MARIN COUNTY — Officials at the Tamalpais Union High School District are deciding whether to put a tax measure on the ballot to upgrade their high school campuses, but the amount of the bond issue has some in the community accusing them of swinging for the fences.

District representatives are set to weigh the measure at its meeting Tuesday evening.

Redwood High in Larkspur is an award-winning school but at more than 60 years old, it’s buildings have seen better days.

“Our school, as you can see, it’s a little run down, especially on the inside. It gets a little hot sometimes and the classrooms are super small,” said Redwood High junior Ginger Howard. “And it’s hard to get enough state funding to fix things like this because there are other priorities, and we understand that.”

The Tam Union High School District is set to vote whether to put a bond measure on the ballot for March of 2024. The bond would raise money to upgrade the facilities at its three comprehensive high schools, including Redwood, Tampalpais and Archie Williams.  

“The bottom line is we’ve got some leaky roofs that need to be tended [to]. We’ve got old outdated heating and plumbing and cooling systems and electrical systems,” said the district’s Assistant Superintendent for Business and Operations Corbett Elsen.

But it goes far beyond that. New athletic fields and solar canopies are planned for all three campuses, as well as new classrooms at Tamalpais and a new $104 million cafeteria and commons building for Redwood High. There is a hefty cost for all the planned renovation.  

The ballot measure says it will raise $517 million in revenue, but if you add in the cost of the interest on the 30-year bonds, taxpayers will be paying a staggering $1.04 billion.

“We think that the size is too large. We think…we are concerned that they didn’t prioritize,” said Mimi Willard, president of the Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers.

The organization has taken up the fight to get the district to scale down the ballot measure. Willard pointed to the new cafeteria as an example of the district’s overreach.

“It was deemed by the district’s own metrics to be a ‘Priority 2,” she said. “So we would like to see the district focusing on the ‘Priority 1’ projects.”

Willard said the voters also deserve ballot language that reflects the true cost of over a billion dollars rather than just the amount of the bonds. She suspects that the district may be aiming high for the March ballot because of a large number of funding measures that are expected in November. But Elsen denied that Tam Union is trying to get all that it can before tax fatigue sets in.

“I don’t think we’ve swung for the fences,” he said. “We’ve identified what we need…in terms of what our community feels that we need. We feel we owe it to our community. They’ve asked for this, so we need to reflect upon what the cost of this is.”

The measure would tax property at a rate of $30 per $100,000 in assessed value. Elsen said that means the average homeowner in the district would pay $329 per year for the next 30 years. 

It will take a 55 percent vote to approve the measure, and an early poll showed 60 percent were in favor. But a later poll shows that number has been coming down. Whether the largest bond measure in the district’s history will pass now looks to be a toss-up.

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John Ramos accidentally launched a lifelong career in journalism when he began drawing editorial cartoons and writing smart-alecky satire pieces for the Bakersfield High School newspaper.

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San Francisco’s public school staff just started their third school year with a faulty payroll system, and the district is still slogging through a backlog of 3,000 issues. 

Last month, almost 1,000 public school employees received their paychecks days late.

For employees of the San Francisco Unified School District, a mundane-sounding glitch in a payroll system that went live in January 2022 brought real-world consequences, including  canceled insurance benefits during health emergencies, tax-filing nightmares and delayed retirement contributions. Some school district staff even had to borrow money to pay their rent. 

The district has spent more than $40 million on the system—called EMPowerSF, configured using software by SAP America—and says progress has been made. But the leader of the United Educators of San Francisco union wants the district to pull the plug.

“This system’s gotta go,” said the union’s president, Cassondra Curiel. “There’s only so long you can squeeze a round peg in a square hole.”

The district adopted EMPowerSF with high hopes for replacing an antiquated, 17-year-old system that was paper-heavy and tracked its $1 billion budget on Google Sheets. It contracted with SAP America in 2018 and, later, its subsidiary, SAP Public Services.

A U.S. subsidiary of SAP SE, one of Germany’s largest companies, has been linked to numerous payroll snafus in California. | Source: Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images

The school district selected SAP, even though problems linked to the company’s payroll software had made headlines in other jurisdictions. The best-known instance came in 2016 when the software company settled with the California State Controller’s Office for $59 million after an exchange of lawsuits.

So why did San Francisco school officials still choose SAP? And will they pull the plug, too? 

‘I Don’t See It Getting Better’

Although it’s the namesake behind the SAP Center, home to the National Hockey League’s San Jose Sharks, German-founded SAP—originally called System Analysis Program Development—is hardly an instantly recognizable corporation like, say, Oracle or AT&T. In the world of California government, SAP is rather infamous.

The company’s connections to payroll snafus are extensive. In 2005, Los Angeles Community College District officials called a troubled transition to a SAP-powered system “horrific” after reports of missing pay. Two years later, a new $95 million payroll system held up by SAP software left thousands of Los Angeles Unified School District employees without checks. That episode took about a year to stabilize, and SAP remains in use there today. 

