October 18, 2021 – EdSource’s Ali Tadayon covers budget shortfalls anticipated at many California school districts. Deputy Managing Attorney Angelica Jongco is featured:

Angelica Jongco, deputy managing attorney for Public Advocates, said the public interest law firm is hesitant to suggest doing away with average daily attendance permanently from the equation for districts’ baseline funding. Jongco said her fear would be taking away the accountability measure for districts and charter schools to address the ongoing issue of chronic absenteeism.

“Kids can only learn if they’re in school,” Jongco said. “We want to make sure districts are truly making all efforts possible to ensure students, especially the most vulnerable students, are getting to school every day.”

That being said, Public Advocates is looking to state lawmakers for short-term relief given the potential funding drop schools face in the 2022-23 school year. Even before the pandemic, Jongco said, districts were grappling with declining enrollment due to California’s surging housing prices, rapid gentrification and charter school growth. Since the state’s eviction moratorium expired this month, cities could see even more displacement of families with school-age children, she said.

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