Key deadline nears in Archdiocese of Los Angeles vs. LAUSD student funding lawsuit – Daily Bulletin
The Los Angeles Unified School District has until Friday, August 16, to provide documentation that proves, according to a lawsuit filed by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, that LAUSD withheld federal funds from traditionally eligible low-income students attending Catholic schools before school resumed.
The lawsuit – part of a funding dispute that has been ongoing since 2019 – alleges that during the 2017 through 2020 school years, LAUSD “failed to consult with appropriate school officials” before “changing the methodology for counting the number of eligible low-income (archdiocesan) students residing in the LAUSD school district,” according to a preliminary sentencing report on the case.
In a statement Thursday, August 15, a Los Angeles Unified spokesperson said the school district is “committed” to working with state and federal education officials to ensure “all Title I protocols are followed.”
“The district is working diligently to prepare the documentation requested by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in accordance with the court’s recent order,” the statement said. “The district has also worked with the administration of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to ensure that students in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles have and will continue to have access to Title I-supported services. Los Angeles Unified looks forward to continuing to work with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.”
The archdiocese alleged in the lawsuit that LAUSD’s way of calculating private schools’ funding eligibility – which was changed in 2018 – resulted in millions of dollars lost to its lower-income students over the next four years.
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Robert Tagorda, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ top academic official, said the loss of funding was an “immediate, drastic change” that “came so abruptly … and resulted in a catastrophic decline in services.”
“At its peak, the highest amount we saw was $10 million (per year) at 100 Catholic schools within LAUSD,” Tagorda said. “We’ve seen that amount drop dramatically to under $1 million at 17 schools.”
While private schools – such as the more than 250 Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles – are privately funded, some federal laws provide local support and shared funding from local public schools for various at-risk students.
Some examples include Title III, which provides support for English learners and immigrant children, and Title IV, which improves school conditions and technological advances that benefit students’ education.
Title I allows schools with students from lower-income families to receive funding from the school district, regardless of whether it is a public or private school. Title I does this to “ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to receive a quality education and to attain minimum levels of competency.”
This lack of funding for the archdiocese’s schools by LAUSD impacts services for students such as instruction, counseling, mentoring, tutoring, and “intervention services for neglected, delinquent or at-risk children,” the preliminary sentencing report states.
In November 2023, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education affirmed a California state ruling that LAUSD “failed to accurately determine the total number of eligible students from high-need families” enrolled in the archdiocese’s schools, according to Angelus News, a publication of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
“The California Department of Education has determined that LAUSD has violated federal laws that force cuts in academic support for underserved families,” ADLA said in a Nov. 30 press release.
After a hearing on July 16, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled that LAUSD must find the necessary funds and documents by August 16. LAUSD was also ordered to reimburse the archdiocese for more than $80,000 in legal fees incurred in challenging the case against LAUSD.
Catholic Schools Superintendent Paul Escala said LAUSD had “seriously denied thousands of students who desperately need services to which they are legally entitled under the federal Title I program.”
“We are grateful that the court has recognized the financial impact of the ongoing litigation with LAUSD on behalf of the underserved families of needy Catholic students,” Escala said after the July 16 ruling. “This ruling also underscores the need for transparency in determining student eligibility for services by LAUSD.”
Salesian High School in Boyle Heights is one of several Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles affected by this funding dispute.
Salesian Principal Mark Johnson, 57, said he has seen resource shortages in the 35 years he has been there, but never has the shortage been greater or faster than when LAUSD changed reporting and funding under Title I.
“The number of students receiving services through Title One has decreased, even though the need has actually increased because our enrollment numbers have increased,” he said. “The decrease in the number of students receiving services is probably about 60 to 70%.”
This loss of funding, Combined with the challenges of distance learning during the pandemic, Johnson said, many students arrived at high school behind grade level.
“These students also did not receive the level of intervention services that they previously received through Title I,” Johnson said. “For some of our kids, that’s a real barrier to college readiness.”
Johnson said that over the course of his decades as an English teacher, he has observed that young people’s literacy skills are directly linked to their students becoming more confident in their studies and in their personal lives.
“Ultimately, we want children in public and private schools to have the funding and services they deserve and need to pursue their dreams,” Johnson said. “It’s not just about literacy and math skills, but also the social and emotional health of students affected by these kinds of disputes.”
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