By Chris Reed

All over California, school districts are doing illogical, unethical, unseemly things with their finances.

Unconstitutional attempts to make parents pay for basic educational materials. Siphoning funds from federal school lunch programs for the operating budget. Most absurdly, using 30-year borrowing to pay for basics old (maintenance) and new (electronic teaching devices) in direct contravention of the historical use of “construction bonds” to pay for long-term capital improvements.

All of this is done because automatic “step” pay raises that most teachers get just for showing up create gigantic pressure on operating budgets in years in which the state doesn’t increase school funding significantly.

L.A. Unified’s assault on common sense

So when the state’s largest school district does this sort of crazy borrowing, one would assume that the state’s largest newspaper offers appropriate context in its coverage to explain why the district did so. Guess again. L.A. Times reporter Howard Blume gives NO CONTEXT AT ALL. Amazing. He didn’t even mention this angle until the 18th paragraph of a 21-paragraph story on the school board’s decision to spend $30 million on iPads that won’t be paid off until current LAUSD high schools are middle-aged:

“Chief Strategy Officer Matt Hill also noted that the funding is from facility bonds, which can’t be used to hire regular school staff.

“This source of funding also has been controversial because school bonds are typically used for construction and paid off over decades.”

Paying for 2013 laptops in 2043: Insane and unexplained

Does Blume explain why it’s “controversial,” namely that it’s insane that the district will still be paying for iPads in 2043 that have been lost, broken or stolen for 28 years? Nah. It’s just “controversial,” whatever that means.

What makes this particularly pathetic is that the Times editorial page and its (anti) business columnist Michael Hiltzik have for years gone after corporate malfeasance and bad behavior. That’s perfectly appropriate. But if this sort of stuff is unacceptable in the private sector, why is it OK in the public sector?

This is never explained. Instead, governmental financial shadiness is accepted by most of the media.

Why? Seriously. Why?

I won’t hold my breath on getting a response.

By Chris Reed

John & Ken of KFI 640 AM Los Angeles had me on Tuesday to talk about my CalWatchDog.com report on the L.A. Unified School District committing to spending $500 million in 30-year school “construction bonds” on iPads and shortlived electronics.

Here’s the CWD story.

Here’s the KFI interview; you’ll need to go about four minutes in before I come on.

By Chris Reed

The state Senate committee report last week showing districts stealing federal funds meant for school lunch programs came as no surprise to students of California’s education establishment. There’s a strange mentality afflicting school governance in this state, an odd combination of an anything-goes ethos and a righteous sense of entitlement.

That’s why in recent years we’ve seen school districts in California caught lying about dropout rates. And about attendance rates, which determine state funding. And also about local property tax receipts, which can reduce state school funding depending on their amount.

We’ve also seen school districts’ legal but appalling abuse of school bonds, which used to be “construction bonds” but are now about finding ways to free up money for the general fund. One version of bond abuse is borrowing at ridiculous long-term rates to avoid short-term headaches through CABs — capital appreciation bonds. The more common version, though, is use of 30-year conventional bonds to pay for routine maintenance and educational equipment such as laptops and iPads.

CalWatchdog has written about these amoral assaults on taxpayers on several occasions. Anyone who pays attention quickly figures out what the Sacramento press corps never makes clear to Californians: Goal number one in the Legislature and in nearly all local school districts is accommodating veteran teachers, which means a constant push to free up enough funds in district operating budgets so that teachers can get the automatic “step” raises that they typically receive just for showing up for 15 of their first 20 years on the job.

All the other stuff we hear about education in budget fights? It’s all show. Democratic legislators beholden to the CTA and CFT know what they must do each budget season: Keep the auto raises coming to veteran teachers and stymie any reform that might discomfit them.

The latest example of K-12 chicanery

Understand this history, and it’s no surprise that federally funded school lunch programs are being looted as well to free up funds for teacher auto raises:

“At least eight California school districts have misappropriated millions of dollars in funding intended to pay for meals for low-income students — the biggest culprit being the Los Angeles Unified School District, according to a state Senate watchdog group.

“The California Department of Education has ordered districts to pay back nearly $170 million in misused funds to their student meal programs, the California Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes said Wednesday. L.A. Unified has been forced to pay back more than $158 million in misappropriations and unallowable charges that the district made over six years ending in 2011.

“State officials suspect the alleged misuse of funds could be more widespread across California school districts but the system is overburdened and has only a small team of investigators.”

I would bet anything that this “alleged misuse of funds” is far more widespread. The never-ending pressure to free up money in the general fund to pay for teachers’ auto raises is a constant up and down the Golden State. Whether that means deceiving the federal government, ripping off Sacramento, or lying to parents and students, so be it. It’s the California way.

A governor who wants to enable the abusers

The key subplot here, of course, is that Gov. Jerry Brown in recent days has again made clear he wants more local control of schools.

Yo, Jerry! Yo, gov! I have some questions!

Do you get out much?

Do you think that leopards change their spots?

Do you think local school boards are full of smart, tough advocates of students?

Yo, Jerry! Yo, gov! I have more questions!

Have you been awake for any sustained period over the last 30 years?

Do you understand how California schools operate, and to the benefit of whom?

Have you even heard of Mark Berndt?

Sheesh. If this is the smartest guy in California government, we are doomed.

By Chris Reed

The use of 30-year school “construction” bonds to pay for routine maintenance and short-lived electronics like laptops is a huge, ongoing, but basically uncovered scandal in California. Since automatic annual pay raises for most teachers don’t get suspended when revenue is flat or declining, in many state school districts, California’s recent budget woes have lead to compensation eating up 90 percent or more of the operating budget.

So what do schools beholden to teachers unions do to cover costs that used to be in the operating budget? They make kids illegally pay for some school-related program, constantly pester parents with fundraising efforts and, oh yeah, use 30-year borrowing to pay for basic upkeep and electronics that aid in learning but last two years or less.

How does the state’s top educator feel about the latter practice? When I interviewed him, he all but said ho-hum.

“… state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson expressed more sympathy for the irresponsible officials who engaged in it than for the taxpayers who are brutalized by it. He cited the ‘stress’ officials faced because of the state’s budget woes and implied it was understandable and reasonable for routine maintenance becoming a ‘capital improvement’ cost paid for with bonds.

“Torlakson declined to offer the slightest criticism of the folly that is 30-year borrowing to pay for products that will be broken in four years or less. His concession to appearances: ‘I’ve asked my staff on school construction to look into this and figure out where the line is on what’s eligible.'”

And now what does Torlakson want to do? Float a possibly unaccountable bond of his own, one in the megabillions.

No, it’s not a case of, “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.” Torlakson is all for the scams. It’s more like, “Hey, I want a piece of that action!”