CV NEWS FEED // A California ruling found that the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) miscounted the number of low-income students attending Catholic schools, gutting funding for high-need students.
The U.S. Department of Education affirmed a previous ruling from California in favor of the Department of Catholic Schools of the Archdiocese of LA (ADLA).
“In response to a proceeding filed by the ADLA in September 2019, the California Department of Education (CDE) has ruled that LAUSD violated federal law, which forced cuts in academic assistance to underserved families,” stated ADLA’s press release.
With 250 elementary and high schools spanning the counties of Ventura, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles, the ADLA is the largest non-public school system in the US, teaching over 68,000 students.
The Department of Education found that LAUSD had “failed to accurately count the total number of eligible students from struggling families served by the ADLA in school years 2018-2019 and 2019-2020, in response to an appeal filed by the LAUSD on July 24, 2021.”
“The Archdiocese filed a Uniform Compliant Procedure (UCP) with the LAUSD in September 2019, after the LAUSD blocked all but 17 of more than 100 previously eligible Catholic schools from receiving Title I funds to assist underperforming students,” according to the press release.
“We are pleased that the U.S. Department of Education affirmed the findings of the California Department of Education. For years, many low-income students attending Catholic schools in the boundaries of the LAUSD have been deprived of vital educational services, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, they are legally eligible for,” said Paul Escala, Senior Director and Superintendent of Schools for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. “We trust this decision will result in a restoration of services for thousands of students in our schools which are needed now more than ever.”
To correct these errors, the US Department of Education requests that the LAUSD “redetermine the poverty count for the ADLA” based on the archdiocese’s documentation, review the available data to “recalculate the proportional share using the complete data,” and consult the archdiocese on its final decision.
“Both parties must reach an agreement on the services to be provided to the students, including methods or sources of data used to determine the number of children from low-income families who reside in Title I public school attendance areas and the funding available for the services,” the statement continued.
The department also must apply the same standards to non-public schools as to public school students.
“In the three years prior to 2019, the LAUSD received an annual average of $291 million in Title I funds and distributed between 2% and 2.6% among non-public schools, but in 2019, when it cut the Catholic school recipients from 102 to 17, the district had received more than $349 million for Title I, but distributed less than 0.5% among non-public schools,” the press release stated.
“Catholic schools reported receiving approximately $190,000 or 11% of the total for non-public schools,” according to an article published in July 2021 by the archdiocesan news platform Angelus News.