In 2010, Marin County stopped a $30 million SAP project, leading to a legal battle with the implementation contractor, Deloitte. The same year, the State Controller’s Office hired SAP for what was then billed as the largest payroll modernization project in the country. In 2013, it ended its $90 million contract with the software company after the project’s pilot stage became overwhelmed with errors. 

The ordeal was so colossal that it was the subject of a 2013 California Legislature report, which highlighted lapses in due diligence and disagreements about contractual responsibilities. The settlement stemming from another legal battle, which granted $59 million to the state with no admission of fault for either party, came one year before San Francisco school officials sought contractors for a new payroll system in 2017. 

“Every time SAP is implemented, it seems to fail,” said Bilal Mahmood, an entrepreneur and 2022 Assembly District 17 candidate who analyzed San Francisco’s implementation errors. “The legacy companies—the SAPs, the Oracles—they know how to navigate the government procurement process.” 

United Educators of San Francisco Executive Vice President Frank Lara has fielded teachers’ payroll complaints for nearly two years. | Source: Jeremy Chen/The Standard

As the 2013 state report shows, the Controller’s Office ordeal led to questions about how well software like SAP’s can work for public entities with numerous departments and labor agreements. But a payroll transition’s success also comes down to preparation and management.

“SAP has a long and successful track record of partnering with thousands of public sector organizations including the San Francisco Unified School District,” the company said in a statement. “We are fully committed to ensuring our customers realize the value of their digital investments, and in this case more specifically, the long term sustainability and success of the SFUSD.”

The decision-making process is somewhat opaque. A public records request conducted by The Standard did not yield any documentation indicating how the district came to pick SAP out of a pile of software companies from the 2017 public contract proposal process. It is unclear how many bids were made, which was the cheapest or whether SAP had addressed recent issues with transitions.

A district spokesperson did not respond to questions regarding EMPowerSF’s origins and future. 

The district’s Service Employees International Union chapter, whose president has called the new system “the worst thing to come to the district,” is similarly in the dark, despite repeated questions about why the school district chose this particular system. And though union leaders acknowledge that the decision to bring in expensive consultants—now costing over $15 million—has greatly improved the situation, they don’t see a great future for workers when it comes to EMPowerSF.

“I don’t have any faith this program is going to get any better,” said Antonae Robertson, the chapter’s vice president. “I don’t see it getting worse, but I don’t see it getting better.”

Many technical aspects of the contracts were written to the district’s disadvantage, according to a Standard analysis. For example, Infosys, the information technology firm that was hired to put the software into action, did not have a contractual responsibility to remedy issues with the system. The district was also responsible for migrating data between the old system and the new.

Mahmood stressed that he has great empathy for government entities changing payroll systems, as software must be customized to account for all their intricacies. The problem compounds for districts like San Francisco that reported gaps in documentation needed to plug into the payroll system, he added. 

After combing through the district’s contracts, Omid Ghamami, a procurement consulting expert who reviewed the paperwork at the request of The Standard, highlighted another red flag: that the district switched from one major payroll provider to another rather than modernizing the preexisting PeopleSoft system by Oracle. 

“I would suspect they blamed these issues on the system rather than their own procedures,” Ghamami said. “When they switched to another system, they got a rude awakening. The worst thing they could do is let history repeat itself.”

SAP has opened an office on Townsend Street in San Francisco. Its subsidiary SAP SuccessFactors has a campus in South San Francisco. | Source: Sundry Photography/Getty Images

Keep or Ditch? 

Under Superintendent Matt Wayne, who began his post in July 2022, the district has simplified and addressed many issues with district operations identified as the major causes of its payroll misery. Several key vacancies in business services, technology and human resources departments continue to be filled as the caseload is increasingly tamed. 

“We’re in a very different place than we were a year ago,” Wayne said at the Aug. 8 board meeting. “[There’s] a lot of work to do, but there has been progress. You have my continued commitment to make this work for us because we need to focus, as I said, on our [academic] goals—which is what we’re really here for.” 

Since 2018, the district has spent at least $43 million across seven contractors to launch the system and clean up the mess, according to a Standard analysis of related records. Of that, SAP accounted for $5.9 million. 

In addition, the district hired another consultant for $2.6 million to stabilize its business operations, including payroll, through July 2024.

How much longer until EMPowerSF works for the district remains to be seen. The smart move in 2017 would have been to upgrade PeopleSoft, Ghamami said. The smart move now, he added, would probably be to stick with SAP, due to the district’s sunk costs.

Curiel, the educators’ union president, however, has seen enough. The union staged a takeover of district offices in March 2022 to secure agreements for timely replacement checks and interest for delayed payments, but it’s unclear when the district will be in a place to tally all that up. 

Meanwhile, workers still have a tough time understanding their paychecks and what may have gone wrong. An official union complaint is working its way through a state system. 

