School Closures and Consolidations in California: Deepening Our Understanding

The Equity Multiplier -- a new $300 million component to California’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) -- is rolling out this  school year. 

Guests Natalie Wheatfall-Lum and Sara Pietrowski join Jason Willis to describe how the Equity Multiplier works, how it came about, and related changes to the state’s accountability system, including what districts must now report in their Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAPs). 

Along the way, they consider broader policy issues and implications for targeting LCFF funds directly to the school sites whose student populations generate them; helping LEAs better identify and address the needs of all of their students; and the importance of focusing on Black student achievement in particular.

 The Equity Multiplier is one piece of a larger set of changes to California’s accountability system that were enacted as part of the 2023-24 state budget. Eligibility for the additional funding is based on two indicators at school sites: prior year non-stability rates of greater than 25 percent and prior year socioeconomically disadvantaged pupil rates greater than 70 percent. Similar to LCFF, the funds flow from the state to school districts or other local education agencies; however, in a shift from LCFF, Equity Multiplier funds are required to be used at the school sites that generate them. 

About Our Guests

Natalie Wheatfall-Lum, J.D., serves as Director of TK-12 Policy at The Education Trust-West, where since 2014 she has supported the organization’s policy research, analysis, and position development, primarily in K-12 equitable funding and accountability. Before working in education policy, Natalie practiced law, gaining experience in various civil rights issues, including LGBTQ equal rights, fair housing, and immigration.

Sara Pietrowski serves as Policy Director for the California State Board of Education, where she has supported the board’s work of developing an accountability and continuous improvement system for more than six years, including the LCAP, California School Dashboard, and Statewide System of Support. She previously served  in Sacramento City USD where she led development of the district’s data dashboard and coordinated LCAP and improvement science efforts.

About Our Host

Jason Willis serves as  Director of Strategic Resource Planning and Implementation for WestEd, and he is a former chief business official in several California school districts.

Related Resourcess

• Equity Multiplier page, CDE website and 2023-24 First Principal Apportionment of EM funds
• Supporting the African-American Learner: Guide for Transforming Beliefs, Systems and Practices for Black Students 
• Evaluation of California’s Differentiated Assistance, WestEd 
• More To Be Done: California’s LCFF After A Decade, Education Trust-West

Budgeting for Educational Equity is presented by CASBO and WestEd.  The series is written and produced by Paul Richman and Jason Willis. Original music and sound by Tommy Dunbar.  Alyssa Perez and Hannah Jarmolowski at WestEd provides research and develop the written briefs that go along with each episode.

Closing or consolidating neighborhood schools is a painful decision that no school district or community ever wishes to face, but increasingly it may be on the table due to declining enrollment trends and budgetary pressures. 

In this episode, host Jason Willis and school finance and policy veteran Carrie Hahnel deepen our understanding about school closures and consolidations. They delve into current factors that could lead to more closures and data showing how closures have disproportionately impacted different student populations. They pinpoint the tension schools and communities must try to resolve between difficult and necessary budget decisions on one hand and the enormous potential equity effects of those decisions on the other.

Carrie serves as a senior associate partner for policy and evaluation at Bellwether and a senior policy and research fellow with Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE). She and colleagues Max Marchitello and Dr. Francis Pearman co-authored a series of recent research for PACE related to declining enrollment, equity, and closures.

Jason and Carrie further explore how district and school leaders can proactively approach considerations about school closures while centering equity, and:   

• The extent to which closures or consolidations achieved expected savings for districts, 
• Connections between demographic trends, housing, segregation and other local issues to resource disparities, 
• How the State of California has started to weigh in on the issue of school closures, and
• The importance for districts of pairing a school closure process with an affirmative strategy to provide students that will be displaced with high quality educational opportunities.

“It’s hard not to be paying attention to school closures if you’re paying attention to what’s happening in schools."

About Our Guest

Carrie Hahnel currently serves as a senior associate partner on the policy team at Bellwether, a national nonprofit. Previously, she focused on equitable school funding as an advocate at the Education Trust West, and as a policy director at the Opportunity Institute. She has worked extensively with the statewide research organization PACE. Her research has focused on school funding formulas, equity, tax policies and local budgeting practices and decisions, among other areas.

About Our Host

Jason Willis serves as  Director of Strategic Resource Planning and Implementation for WestEd, and he is a former chief business official in several California school districts.

