Adventures in Ed Funding

As California school districts work to safely reopen schools during COVID-19, the alarming specter of costly litigation looms, even as districts follow all state and local health and safety guidelines.
In this episode, Santa Clara USD Chief Business Official Eric Dill helps us wade through the murky liability waters brought on by the pandemic. We explore some basics about school district insurance and risk management, and the implications for students, educators and taxpayers of potential COVID-19 litigation. Plus, we'll hear how Assembly Bill 1384, introduced by Assembly Education Committee Chair Patrick O'Donnell, could provide much-needed, temporary legal protection for school districts during this most perilous time.
It's a matter of urgency, Eric explains, for legislators to act on AB 1384 before the legislative session ends.
"In public education, insurance dollars are public dollars. That same LCFF funding that goes to school districts to hire teachers, buy mobile devices, buy textbooks -- it's the same funding that we have to carve out for insurance," Eric says. "When our losses go up, our premiums go up, and that means fewer dollars are left for our core mission of preparing students for college, careers and the community. This is why everyone needs to be concerned when we are exposed to liability for doing what is a constitutional requirement."
MORE INFO and VALUABLE RESOURCES

• Reopening California's Schools: A SISC and Kern CSS Discussion on Liability Issues to Consider, CASBO Summer Series Webinar
• Coalition Letter from 230-plus organizations in Support of AB 1384
• Letter signed by 40+ legislators urging a hearing for AB 1384
• COVID-19 lawsuits: a school district worry, EdSource podcast episode
• California Department of Public Health COVID-19 Industry Guidance: Schools and School-Based Programs, June 5, 2020

ABOUT OUR GUEST
Eric Dill is the Chief Business Official in Santa Clara USD; he'll begin a new role as CBO at Santa Clara COE next month. Previously Eric served for more than 16 years in San Dieguito Union HSD in several positions, including superintendent, associate superintendent of business services, director of risk management and as a loss control analyst. He began his career in private sector risk management. He is a proud graduate of San Diego State University. He also serves on the CASBO Board of Directors. Learn more about Eric in the CASBO Career Chronicle.
ABOUT CASBO

The California Association of School Business Officialsis the premier resource for professional development and business best practices for California's school business leaders. Follow at @CASBO.
About your series guide
Paul Richman is a public education advocate and consultant. Share your feedback at [email protected]. Follow at @pjr100

When schools start up again, we do not have to go back to business as usual in our educational system. Instead, the disruption caused by COVID-19 provides an opportunity for us all to see, engage and act differently to produce success for all students in the system, not just some. That's the call to action brought forward in this episode by our special guest Hugh Vasquez, senior associate with the National Equity Project. He says, "The crucial question confronting us at the moment, is not can we prepare to come back differently, but will we?"

Hugh illuminates key points from his recent article, “What If We...Don’t Return To Business As Usual,” including strategies for encouraging collaborative inquiry across the district, and practical tips for pumping up those strategic equity leadership muscles.
Who or what exactly is the “system” and how does it perpetuate inequities among students? Can the disturbance caused by COVID-19 actually push us to innovate and make change? And what are the biggest challenges to bringing about the monumental culture shift to a more equitable system?

We also explore more deeply what business NOT as usual might look like in a classroom or in a district, including a shift to organizing around how students engage and project based learning.
About Our Guest

Hugh Vasquez joined the National Equity Project as a Senior Associate in 2010 with responsibility for developing and expanding their Leading for Equity projects. He works with a range of school district and nonprofit partners to plan and implement racial equity initiatives. Previously, Hugh served as Executive Director of the San Francisco Education Fund, a non-profit working to bring educational equity to public schools. Hugh is also a partner with the Center for Diversity Leadership and the founder of the Todos Institute in Oakland, whose mission is to help individuals and groups heal from the effects of oppression, build cross-cultural alliances, and create environments where youths and adults from all cultures are honored, valued, and respected. Hugh has worked with hundreds of organizations to establish diversity initiatives and has provided training to thousands of individuals. He is a presenter with Speak Out, a national organization providing top speakers on social justice topics, and a primary cast member in the award-winning film The Color of Fear. He has co-authored the books No Boundaries: Unlearning Oppression and Building Multicultural Alliances and Making Allies Making Friends: A Curriculum For Middle Schools, as well as published various articles on strengthening cultural roots and eliminating privileged systems. Hugh has a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. [email protected]; @hughjvasquez.