Frank Lara, the union’s vice president, has fielded complaint after complaint from members. This year, he watched his own help ticket move painfully slowly through the system while he was charged an extra $850 a month for health care his family did not receive. 

“It just gets lost,” Lara told The Standard. “There’s some key system issues that may not be solvable.”

Questions, comments or concerns about this article may be sent to [email protected]

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Lifestyle

By Jiovanni Lieggi, Fox News

Published
Oct. 12, 2022, 1:52 p.m. ET

DALY CITY, CALIF. – In some of America’s most expensive cities, residents are having to pack up and leave as rent prices rise. Inflation is keeping teachers from moving into these major cities like San Francisco in California, fueling the need for more staff when school districts are already struggling to hire. 

Rent prices in San Francisco have gone up more 16% in the past year, the real estate company Redfin reported in June. The most recent teacher salary data shows that the average salary for teachers has gone down in the past decade by 3.2%, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. In California, the average salary is up 3.7%. Still, teachers say it doesn’t help with the rising costs of nearly everything. 

“The prices here are astronomical,” Jefferson Union High School District Superintendent Toni Presta said. “We have teachers we want to hire, and they might be from across the country, and they can’t afford to live here,” she explained.

Even some people who live in the area struggle to afford the high cost of living. “It’s difficult to make ends meet with rent, food and other bills you have to pay and still have a life,” Davonte Byrd said. 

The Jefferson Union High School District built a complex to accommodate teachers who can’t afford to live in the San Francisco suburb area.AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez

Byrd now works with the Jefferson Union High School District in San Mateo County, just outside of San Francisco. He was couch-surfing for several months until he was able to find a well-paying job and an affordable rent. In San Francisco, the median rent price is more than $3,750, according to Redfin. He’s paying half.  

To help provide a solution for affordable housing while retaining and recruiting staff, the Jefferson Union High School District built an apartment complex for district employees on an empty parking lot that they already owned. The apartments are offered at almost half the market rate to employees. A $30 million bond was passed in 2018 by voters in the area to help build the complex. District leaders said the housing is helping.

“We started our year fully staffed, and most of neighboring school districts did not start the year fully staffed,” Presta said.

Voters approved a $30 million bond to construct the apartment complex in 2018.AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez

Jefferson Union High School District administrative assistant Taylor Garcia shows her apartment where her children play.AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez

Rebecca Jasmin lives in the complex and works as a health teacher. She said she was couch-surfing as well until she could find an affordable place to live in the area. 

“The rent that I was looking at, was like $2,200 per month, like a matchbox, a tiny little space,” she said. Jasmin left teaching previously because of low pay. She said having the housing makes it more affordable. 

“People are able to live here, work here and afford it, and that’s really remarkable in the Bay Area,” Presta said. 

Teachers have praised the Jefferson Union High School District for helping teachers to afford live near the schools.AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez

The complex features a courtyard with a playground for teachers with children.AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez

There are about 230,000 thousand less staff working in education across the country now compared to this time in 2019, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

“Low pay, the areas I wanted to be, the housing, it just wasn’t workable,” Jasmin said.

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Over the next five years, San Francisco schools need about $1.4 billion worth of work to address malfunctioning boilers, electrical issues, plumbing problems, floor repairs and other facilities issues, a significant to-do list that doesn’t necessarily include replacing heating systems or toilets with more modern and efficient options.

While it’s a shocking amount of money needed for 107 sites, it’s the first time in years that district officials have a clear idea of the current condition of its buildings and grounds and what it will take to address needs of facilities through 2027.

The district assessed all sites in recent months, determining whether the various parts of the buildings were in excellent, good, fair, poor or deficient condition at each location.

The overall conclusion was reassuring: The schools are safe. There are no issues related to structural integrity or other life-safety systems critical to the well-being of students and staff, said Dawn Kamalanathan, district head of facilities.

Instead, the issues revolve around inefficient and aging infrastructure like basement boilers and classroom radiators that are either on or off, for example, making some classrooms either too cold and others too hot.

“They’re safe,” she said. “They might be uncomfortable.”

Based on the assessment, electrical, as well as heating and ventilation, received the lowest marks, with 72 sites in poor or deficient condition. Plumbing followed in third, with 43 sites in the same category.

At nearly two-dozen sites, the heating system is so old it would cost more to fix it than replace it with the same type of equipment. The data doesn’t identify what it would cost to ditch the boilers for more modern HVAC systems.

“This is really for us, the first conversation,” Kamalanathan said. “What you’re seeing here is not systems no longer functioning, but systems that are well past their designed for useful life.”

The $1.4 billion price tag doesn’t include basic maintenance like fixing a leaky roof or broken window.

The report, presented to the school board earlier this month, will pave the way for a facilities master plan, as well as a ballot measure next year or the following to raise money through a new facilities bond, officials said.