Key Resources

• Centering Equity in the School Closure Process in California – Report
• Declining Enrollment, School Closures, and Equity Considerations – Policy brief and related PACE Webinar.
• Examining Racial (In)equity in School-Closure Patterns in California –  Working Paper

Budgeting for Educational Equity is presented by CASBO and WestEd.  The series is written and produced by Paul Richman and Jason Willis. Original music and sound by Tommy Dunbar. Alyssa Perez and Hannah Jarmolowski at WestEd provides research and develops the written briefs that go along with each episode.

California's Local Control Funding Formula or LCFF took a major step towards advancing equity.  But as LCFF came into existence 10 years ago, education and community leaders in the state’s largest school district, Los Angeles Unified, recognized this new formula might not go far enough in helping to address deeply rooted inequities within its student population.  Through a unique partnership between the local community and school district, the groundbreaking Student Equity Need Index (SENI) was born.

In 2024, the SENI turns ten. It’s an example of a powerful partnership between students, parents, community advocates and school district leaders to drive resource equity. SENI is a research-based index that uses comprehensive academic and community-based indicators to rank schools from highest to lowest according to student need. With these rankings, LAUSD can more accurately understand the needs of its schools and equitably distribute funds to address them. 

In many ways, the SENI is a more robust precursor to the state's new Equity Multiplier,  adopted in the 2023 Budget Act, which will target some additional funding directly to schools.

In this episode, Pedro Salcido, Deputy Superintendent of Business Services and Operations for Los Angeles Unified School District, and Jessenia Reyes, Associate Director of K-12 Policy for the Equity Team at Catalyst California, take us deep inside the SENI.  They share with host Jason Willis how SENI was developed and how it evolved, the impact it has had to date, and how the district and community groups worked together and through some difficult tensions to build the system.

While the SENI originated in California’s largest school district, it’s an exciting homegrown model that districts around the state can learn from and potentially customize to better address their communities’ unique needs.

***Learn more about this topic in our Companion Brief.

About Our Guests

Jessenia Reyes is the Associate Director of K-12 Policy at Catalyst California, a systems change nonprofit organization, and part of the Equity Alliance for L.A.'s Kids that includes Community Coalition in South LA, Inner-City Struggle in East LA, and the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, which advocated for the SENI.

Pedro Salcido is the Deputy Superintendent of Business Services and Operations for Los Angeles USD, the state's largest school district. Prior to his current role, Pedro served as Chief of Staff managing all district academic and nonacademic operations and  initiatives. Among many other roles and accomplishments, he served as the leading staff member who developed and implemented the District’s SENI, an equity-based funding allocation that today has grown to distribute nearly $700 million to the neediest schools in the district..

Links
Catalyst California SENI page
LAUSD SENI page

Budgeting for Educational Equity podcast is presented by CASBO and WestEd. We are grateful to the Sobrato Family Foundation for additional support. Our series is written and produced by Paul Richman and Jason Willis. Music and editing  by Tommy Dunbar. Alyssa Perez and Hannah Jarmolowski at WestEd provide research and develop written briefs that go along with many episodes.

Tatia Davenport, CEO of the California Association of School Business Officials (CASBO) sits down with Jason for a compelling  discussion about the size, scope and future of school business in California.

Tatia shares what was learned from the first comprehensive survey of California school business executives in nearly 25 years, including where professional development is headed, the changing face and vital voice of CBOs, and how school business leaders can work more to advance equity.  She offers timely perspectives about some of the persistent challenges California faces in maintaining an effective and efficient public education system -- one that delivers on the promise of high-quality education for all. 

 About our guest

Tatia Davenport is the CEO of CASBO. Founded in 1928, CASBO is a nonprofit membership organization representing more than 25,000 professionals across 1,100 school districts and 58 counties statewide. CASBO members drive and support facilities and management of approximately 125,000 acres, 475 million square feet of real estate, an estimated 630 million student meals and snacks served annually at 22,000 sites, 115 million miles of busing and student transportation annually, technology services, and more. With an estimated $108 billion annual budget, California school business officials represent a statewide public education system that serves millions of K-12 students, teachers in classrooms and communities.

Tatia  has built a reputation as a respected leader in the field and has a proven track record of success in improving the financial, operational and management systems of California schools. Previously she served as CASBO’s chief operations officer and held executive roles with Vision Service Plan (VSP) and E*TRADE Financial.

