In summer 2020 the LAUSD Board of Education made the historic decision to slash the school police budget by 35% and redirect funding to support Black students, but now the same advocates that fought for that change are saying schools are spending this money too slowly.
The Police Free LAUSD Coalition — made up of parents, students, teacher union leaders and community groups — held a press conference outside LAUSD Headquarters on Tuesday, March 7 to discuss its report on the district’s implementation of the Black Student Achievement Plan (BSAP).
They based their report on an analysis of school-level spending reports and a survey of about 2,300 students at more than 100 schools. The district declined to comment on its findings.
The report says 87% percent of Black students feel like they are benefitting from BSAP, but that a significant amount of the roughly $117 million in collective funding still remains unspent. The program was rolled out in September 2021.
BSAP’s funding was intended to boost mental health resources, create partnerships with community-based nonprofits and provide school climate coaches to help address racial issues and conflict on campuses.
Nearly 40% of the funds allocated for Black students went unspent in the first year of BSAP, the report states. And so far in the 2022 to 2023 school year the 53 schools in Group 1 BSAP — which comprise one-third of the district’s Black students and received the greatest proportion of funding — have not spent or committed 57% of the funds meant for partnerships with community-based organizations.
The coalition is asking that existing funds be spent, and that more money be permanently allocated for BSAP. Meanwhile, the group continues to call for defunding the school police, which has an annual department budget of about $50 million.
“The data from our survey shows that BSAP is a transformative program that is providing crucial resources to Black students that we’ve never received…
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