality of an economic recession that includes both a decline in revenues and new costs to effectively respond to COVID-19 which adds to the severity of the economic recession.”

“With this resolution, the district is sending a message to the federal government that we need it to step in and put public schools at the top of the list for relief money,” school board President Summer McBride said. “Other sectors are getting bailouts. We need help, too.”

McBride added that, “Public schools are already under funded, and we’re always expected to do more with less. Schools are a safe space and the most reliable place for learning, social support and overall stability for many young people in our community.

“With a serious recession pending, the economic forecast indicates that California will be hit harder than most other places,” McBride said. “As one of the states with the lowest per-student funding ratios, our education system already faces so many hurdles. These funding shortages have disproportionately negative impacts on vulnerable populations, including students whom are homeless or have mixed immigration status.”

The school district joins a coalition of national education organizations, including the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, the School Superintendents Association, the National Parent Teachers Association, the National School Boards Association and others, to call for $200 billion to begin providing meaningful relief to the nation’s public schools, plus an additional relief totaling $350 billion that will likely be needed to ensure public school funding is stabilized over the next two years while persevering in the midst of the greatest economic downturn where public schools will be the glue that holds communities together and provides hope for the future.

“The students of today are our best hope if we want to have a fighting chance of this country recovering,” McBride said. “During these unprecedented times we need an unprecedented commitment to put children and their education and well-being first.”

Wave Staff Report