The Los Angeles Unified School District filed a lawsuit alleging that the state of California violated the Constitution when it enacted a budget trigger cut that is eliminating $248 million in student transportation funding statewide.
As previously reported, Gov. Jerry Brown announced the cuts would go into effect on Jan. 1. Within hours, LAUSD announced it would seek damages from the state as it prepares to see its remaining funding for the current school year cut by 50 percent. In a statement, LAUSD called the cuts “devastating” as it would deplete half of the district’s transportation budget after half a year’s worth of transportation services have already been provided. Essentially, the transportation department would have half the money it needs to complete the current school year.
Only two options remain, according to LAUSD, which both put the district in direct violation of a 30-year-old desegregation order and the California Constitution.
The district is mandated to provide transportation to some 48,000 students each day. In addition to 13,000 students with special needs mandated by federal and state law to receive school busing, the district is mandated by a 1981 desegregation order to bus 35,000 students to magnet schools and similar programs. In lieu of a legal resolution, the district faces the possibility of terminated transportation services, which would violate Crawford v. Board of Education of the City of Los Angeles.
The other scenario, according to LAUSD, is to divert classroom funding from the general fund to pay for the mandated school busing. In its statement, LAUSD said allocating classroom funds to pay for transportation also violates the California Constitution “because further budget cuts would adversely impact the educational benefits offered to its students.
“Therefore, LAUSD’s students would receive a disproportionately lower share of funding and educational opportunities as compared to students in school districts without those mandatory costs.”
A spokesperson at the California Department of Education said it would be “interesting” to see how the case evolves, and added that LAUSD’s situation is also one being faced by much smaller, rural districts.
In an interview on a local talk radio station Tuesday night, LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy said the district would seek to restore the $38 million that will be lost come the new year.