Key Links

California Chief Business Officials Survey -- Summary of Responses


About our host

Jason Willis serves as  Director of Strategic Resource Planning and Implementation for WestEd, and he is a former chief business official in several California school districts.

About our series

Budgeting for Educational Equity is presented by the California Association of School Business Official (CASBO) and WestEd. We are grateful to the Sobrato Family Foundation for additional support. Our series is written and produced by Paul Richman and Jason Willis. Original music, mixing and sound by Tommy Dunbar. Alyssa Perez and Hannah Jarmolowski at WestEd provide research and develop the written briefs that go along with many episodes.

Follow Budgeting for Educational Equity on Twitter/X:  @budget4edequity

In this episode, dig into ways schools can advance equity by expanding "whole child" services that are available to students at sites. Dr. Chaun Powell, Senior Chief of Student Services for the Alameda County Office of Education, helps identify key approaches for maximizing funding sources for these services -- with a particular focus on behavioral and mental health supports -- and seizing new opportunities to partner with other agencies that serve children.

*Be sure to check out the Companion Brief to this episode*

California is in the throes of rolling out major initiatives that create greater access for students to a range of vital services  to better support all areas of children's  development and learning, including the California Community Schools Partnership Program, California's Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative, Extended Learning Opportunities Program, and Family First  Prevention Services Act.

These initiatives present a new era of possibility for school districts and county offices to blend and braid funding to increase and sustain services. Chaun leads us through this new landscape of programs and policies that promote interagency collaboration. With insight and curiosity, she helps to explore questions around innovative funding, strengthening collaboration across systems, and centering equity.

Other Resources

• Statewide Multi-Payer School-Linked Fee Schedule overview video
• "Improving Student Wellness With A Multi-Tiered System of Support," WestEd AudioCast featuring Santa Clara COE

About Our Guest 

Dr. Chaun Powell, Senior Chief of Student Services, Alameda COE, is  a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW), school social worker, educational leader, writer and adjunct faculty member at San José State University & California State University East Bay.  Her unique background in education, community based work and child welfare helps her bring a cross systems lens and experience to serving children, youth and families in schools and the community.  Prior to joining Alameda COE, she served as a site level Dean of Students, and as Executive Director, Youth Health & Wellness for Santa Clara COE, where she also led a statewide Professional Learning Network for educators on school-based billing.  

About our host

Jason Willis serves as  Director of Strategic Resource Planning and Implementation for WestEd, and he is a former chief business official in several California school districts

About our series

Budgeting for Educational Equity is presented byCASBO) and WestEd. We are grateful to the Sobrato Family Foundation for additional support.

What does it take to implement major new initiatives in our school systems? In Part Two of our episode about implementing initiatives such as Universal Transitional Kindergarten (UTK) and Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK), we dive into this question with lots of hands-on, practical advice from a local school district perspective with Maria Ceballos, executive director of the early learning department at Fresno USD.

Maria shares how her district, Fresno Unified, has been working to expand access to early learning for all children and families. 

**Be sure to check out the Episode 3 Companion Brief from WestEd*

 In Part One, we gained a statewide perspective about this historic moment for early education in California from Sarah Neville-Morgan, Deputy Superintendent at the California Department of Education. 

In this episode, Maria takes us inside some of Fresno USD's planning and approaches for expanding access to early education. Two keys, she says, were being concrete about the work and having the right people at the table. Maria says her district’s leadership and all departments were clear on the value of early learning, and shared both a sense of urgency and a sense of opportunity for their community to  serve more children through high quality programs. 

Their efforts have included not only the early education team, but facilities, purchasing, finance, HR, teacher development, special education, local and county partners, the Fresno County Superinendent of Schools, and more. 

Maria also describes how building strong relationships enabled the district to pivot quickly when some things didn't go as planned or projected .

Fresno's early learner support also has included a unique focus on dual language learner professional development for teachers. 

About Fresno USD

Fresno USD is the third largest district in the state with nearly 73,000 students, preK-12. Approximately 17.5% are English learners, and 85% are socioeconomically disadvantaged. The district includes 66 elementary schools, 14 middle schools, 10 high schools, alternative schools, and of course – early education programs. Currently, Fresno USD has six year-round, full-day child development centers serving infant, toddler and preschool aged children; they also have 72 part-day preschool programs, and 127 transitional kindergarten programs including special education – all serving about 5,000 children. 

