HBCSD Corruption
Lie #40
The Misleading Information:
May 31, 2016 presentation to the Joint meeting of the HB City Council members and HBCSD School Board members. Time Stamp: 01:07:47
(1) Slide: $ Transition to Full Funding of LCFF Entitlement:
(graph showing) Number of School Districts by Unduplicated Pupil percent*. HBCSD is #11 from the bottom of all school districts in the State of California at 3.78% Unduplicated Pupil percent.
Mary Campbell – HBCSD School board member (2013-2017): “So this is a snap shot, just to let you know, ah, I think context is really important, especially facing some of the decisions that we are facing in Hermosa Beach. But because, for a number of reasons, Hermosa Beach is 11th from the bottom of 900 and 9, is it 997? It’s just under 1,000 different school districts in the state of California. We are 11th from the bottom when it comes to State funding. The reasons, some of the reasons for that, are that we are a relatively small district; we’re also a district that doesn’t receive extra pockets of funding that other districts are more eligible for. I mean frankly, and to be quite honest, we live in a small community that’s fairly, ah, doing fairly fine (chuckling) now it’s sort of a reverse situation because what it means is our schools don’t get as much funding as schools in this middle bar who are getting, maybe, upwards of $10,000 per student from the State. So that’s just part of the funding. And this gives you a little sense of our neighboring districts and how much we are getting, ah, per pupil on average. So there’s a little bit of differential depending on the grade level, but these are all averages for these districts.” May 31, 2016 presentation to the Joint meeting of the HB City Council members and HBCSD School Board members. Time Stamp: 01:07:47
NOTE: With Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) ALL school districts in California receive that same base funding amount per student per grade level. [1] School districts can also receive additional funding for students that are (1) English learners, (2) meet income or eligibility requirements for free or reduced-price meals, and (3) are foster youth.
NOTE: In this slide Mary Campbell shows a graph of school districts ranked by unduplicated pupil count (UPC) percent of students in the district. Unduplicated pupil count refers to the amount of overlap in a district of pupils who have more than one "risk", such as being in foster care, needing reduced-price meals, English language learners. Many pupils have more than one need and are counted in more than one category. The fact that HBCSD has a low UPC indicates that it has less at-risk students compared to other school districts.
*MISLEADING STATEMENT: Why bring up the unduplicated pupil percentage for HBCSD in this joint city and school district meeting? Why would the UPC (unduplicated pupil count) be an issue for HBCSD? Just so HBCSD administration can show that HBCSD is #11 from the bottom of UPC in the state and claims poor because they don't get the extra "at risk" funding?
Were school board members trying to garner sympathy from the public (in this televised and recorded meeting) by making their lack of "at-risk" students a point? Why would the fact that we have a very low percentage of at-risk students at HBCSD be concerning?
NOTE: The extra funds that school districts are given for at-risk students is to compensate the school district for the extra costs associated with these students' needs. The extra funding for at-risk students is not supposed to funneled off to be used for other district priorities while the needs of at-risk students are ignored.
NOTE: As of 2022, after school board members built the brand new 510 student North School campus and expanded View School and charged taxpayers $98M over 40 years, HBCSD has capacity for approximately 1,902 students and a Hermosa student enrollment of only about 1,200 students. Therefore HBCSD has approximately 600 student capacity that isn't being filled by Hermosa students.
In 2024, Hermosa students were 1,165 and 174 students were brought in to HBCSD from other school districts using interdistrict permits to bolster HBCSD enrollment to 1,339 total students.
NOTE: Was the goal of these school board members to try and get more funds anyway possible – even if it meant bringing at risk students from other school districts to try to incrementally increase HBCSD bottom line? Is that why school board members had taxpayers pay $29M for a brand-new unnecessary 510 student campus and an additional $29M to greatly increase the size of View School in order to create more seats that they could get a few extra dollars for?
Was school board members’ goal the student’s education in Hermosa Beach or to try to amass more money by bringing in disadvantaged children from other school districts?
NOTE: The issue with bringing more students to HBCSD from other school districts is (1) it creates additional traffic and pollution in Hermosa Beach every day, twice as day as parents drive from areas outside of Hermosa Beach to drop off their children at HBCSD schools. (2) Poaching students from other school districts reduces the income those school districts would receive from the state. (3) What if other school districts (such as MBUSD and RBUSD) start poaching Hermosa students to bolster their own enrollment? (4) According to the State of California Department of Finance demographics and population unit, K-12 enrollment in all coastal counties is supposed to continue to decrease through at least 2060.