About CASBO

The California Association of School Business Officials (CASBO) is the premier resource for professional development and business best practices for California's school business leaders. Follow at @CASBO and @CASBOGR
About your series guide
Paul Richman is a public education advocate and consultant. Contact him at [email protected]. We value your feedback! Follow him at @pjr100

The new state budget agreement will include up to $11.1 billion in K-12 payment "deferrals." But what exactly are deferrals? How do they help the state balance its budget? And what are the implications for local school districts?
In this special “explainer” episode, guest Matt Phillips, director of management consulting services at School Services of California, is back to describe everything you need to know about this highly significant but seldom understood fiscal mechanism.
Matt provides clear examples that will help finance-minded and non-finance-minded folks alike gain a solid grasp of the ins and outs of payment deferrals, including how they differ from budget cuts. Deferrals, Matt says, are the "lesser of two evils," but they pose their own significant complications for school districts.
Given the pending adoption of a new California State Budget, this is an episode you won’t want to postpone listening to.
In this episode, you'll learn:

• What is a payment deferral?
• How do deferrals help the state to balance its budget?
• Are deferrals similar to budget cuts?
• What are the implications of deferrals for school districts?
• Why do school districts need to pay such close attention to their "cash positions"?
• What options do school districts have to mitigate the impact of deferrals?

Latest state budget information:

• CASBO Newsbreak: "Governor Newsom and Legislature Reach Budget Agreement"
• "In California budget deal, no cuts for K-12 but billions in pate payments to schools" by John Fensterwald in EdSource, June 23, 2020

About Our Guest
Matt Phillips, CPA, serves as Director of Management Consulting Services at School Services. In this role, he provides support to school districts for fiscal-related matters including budget reviews, salary schedule analyses, organizational reviews, and negotiations. He also presents workshops across the state on a variety of topics including the Local Control and Accountability Plan, collective bargaining, district budgeting, and auditing. His background as a Certified Public Accountant, experience working in a school district, and completion of the Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team Chief Business Official (CBO) Mentor Program that resulted in the CASBO CBO certificate provide the foundation for these areas. Matt graduated from California State University, Chico, with a degree in business administration with emphasis in accounting.
About CASBO

The California Association of School Business Officials (CASBO) is the premier resource for professional development and business best practices for California's school business leaders. Follow at @CASBO and @CASBOGR
About your series guide
Paul Richman is a public education advocate and consultant. Contact him at [email protected]. We value your feedback! Follow him at @pjr100

California’s already inadequately funded schools now face the prospect of unprecedented budget cuts due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this episode, special guests Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, CASBO President Jamie Dial, and school finance guru Rick Simpson help us consider the difficult budget circumstances we find ourselves in -- and how to prepare for the jarring journey ahead.
While there’s no sugarcoating that the financial news is bleak, we also look for rays of optimism and try to remain solutions-oriented. With our guests, we explore some of the proposals Gov. Newsom has put forward and implications of the state's massive budget deficit on local school districts.
Jamie shares some of the biggest challenges school districts face during this unprecedented time. Assemblymember Muratsuchi notes the vital need for additional federal relief, plus he shares a new idea he'll be introducing to try to raise some additional, critically needed revenue. And Rick offers candid advice for the education community about framing the conversation and context when communicating with key state decision makers in dire fiscal times like these.