Jill Tucker and Nami Sumida are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com nami.sumida@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker @namisumida

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(The Center Square) – The San Francisco Unified School District is projecting general fund deficits ranging from $25.3 million to $37.6 million over the next three years while facing a significant decline in enrollment.

That’s according to documents the school board received in its Aug. 29 meeting. The district general fund expenditures are $744 million in the 2023-24 school year. The deficits run from 2023-24 through 2025-26.

“Additional investments, including salary increases, will not be feasible within the District’s financial means,” the report stated.

The district is facing a staffing shortage in many different departments, the report stated.

In 2022-23, 15% of classrooms were staffed by substitute teachers or teachers on special assignment. This was also the case for the start of the 2023-24 school year.

Custodial Services and Student Nutritional Services departments had a 25% staffing shortage. The Buildings & Grounds department had a 50% staffing shortage in its heating and ventilation shop.

According to the report, the increase in vacant positions in classrooms is primarily due to the compensation schedule and insufficient incentives for long-term teacher retention.

The current average starting salary for a teacher is $64,000. The average teacher salary increases to $90,000 in mid-career, with the highest reported salary being $110,000.

Enrollment fell by over 4,000 students over the past decade, from 52,989 students in 2012-13 to 48,907 in 2022-23.

The district is also expecting an additional loss of 4,600 students by 2032.

The district did not respond to a request seeking comment.

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President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law expanded the eligibility of WIIN funding to include remediating lead in water that children drink, in addition to testing and compliance monitoring

July 24, 2023

SAN FRANCISCO – Today, at an event in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Assistant Administrator for Water Radhika Fox and EPA New England Regional Administrator David W. Cash, along with U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren and U.S. Representative Katherine Clark, announced $58 million in grant funding from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to protect children from lead in drinking water at schools and childcare facilities across the country, including $5,372,000 for California. Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, activities that remove sources of lead in drinking water are now, for the first time, eligible to receive funding through the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act (WIIN). This grant funding, which is provided to states, territories, and Tribes, advances the Biden-Harris Administration’s Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan and unprecedented commitment to delivering clean water for all communities, especially historically marginalized and low-income communities.       

“Reducing lead in drinking water is a top priority for the Biden-Harris Administration and the EPA. We are taking a holistic approach to tackling this critical public health issue in California,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman. “By harmonizing regulations with historic infrastructure investments under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, while also providing technical assistance to disadvantaged communities, EPA is taking bold action to protect all our children from lead in drinking water.” 

EPA is also releasing a revised grant implementation document that outlines new authority provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to fund activities that remove sources of lead in drinking water. The Voluntary School and Child Care Lead Testing and Reduction Grant Program funds voluntary lead testing, compliance monitoring, and for the first-time, lead in drinking water remediation projects. Lead remediation actions may include but are not limited to the removal, installation, and replacement of internal plumbing, lead pipes or lead connectors, faucets, water fountains, water filler stations, point-of-use devices, and other lead-free apparatus related to drinking water. 

The grant funding announced today is provided to states, territories, and Tribes through the WIIN. The grant program requires the use of guidance from EPA’s 3Ts (Training, Testing, and Taking Action) Program to support schools and childcare facilities in making progress on reducing lead in drinking water. Tools and resources from the 3Ts Program help states, territories, and Tribes provide technical assistance and take action to support the health and safety of children in early care and education settings. The program also helps advance President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which is helping address environmental injustice by ensuring that the benefits of federal investments in clean water, clean energy, and other programs reach communities that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution. 

Today’s announcement advances the goals of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan and EPA’s Strategy to Reduce Lead Exposures and Disparities in U.S. Communities. Under these initiatives, EPA is developing the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements to strengthen the Agency’s regulatory framework. EPA intends to propose requirements that, along with other actions, would result in the replacement of all lead service lines as quickly as is feasible. EPA is also investing $15 billion in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to remove lead service lines. In addition to the dedicated funding for lead service line removal, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides another $11.7 billion in general funding through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund that can also be utilized for lead removal projects. 

Learn more about the Biden-Harris Administration’s Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan and EPA’s Strategy to Reduce Lead Exposures and Disparities in U.S. Communities.

Background 

President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is dedicating an unprecedented $15 billion to removing lead from drinking water. The Voluntary School and Childcare Lead Testing and Reduction Grant Program complements these funds to further reduce lead in drinking water. Under this grant, EPA allocates funds to eligible states and territories based on a formula that includes factors for population, disadvantaged communities, and lead exposure risk. For more information, visit: WIIN Grant: Voluntary School and Child Care Lead Testing and Reduction Grant Program.

Learn more about EPA’s Pacific Southwest Region. Connect with us on Facebook and on Twitter.

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Students and staff at two Houston ISD elementary schools will be relocated for the upcoming school year while their campuses undergo major renovations funded by federal pandemic relief dollars. 