About our host

Jason Willis serves as  Director of Strategic Resource Planning and Implementation for WestEd, and he is a former chief business official in several California school districts

About our series

Budgeting for Educational Equity is presented by the California Association of School Business Official (CASBO) and WestEd. We are grateful to the Sobrato Family Foundation for additional support. 

Recorded in spring, 2023

Two years ago, California’s state budget agreement included an ambitious new initiative to fund and implement Universal Transitional Kindergarten (or UTK), so that all 4-year-olds in the state have access to it by 2025-26. It’s part of a larger long-term goal the state and school districts have been working towards to expand early education and also provide access to Universal Pre-Kindergarten, or UPK, for all students. 

In this first of a two-part episode, Sarah Neville Morgan, Deputy Superintendent at the California Department of Education and longtime early education policy leader, describes this historic moment we're in when it comes to early education and fulfilling the promise of public education. Sarah discusses the why and how of UPK and UTK implementation, including work the state has been doing to support local efforts, resources, challenges, and implications and strategies for advancing equity. The  goal, she says, is for all children to hit kindergarten and first- third grades not just ready to learn, but ready to soar. Sarah and Jason also explore more generally how systems can approach planning for and implementing major new initiatives.

**Be sure to check out the Episode 3 Companion Brief from WestEd

Other Resources

• "How Are California School Districts Planning for Universal Prekindergarten? Results From a 2022 Survey" -- April 2023 report by the Learning Policy Institute
• Universal PreKindergarten FAQs from the CDE
• Transitional Kindergarten FAQs from the CDE
• 21CSLA Learning Brief,  Preparing California School Leaders for Young Learners in the UTK Initiative

About Our Guest 

Sarah Neville-Morgan has served in many key leadership and policy positions at the state level. She was previously the Director of the CDE Early Learning and Care Division; Deputy Director of Program Management at First 5 California; Deputy Executive Director of the Governor’s Early Learning Advisory Council during the Schwarzenegger and Brown administrations; and she currently serves as a Deputy Superintendent at the California Department of Education, overseeing the Opportunities for All branch. Previously she also served as an Academic Child Development Specialist at the University of California, Davis Center for Child and Family Studies.

About our host

Jason Willis serves as  Director of Strategic Resource Planning and Implementation for WestEd, and he is a former chief business official in several California school districts

About our series

Budgeting for Educational Equity is presented by the California Association of School Business Official (CASBO) and WestEd. We are grateful to the Sobrato Family Foundation for additional support. 
@budget4edequity

Lindsay Unified School District in California’s Central Valley reinvented its approach to education by launching a Performance Based System in 2007, following an extensive community engagement process. It’s an approach that fundamentally changed experiences for the community’s learners, families and educators -- and led to impressive outcomes that have been highlighted in multiple studies and reports.

Two dynamic leaders from Lindsey USD – Grant Schimelpfening, Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services, and Cheri Doria, Early Childhood Education Director – provide an “under the hood” look at  the systems and culture their district has built to help advance equity  through a personalized learning plan for each student.

We explore how Lindsay USD – whose 4,000-plus students are approximately 90% socio-economically disadvantaged and 37% English Learners – creates alignment and coherence to serve students with multiple needs, including early learners, multi-language learners, and students with disabilities. Grant and Cheri discuss how the district: 

• Uses data to weigh resource investment decisions;
• Gets to know students, even from the time they are born;
• Begin its program design process with an ambitious vision, versus building programs around currently available funding;
• Systematizes processes and practices to further support alignment with its overall strategic design.; and more.

Plus, Grant shares his top three list for Chief Business Officials for driving collaboration, alignment and coherence in their systems.

**Download the  COMPANION BRIEF to this episode here.

More Key Links:

• Lindsay USD’s Strategic Design 
• Articles and research about Lindsay’s USD’s work
• "Putting Students in Charge of Their Learning Transforms A Small Rural District," via EdSource 
• "Online Learning in Lindsay," via Inside California Education
• California Department of Education Updated Guidance on Identification of Early Education Dual Language Learners (and links to survey instruments)

 About Our Guests:

• Cheri Doria has served as Director of Preschools in Lindsay USD since 2014.  Prior to that she was an elementary school teacher in the district for 10 years.
•  Grant Schimelpfening has served as a school business executive for nearly 20 years, including for Lindsay USD as CBO and now Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services since January 2014. Previously he served in Modesto City Schools and Farmersville School District.

