This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Schools

Parents Urged to Lobby for Joint Powers Agreement

Board of Education members are urging residents to ask the City Council to renew the agreement, which provides vital funding for Beverly Hills schools, as its current level.

Several Board of Education members are urging parents to lobby City Council members to extend the Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) at its current level of $10.3 million.

The JPA is a long-term agreement in which the city pays the district for access to school facilities, and it must be negotiated between members of the council and the school board. As Patch reported, the first meeting to discuss the next JPA .

“We need you all to contact the members of the City Council and thank them for their continued support of our schools and ask them to negotiate an extension of the Joint Powers Agreement at its current level,” Board Vice President Brian Goldberg told parents Thursday at the Horace Mann PTA meeting.

Find out what's happening in Beverly Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The current JPA expires July 1, 2012, but the Beverly Hills Unified School District asked the city to begin negotiations for the next agreement because the district must give budget projections for the next three years to the Los Angeles County Office of Education.

“If the JPA is cut it will negatively impact our schools and our city,” Goldberg said.

Find out what's happening in Beverly Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Board President Lisa Korbatov and member Steven Fenton have made similar comments recently, urging the public to discuss JPA renewal with fellow residents and with members of the council.

Board members are reacting to talk that the next JPA could be reduced by more than $1 million a year. City Treasurer Elliot Finkel, who is also chair of the Citizens Budget Committee, has recommended cutting the JPA to $9 million, while Mayor Barry Brucker has noted that the school district has shrunk by 1,000 students since the last JPA was negotiated in early 2008.

“[A] robust and fully funded JPA is critical for a healthy property tax base and will help ensure continued strong residential and commercial property values for our city, translating into much needed revenue to support city services like our police and fire departments,” Goldberg said in a recent email to constituents.

He also made the following points in his email and in his discussion with parents:

  • When the last JPA was negotiated, residents made up 80 percent of the school district population. Today, the resident population is up to 90 percent and the actual number of resident children attending the schools has risen by 148 pupils.
  • Unlike the city, any furlough days used to close the BHUSD’s budget gap must be negotiated with collective bargaining units and ratified by the full membership of those groups. The Board of Education cannot simply impose employee furloughs the way the city can.
  • This board majority has worked hard to identify waste and mismanagement in the district's budget. Do not punish the BHUSD for being transparent about the mistakes it has found.
  • A 15 percent reduction in funding for the JPA, when the community is investing $334 million through Measure E to improve the schools, is not a symbolic cut but a drastic cut in funding levels.

This columnist also urges readers to contact council members and express their views on continuing the JPA at its current level. Contact information for members of the Beverly Hills City Council can be found here.

Be sure to follow Beverly Hills Patch on Twitter and "Like" us on Facebook.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?