The district plans to temporarily relocate De Zavala and Franklin elementary students while replacing the HVAC — heating, ventilation and air conditioning — systems at the Greater East End campuses, according to HISD. Those students will spend the year learning at an annex located across the street from Austin High School at 1820 S. Lockwood Drive, roughly 3 miles from their original campuses. 

LATEST NEWS: HISD removes principals from Yates, Worthing and Sharpstown high schools, 1 week after job cuts

“This capital project is a major renovation that requires complete access to the buildings and includes replacing the chiller as well as replacing piping for the entire campus,” the district said in a statement.

The students and personnel are expected to return to De Zavala and Franklin campuses in the fall of 2024. 

In the meantime, the district will provide transportation for students to and from their home campuses, according to HISD. 

HISD held two meetings in late June to discuss the building upgrades and relocation with the school communities. It’s unclear what exactly was shared with families at those meetings. De Zavala serves roughly 450 students and Franklin has 280 students, the vast majority of them Hispanic, according to state data. 

The school board last month approved a contract with Prime Contractors, Inc., to complete the $6.2 million project at De Zavala and $5.9 million renovation at Franklin, according to an agenda for the June 22 meeting. 

The board also approved a contract with American Mechanical Services to complete $1.2 million in HVAC repairs at Ninfa Laurenzo Early Childhood Center, although relocation of students is not required, according to the district. 

TEACHERS: HISD teachers worried over salaries, possible ‘mass exodus’ as resignation deadline nears

All three projects, totaling no more than $13.4 million, are funded by dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act and the third round of ESSER, or Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief.

The maintenance projects stem from a district-wide facilities assessment completed in 2021 that identified an urgent need to replace and repair poorly functioning HVAC systems and mechanical equipment at several campuses, according to the agenda. The repairs should improve indoor air quality at the renovated campuses. 

The project predates new superintendent Mike Miles and his administration, with the prior administration seeking contractors for the project starting in early March.  

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Eine Verletzung zwang die fünfköpfige Familie, während einer der regenreichsten Jahreszeiten Kaliforniens seit Jahrzehnten in einem undichten Wohnmobil aus dem Jahr 1995 mit einem defekten Sanitärsystem zu leben.

Ana Franquis‘ Ehemann Oscar wurde vor etwa zwei Jahren entlassen, nachdem er sich bei seiner Arbeit als Tischler eine Rückenverletzung zugezogen hatte.

Da Oscar das einzige Einkommen ihres Haushalts sicherte, beantragten sie ein Mietstützungsprogramm aus der Zeit der Pandemie. Doch schließlich erhielten sie einen Räumungsbescheid. Ihre Kinder waren 2, 10 und 12 Jahre alt – und sie hatten drei Tage Zeit, ihre Wohnung in Seaside zu verlassen.

Es war ein weiteres Hindernis in einem Jahr voller Tragödien. Kurz vor der Räumung hörte Franquis aufgrund einer Krebsdiagnose auf zu arbeiten und ihr Vater starb.

„Wir waren verzweifelt und konnten nirgendwo hingehen“, sagte Franquis, dessen Kinder Schulen im Monterey Peninsula Unified District im nordkalifornischen Monterey County besuchen.

Ihre Familie ist eine von 2.220, die in diesem Schuljahr in ihrem Bezirk als Obdachlose identifiziert wurden, wobei fast 90 % in Doppelhäusern leben.

Monterey County weist mit 13,4 % die höchste Rate an obdachlosen Studenten unter den Landkreisen des Bundesstaates auf.

Der stärkste Anstieg unter den Bezirken ist an der Santa Rita Union Elementary zu verzeichnen, nur wenige Meilen von der Schule entfernt, wo Franquis‘ Kinder eingeschrieben sind. In diesem in der Stadt Salinas gelegenen Bezirk ist die Zahl obdachloser Studenten von 2014 bis 2020 nicht über 1,53 % oder 55 Studenten gestiegen. In diesem Jahr ist sie jedoch auf 22,24 % oder 718 Studenten gestiegen.

Salinas ist als landwirtschaftliches Zentrum mit üppigem Obst- und Gemüseanbau bekannt und wird von den Einwohnern seit langem als ein Ort beschrieben, an dem in einer Gegend mit hohen Lebenshaltungskosten niedrige Löhne herrschen. Das Zusammenleben oder das Zusammenleben von Familien ist keine Seltenheit.

Für Franquis‘ Familie im nahegelegenen Monterey, wohin sie inzwischen gezogen ist, kam die Unterstützung zunächst in Form von Gutscheinen für die Übernachtung in einem Motel, während sie über ihre nächsten Schritte nachdachten. Diese Gutscheine wurden mit Mitteln des Federal American Rescue Plan bezahlt, der laut landesweiten Verbindungsleuten obdachlosen Familien während der Pandemie und ihren wirtschaftlichen Folgen wichtige Unterstützung geleistet hat.