Budgeting for Educational Equity is presented by the California Association of School Business Official (CASBO) and WestEd. We are grateful to the Sobrato Family Foundation for additional support. 

Recorded: Spring, 2023

In this first episode of our new season, we gain the perspective of someone who has had her finger on the pulse of school business and resource equity for a long time, both from a local and a statewide perspective –  Nina Boyd. 

Nina is a school business official, administrator and statewide leader who has seen a lot transpire during her nearly 40 years in public education – and she is still on the frontlines impacting change. 

Nina shares insight and perspectives related to:

• How she sees us having gone both forward and backward with regard to advancing equity, including recent pushback about what is taught in schools;
• The importance of educational administrators and leaders continuing to be authentic in the spaces they serve and using their voices to correct misinformation;  
•  The evolving role of Chief Business Officers in inviting more diverse perspectives into the dialogue about school issues; and more. 

Key questions addressed include:

• Is California doing a better job of directing resources that turn into opportunities and access for students? 
• Are major investments in new initiatives helping to move the needle for those furthest from opportunity? 
• How are schools navigating this current climate of rising civic divisiveness? 

About our guest

Nina Boyd currently serves as Deputy Superintendent for Operations, Government and Community Partnerships, for the Orange County Department of Education (OCDE),  which supports supports 28 Public School Districts and 23 board-approved Public Charter Schools. Orange County public schools serve nearly 200,000 students; about 80 percent of whom are students of color.

Nina began her career in education as a temporary account clerk in Santa Ana Unified School District. She had planned to become a school psychologist but instead went on to a distinguished career serving in multiple administrative leadership roles at the OCDE, including as Administrator, Purchasing Contracts & Operations;  Executive Director of Facilities and Operations;  Assistant Superintendent Human Resources and Support Services; and Associate Superintendent Alternative Education.

At the statewide level, Nina has been a key advocate and leader, including serving for many years on the CASBO Board of Directors and as CASBO President in 2017-18. She also served an eight-year term on the Coalition for Adequate School Housing (CASH) state board and held a variety of positions to support facility and maintenance issues primarily in the areas of regulatory, advocacy, and legislation. Nina has facilitated and provided trainings and workshops at both the local and state level, including a focus on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion when she was a leader at CASBO.  She also teaches in CASBO’s Business Executive Leadership program.

About our host

Jason Willis serves as  Director of Strategic Resource Planning and Implementation for WestEd, and he is a former chief business official in several California school districts

About our series

Budgeting for Educational Equity is presented by the California Association of School Business Official (CASBO) and WestEd. We are grateful to the Sobrato Family Foundation for additional support. Our series is written and produced by Paul Richman and Jason Willis. Original music, mixing and sound by Tommy Dunbar. Alyssa Perez at WestEd provides research and develops the written briefs that go along with each episode.

Host Jason Willis provides a quick update on our upcoming new season. Plus, we replay our initial episode featuring several guests as a way to re-establish the context for the new episodes and help you get your "resource equity bearings."

Guests on the replay include:

• Christopher Edley, Jr., J.D., interim dean, U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Education; co-founder and president emeritus of The Opportunity Institute; professor and dean emeritus, U.C. Berkeley School of Law; former professor, Harvard Law School; and co-chair, National Commission on K-12 Excellence & Equity
• Maria Echaveste, J.D., president and CEO, The Opportunity Institute; and former White House deputy chief of staff
• Michael Kirst, Ph.D., professor emeritus, Graduate School of Education, Stanford University; and past president, California State Board of Education
• Jayne Christakos, former chief business officer, San Bernardino City Unified School District
• Marguerite Williams, Ed.D., chief business official, Inglewood Unified School District;; and former senior director of equity and diversity, Association of California School Administrators
• Adela Madrigal Jones, (retired) superintendent, Sanger Unified School District
• Jason Willis (host), director of strategic resource planning and implementation for WestEd and a former chief business official in several California school districts

Download the Interactive Companion Brief for this episode.

Budgeting for Educational Equity is presented by the California Association of School Business Official (CASBO) in partnership with WestEd.

We are grateful to the Sobrato Family Foundation for providing additional support.