(2) Slide: Neighboring Districts Average Funding Amounts Per Pupil:
HBCSD - $7,577
MBUSD - $8,057
PVUSD - $8,179
ESUSD - $8,244
RBUSD - $8,297
MISLEADING COMPARISON: The Hermosa Beach CITY School District is NOT a UNIFIED school district because it does not have a high school. It is an elementary or “city” school district. All the other districts given as comparisons in this slide ARE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICTS in that they have high schools.
The state uses the same base funding rate per student based on grade level for ALL SCHOOL DISTRICTS. However, high school students are funded at a higher rate than elementary school students because they have more extensive educational needs. Therefore, comparing a K-8 school district (HBCSD) with the following K-12 grade school districts, is not an “apples to apples” comparison because of the absence of higher funded high school students as a part of the total funded amount at HBCSD.
(3) Slide: Preparing for the Financial Future of HBCSD
AA Credit Rating
10% Increase in Reserves*
Mary Campbell – HBCSD School board member (2013-2017): May 31, 2016 presentation to the Joint meeting of the HB City Council members and HBCSD School Board members. Time Stamp: 01:11:47
MISLEADING INFORMATION: Mary Campbell states that HBCSD has increased their reserves* by 10%. However, Mary Campbell does not specify the time frame from which HBCSD has increased their reserves by 10%. The fact that HBCSD increased their reserves by 10% also means that school board members are withholding an additional 10% of the district’s General Fund (checking account) from being spent on students, staff, and HBCSD facilities.
NOTE: By June 30, 2016, school board members withheld a total of $3,384,821.00 or 23.9% of the General Fund in reserves. That means more than $3M was withheld from being spent to improve education and facilities for students.
NOTE: *Reserves are the school district’s savings account. The CDE only requires that a district the size of HBCSD hold 3% in reserves. Available reserves are defined as all undesignated fund balances and all funds designated for economic uncertainty contained within the district’s General Fund. The General Fund is the district’s checking account for day to day expenses and educational purposes.
1. From 2006-2009 the average reserve amount for HBCSD was 7.3%. (TL-2005Jun30 HBCSD Financial Trends)
2. At June 30, 2013, school board members held 14.9% (or $1,531,480.00) of district General Fund expenditures from being spent on students, staff and facilities.
3. At June 30, 2014, during the height of the overcrowding, school board members increased the district’s reserves account to 20.2% ($2,184,876.00). In other words, school board members withheld more than $2m from being spent on students, staff and district facilities.
4. At June 30, 2015, after HBCSD lost the November 2014 $54M Measure Q facilities bond vote and one year before the Measure S bond vote, school board members increased the amount they WITHELD from spending on students, staff and district facilities by AN ADDITIONAL 5.3%. [2] (TL-2015Jun30 Available reserves)
5. By June 30, 2016, school board members withheld a total of $3,384,821.00 from being spent to improve education and facilities for students. School board members were withholding up to 22.9% MORE than the required 3% CDE mandated reserves.
6. By June 30, 2019, after HBCSD won their $59M bond Measure S, school board members stopped withholding as much from district spending. HBCSD reserves fell back to 13.5% or $1,935,483.00. The 13.5% held reserves was more inline to the district’s pre-bond savings amount in 2013 of 14.9%. (TL-2019Jun30 HBCSD financials)
NOTE: The district’s approximately $2 million in reserves (savings) over the CDE 3% requirement along with $1.14 million dollars that had been spent on temporary portable classrooms from 2013 to 2016 (TL-2013-2015 Temp facilities costs) could have been spent renovating North School or the Community Center for district use.
The expenditure of some of the district reserves on either North School or the Community Center could have immediately eliminated the overcrowding problems at Valley and View Schools. Any expenditure to improve either North School or the Community would be a lasting improvement on a community asset versus “throwing away” $1.14M on temporary overcrowding solutions. Did school board members withholding of funds from being spent on student needs and facility improvements act to pressure the community and panic parents into voting for a $59M bond?
[1] “Funding Rates and Information, Fiscal Year 2015-2016”. http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/pa/pa1516rates.asp. Base funding rates per grade level are: K- 3 graders are funded at $7,820/student, 4–6 graders are funded at $7,189/student, 7-8 graders are funded at $7,403/student, 9-12 graders (high schoolers) are funded at $8,801/student.
[2] Hermosa Beach City School District Annual Financial Report, June 30, 2015, p.64., Hermosa Beach City school District Annual Financial Report June 30, 2008. p.50.