Die Pandemie führt zu einem Anstieg der Obdachlosigkeit unter Studenten

Vor der Pandemie nahm die Obdachlosigkeit aufgrund des Mangels an bezahlbarem Wohnraum zu. Aber Familien wurden durch die Inflation und die explodierenden Mieten nach dem Auslaufen des staatlichen Räumungsmoratoriums an den Rand des Abgrunds gebracht, sagten Verbindungsleute. Einige Gebiete haben auch durch Naturkatastrophen wie Waldbrände, Überschwemmungen und Erdbeben Wohnraum verloren.

Während die Einschreibungen in Kalifornien letztes Jahr zurückgingen, stieg die Zahl der obdachlosen Studenten um 9 %. Zuwächse in Küstenbezirken wie Humboldt, Monterey und Ventura sowie in Binnenbezirken wie Plumas, Mariposa und San Bernardino folgen Rückgängen in den letzten drei Jahren. Dies wurde weitgehend von Experten erwartet, die sagen, dass das Problem der Unterzählung obdachloser Schüler während des Fernunterrichts in der Pandemie-Ära besonders groß war; Das Schulpersonal verlässt sich auf persönliche Interaktionen, um obdachlose Schüler zu identifizieren. Angesichts der Massenrückkehr an die Universitäten liegt die Zahl der Obdachlosen landesweit auf dem Niveau vor der Pandemie.

Experten weisen darauf hin, dass Statistiken über obdachlose Schüler mehr darüber aussagen können, wie gut Schulen obdachlose Schüler identifizieren, als darüber, wie viele Schüler von Obdachlosigkeit betroffen sind.

„Ich glaube nicht, dass es so einfach ist wie: Die Zahlen steigen, die Obdachlosigkeit nimmt zu; Die Zahlen sind gesunken, die Obdachlosigkeit ist gesunken. Das sind nicht die Schulzahlen. Sie sind ein Maß dafür, wer identifiziert und in die Schule eingeschrieben ist“, sagte Barbara Duffield, Geschäftsführerin von Schoolhouse Connection, einer landesweiten Interessenvertretung für Obdachlose.

In der Santa Rita Union Elementary spiegelt der Anstieg in hohem Maße die erneuten Bemühungen des Bezirks wider, obdachlose Schüler zu identifizieren. In den letzten drei Jahren stellte der Bezirk zusätzliche Verbindungspersonen ein und eröffnete Ressourcenzentren, der Landkreis organisierte Identifizierungsschulungen für alle Mitarbeiter und begann, Familien anzurufen, die sich beim Ausfüllen der jährlichen Schulformulare möglicherweise nicht als obdachlos identifiziert hatten.

Spielzeug, Schuhe und Schulmaterial sind oft im Family Resource Center von Greenfield Unified im südlichen Monterey County zu finden.

Betty Márquez Rosales/EdSource

Zuvor reichten Büroangestellte die Ausweisformulare ein und telefonische Check-ins waren nicht die Norm. Seitdem sind die Zahlen sprunghaft angestiegen, aber man geht davon aus, dass noch immer nicht alle obdachlosen Schüler erreicht werden.

Die neuen Verbindungspersonen sind in Salinas aufgewachsen und haben daher ein tiefes Verständnis für die Familien, die dort leben.

„Sie werden wissen, dass die Martinezes mit den Lopezes zusammenleben und die Lopezes ‚Nein‘ geschrieben haben, aber.“ [the liaisons] „Ich weiß, dass sie ein Zimmer mieten, also bekommen sie einen Anruf“, sagte Summer Prather-Smith, die Obdachlosen-Verbindungsperson des Distrikts für die beiden von ihr eingestellten Mitarbeiter.

Verdoppelung

Verbindungsleute haben seit langem herausgefunden, dass die Mehrheit der obdachlosen Studenten in Monterey County – und im Rest des Bundesstaates – in Doppelhäusern lebt.

Dies kann eine Vielzahl von Situationen umfassen, sagte Jennifer Kottke, die Obdachlosen-Verbindungsperson des Los Angeles County. Es gibt kleine Häuser mit drei Schlafzimmern, in denen in jedem Schlafzimmer eine Familie lebt oder in einem Schlafzimmer 13 Personen leben. Manchmal leben Familien in einer Garage, einem provisorischen Unterstand an der Seite des Hauses oder in einem Wohnmobil.

Während Beobachter denken mögen, dass diese Studenten technisch gesehen keine Obdachlosen sind, entsprechen sie doch der bundesstaatlichen Definition von Familien, die eine stabile Unterkunft benötigen. „Wo finden (Schüler) eine ruhige Ecke, um ihre Schulaufgaben zu erledigen?“ sagte Cathi Nye, die Obdachlosen-Verbindungsperson des Ventura County. „Es ist nicht ausreichend.“

Monterey-Verbindungsleute stellten außerdem besorgniserregende neue Wohnungstrends fest.