Note: Gov. Gavin Newsom released his May Revise to the state budget on May 14. It reflects an estimated state budget deficit of $54.3 billion over two year -- and a $19 billion drop in the school funding minimum guarantee since January. For more specific May Revise details, check out CASBO’s News Break. Also be sure to watch the recent webinar with FCMAT's Michael Fine on budget planning during the crisis.

About Our Guests

Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance) represents California’s 66th Assembly District, located in the South Bay of Los Angeles County. He is a former prosecutor and Deputy Attorney General with the California Department of Justice and a former Torrance School Board member. As a legislator, he has championed efforts to increase the state's overall investment in public education. Full bio.

Jamie Dial serves as Assistant Superintendent of Business Services for the Kings County Office of Education. She also serves as CASBO President, representing more than 23,000 school business officials throughout the state. Prior to her current position, Jamie served for more than a decade in the Kings County Office of Education and also as a fiscal services specialist at Hanford Elementary School District. She began her career in finance in the retail and merchandising industries before moving into public education. Jamie has also held numerous leadership positions within CASBO.

Before retiring in 2016, Rick Simpson served in senior legislative positions for four decades, including serving for nine Assembly Speakers, two Education Committee Chairs, and a governor. He is highly regarded as an expert in school finance and policy, and played a key role drafting many significant state education budgets and bills.
About CASBOThe California Association of School Business Officials (CASBO) is the premier resource for professional development and business best practices for California's school business leaders. CASBO is dedicated to promoting excellence and professionalism in all aspects of school business.
Connect with us on Twitter: @CASBO

About your series guide
Paul Richman is a public education advocate and consultant. Contact him at [email protected]. We value your feedback and ideas!

What are some of the vital operational elements that school business leaders must keep moving forward and aligned as their districts implement school safety and back to school plans? In this episode, Lafayette School District Chief Business Official and CASBO Vice President Diane Deshler helps us explore the ongoing work of a school business office during these days of pandemic and economic crisis.

How has her school district approached planning and navigated changing circumstances? What types of health and safety protocols are being put in place and what guidance is available if a new outbreak occurs? What are some implications for human resources and collective bargaining? And what keeps CBOs like Diane awake at night?
This insightful journey will help illuminate these and other timely topics. Plus, we'll discuss new Learning Loss and Mitigation Funds and learn about Diane's somewhat unusual (and tasty) pathway into public education and becoming a CBO.

KEY RESOURCE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Reopening California's Schools: A FCMAT Discussion on Understanding & Planning for Federal Funding -- CASBO Webinar with Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team CEO Michael Fine
OTHER VALUABLE LINKS:

• Reopening California's Schools: A Discussion on Political Insights for 2020-21 -- Webinar with CASBO's Governmental Relations team, Sara Bachez and Elizabeth Esquivel
• California Department of Education's Coronavirus Response and School Reopening Guidance webpage

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Diane Deshler is the Chief Business Official (CBO) at Lafayette School District, which serves about 3,500 Kindergarten through eighth-grade students in Contra Costa County in Northern California. She also serves as CASBO Vice President and has been a member of CASBO for 24 years. She is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego. Following college and working at a publishing company, Diane changed her career focus and attended professional chef school in California and Paris, France. Diane worked at Chez Panisse in Berkeley as the Pastry Chef, and at George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch in Marin County as Head Chef. Her path to serving students started with her interest in student nutrition and school lunch. From working in school lunch to a variety of school business areas, Diane graduated from the CASBO/FCMAT CBO Mentor Program and is in her 6th year as a school district CBO.

Diane grew up in the Bay Area. She currently lives in the East Bay and has two children in college; both will attend classes through distance learning as they begin the new school year. If Diane had the opportunity for vacation, she would be spending her free time in the mountains or at the beach with her family.
ABOUT CASBO

The California Association of School Business Officials is the premier resource for professional development and business best practices for California's school business leaders. Follow at @CASBO. Discover the many critical resources, advocacy updates and professional development opportunities at www.casbo.org.
About your series guide
Paul Richman is a public education advocate and consultant. Share your feedback at [email protected]. Follow at @pjr100