Höhere Mieten drängen einige in günstigere Wohnungen, was andere in die Krise stürzt. Einige Verbindungsleute sagten, die früher von Wanderarbeitern und Landarbeitern mit geringem Einkommen genutzten Wohnungen würden nun oft von denjenigen übernommen, die aufgrund der Inflation und der Mieterhöhungen nicht mehr in teureren Wohnungen untergebracht werden könnten. Sie stellen fest, dass jede Veränderung in der Familiendynamik, wie Scheidung, Arbeitsplatzverlust oder Verletzung, zunehmend zur Obdachlosigkeit führt. Einige bereiten sich auf neue Obdachlosigkeit vor, weil die Erntesaison durch die jüngsten sintflutartigen Regenfälle verzögert wird. Arbeiterunterkünfte sind manchmal alleinstehenden Männern vorbehalten, und wenn sie sich länger als normal in einem Gebiet aufhalten, um die Ernte einzufahren, können Familien nicht einziehen.

Hygieneartikel für Spenden im Family Resource Center in Monterey Peninsula Unified im Monterey County.Betty Márquez Rosales/EdSource

Ohne die vom Bund finanzierten Gutscheine ist sich Franquis nicht sicher, wo sie in den ersten Nächten nach der Räumung geschlafen hätten. Sie standen auf der Warteliste für Obdachlosenunterkünfte und mussten fast ein Jahr lang warten.

„Wir haben alles verloren. Absolut alles“, sagte Franquis auf Spanisch. „Aber Herr Diaz war für uns wie ein Engel.“

COVID-Geld schafft Lebensadern

Das ist Carlos Diaz, der McKinney-Vento-Verbindungsmann des Bezirks. Er stellt sicher, dass obdachlose Studenten die Hilfe erhalten, die sie im Rahmen des McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act des Bundes benötigen.

Das Gesetz schreibt vor, dass jeder öffentliche Schulbezirk, jedes Bezirksamt für Bildung und jede Charterschule einen örtlichen Verbindungsmann beauftragen muss, um sicherzustellen, dass obdachlose Jugendliche identifiziert werden und über die Bildungsdienstleistungen verfügen, die sie für einen akademischen Erfolg benötigen. Pädagogen sagen jedoch, dass das Gesetz von 1987 nie ausreichend von der Landes- oder Bundesregierung finanziert wurde.

Schulen erhalten zusätzliche Mittel für obdachlose Schüler vom Staat über die lokale Kontrollfinanzierungsformel und einige Bundesmittel für die Bildung von Obdachlosen. Doch die Finanzierung ist gering und es gibt strenge Beschränkungen hinsichtlich der Verwendung.

Das änderte sich im Zuge der Pandemie. Kalifornien erhielt 800 Millionen US-Dollar aus dem American Rescue Plan, der sich speziell an obdachlose Kinder und Jugendliche richtet.

Diese Fonds sind flexibler als die Obdachlosenbildungsfinanzierung von McKinney-Vento und ermöglichen es Schulbezirken und Landkreisen, beispielsweise Hotelgutscheine für Familien zu bezahlen, die nirgendwo anders hingehen können. Die Mittel ermöglichten es den Schulbehörden auch, mehr der grundlegendsten und wichtigsten Aufgaben der Obdachlosenbildung zu übernehmen: die Identifizierung von Schülern, die Hilfe benötigen.

„Das sind Gelder, die wir schon sehr lange brauchen“, sagte Susanne Terry, Obdachlosen-Kontaktperson im San Diego County.

Die Mittel müssen jedoch bis Januar 2025 ausgegeben sein und es gibt keine Garantie dafür, dass sie wieder aufgefüllt werden.

Als das Geld erstmals bereitgestellt wurde, war Terry optimistisch, dass dieses neue Niveau beibehalten werden würde. Sie ist weniger zuversichtlich, was die Geschehnisse im Rahmen dieses Kongresses angeht. Der Gesetzgeber des Bundesstaates scheine erstmals bereit zu sein, Gelder für die Bildung von Obdachlosen bereitzustellen, aber die düsteren Finanzaussichten des Bundesstaates scheinen die Begeisterung für neue Mittel zu dämpfen, sagte sie.

„Wir steuern auf eine Klippe zu, an der die Dienste einfach eingestellt werden“, sagte Terry.

Leah Lamattina, Kontaktperson für Obdachlose im Humboldt County, macht sich Sorgen über die zukünftige Finanzierung, hofft jedoch, dass die Bewegung hin zu Gemeinschaftsschulen es den Schulen ermöglichen wird, obdachlose Schüler zu identifizieren und sie mit Diensten zu verbinden.

Im Moment sträuben sich die meisten Verbindungsleute davor, Personal einzustellen oder Programme zu starten, die nicht aufrechterhalten werden können, wenn diese Finanzierung aus der Zeit der Pandemie erschöpft ist.

San Diego trifft auf hohe Nachfrage

Aber San Diego County stellte neues Personal ein und startete ein Hotelgutscheinprogramm wie das von Monterey County. Terry war von der Nachfrage überwältigt.

Bevor das Programm startete, erhielt sie monatlich Anfragen für Notunterkünfte. Aber als sich das Programm herumsprach, erhielt der Landkreis täglich viele Anfragen. Innerhalb eines Jahres hat das Programm seitdem die Hotelzimmer von über 600 Familien finanziert.

Ein solches Programm würde Familien im Greenfield Union School District von Monterey County enorm helfen, sagte Tony Amezcua, Direktor für Familien- und Gemeindeengagement.

Sein Team erhält monatlich Anrufe von Familien, die verzweifelt Schutz suchen. In jüngster Zeit kamen einige Anrufe von Landarbeitern mit Migrationshintergrund aus Arizona und anderen landwirtschaftlichen Landkreisen Kaliforniens. Die starken Regenfälle des Winters verzögerten die Erntesaison und verzögerten die Arbeiten.

Das Family Resource Center in Greenfield. Der Schulbezirk liegt im südlichen Monterey County.

Betty Márquez Rosales/EdSource

Mit den wachsenden Anforderungen sind auch das Team von Amezcua und die von ihm bereitgestellten Ressourcen gewachsen. Sie haben zusätzliche Verbindungsleute eingestellt, darunter einen, der Triqui spricht, eine indigene Sprache, die im Süden Mexikos gesprochen wird. Sie begannen, Spenden für Babys anzubieten, damit obdachlose Familien früher identifiziert werden können, und installierten im Ressourcenzentrum eine Waschmaschine und einen Trockner, die Familien nutzen können.

Mit dem Geld des American Rescue Plan wollen sie außerdem Geschenkkarten für ein örtliches Schuhgeschäft erwerben, eine normalerweise verbotene Verwendung von Studentengeldern. Aber die Studenten brauchen sie, sagte Amezcua. An einem kürzlichen Dienstag umfassten die gespendeten Schuhe nur die Größen 1, 10, 11 und 13.

„Wenn Eltern sagen, dass sie mehr brauchen, sehen wir, dass wir mehr geben müssen“, sagte Amezcua.

Dann ist da noch die Frage des Vertrauens, das laut Verbindungsleuten von entscheidender Bedeutung ist, wenn man mit obdachlosen Familien in Kontakt tritt.

„Die historisch Benachteiligten haben aufgrund systemischer Unterdrückung ein Misstrauen gegenüber Systemen“, sagte Lamattina.

Dies war bei Franquis der Fall. Als ihre älteste Tochter ihrer Lehrerin anvertraute, dass sie vertrieben würden, hatte sie Angst, dass ihre Kinder mitgenommen würden. Es ist eine Angst, die laut Verbindungsleuten weit verbreitet ist.

Nach fast einem Jahr Obdachlosigkeit und zwei Jahren finanzieller Instabilität sicherte sich Franquis‘ Familie vor etwa zwei Monaten mithilfe eines Wohngutscheins gemäß Abschnitt 8 eine Wohnung mit zwei Schlafzimmern, ein Verfahren, von dem sie von ihrem Bezirksvermittler erfuhr.

Eine andere Kontaktperson meldete sie für ein Programm an, bei dem sie Zugang zu gespendeten Betten, Matratzen, Esszimmer, Essgeschirr und mehr erhielten. Sie sind auch in Familientherapie, um ihnen zu helfen, ihre Tortur zu verarbeiten.

Und sie haben eine neue Einnahmequelle: Franquis‘ Ehemann wurde vom Schulbezirk als Unterhaltsbeamter eingestellt. Sie teilen sich alle ein Fahrzeug – sie haben ihr Wohnmobil einer anderen bedürftigen Familie gespendet – und kommen immer noch wieder auf die Beine, aber Franquis blickt zuversichtlich in die Zukunft.

„Wir haben vom Bezirk viel mehr Hilfe erhalten als von anderen Orten“, sagte sie. „Deshalb bin ich so dankbar; Sie waren die einzigen, die uns schnell Unterstützung angeboten haben.“

Betty Márquez Rosales befasst sich mit Jugendgerichtsbarkeit, Jugendobdachlosigkeit und anderen Bildungsthemen für EdSource, einer unabhängigen gemeinnützigen Organisation, die Analysen zu zentralen Bildungsproblemen des Staates und der Nation bereitstellt. Emma Gallegos kümmert sich für EdSource um Gerechtigkeit in der Bildung. Daniel J. Willis ist Datenanalyst und Datenbankdesigner bei EdSource, wo dieser Artikel erstmals erschien. Kontakte: egallegos@edsource.org, dwillis@edsource.org. Twitter: @emmagallegos, @BayAreaData

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