Checking the Math | Northridge, CA patch

“Anyone caught in a shameful deception will never be believed, even if he tells the truth.”

– Phaedrus

During his appearance at the Northridge East Neighborhood Council candidate forum, LAUSD BD 3 candidate Dan Chang answered a question about the budget, citing his qualifications. “Having a math teacher,” he said, “and a budget expert and someone who really loves the numbers is just an important part of oversight at LA Unified.”

According to the Los Angeles Times, the LAUSD has a budget of $18.4 billion. To believe that the ability to teach pre-algebra to middle school students prepares someone to understand such a complicated document containing hundreds of pages is a ridiculous statement. It would be like saying that the amount of air travel I have done qualifies me to fly the plane; I know the outcome of the pilots' actions well, but I have no idea what steps they took during the flight.

Beyond his experience as a math teacher, Chang didn't specify what qualifies him as a “budget expert.” He was asked a number of questions about the budget for my LAUSD Candidate Forum series, but provided no answers. The bio on his campaign website also makes no mention of any professional history relevant to analyzing budgets or other complicated financial documents, although it does include these examples of questionable math:

Chang provided an example of his inability to dig deep into the numbers when he claimed he could “immediately find $120 million in cuts that wouldn't affect any local school.” A person with intimate knowledge of the budget would have detailed each cut. Instead, Chang explains that his claim was based on the percentage of the budget spent on “administrative overhead.” Because the amount allocated is above what Chang calls “best practice” in what happens in public schools [in] well-run districts across the country,” he says, it can be reduced.

Assuming Chang's interpretation of “best practices” is correct, his analysis simply signals that these expenses should be investigated. Without the ability to look deeper into the numbers and understand them, it is impossible to say with certainty that there are no legitimate reasons for LAUSD to spend more than other districts. Are these higher expenses a result of higher costs in California? Will more staff need to be hired to meet the country's needs? Without this information, Chang can't say specifically what should be cut.

While budgets provide insight into the district's priorities and goals, it is even more important to track how the money is actually spent. A closer look at these numbers shows that district bureaucrats often over-project and funds go unspent at the end of the year. This is why the LAUSD continually runs a third-year budget deficit, which never results in a second-year deficit in the next budget. Due to a lack of accountability, the public is never given a clear indication of what is happening with these funds.

In answering the budget question at the NENC forum, Chang's opponent, Scott M. Schmerelson, addressed this issue by discussing budgeted salaries for positions that have not been filled in years. By removing these funds from the budget, the money could be spent directly on students. Despite his claim to be a “budget expert,” Chang offered no insight into the matter.

As one of his many forays into the charter school industry, Chang co-founded Valley Charter Schools (VCS). As chairman of this white airline charter and a member of the finance committee, Chang had the opportunity to demonstrate his budget oversight skills. With 513 students, it would have been a much easier task than the Los Angeles Unified School District, which currently has 409,518 students.

While current records on the charter schools are difficult to obtain, minutes from the May 25, 2023 VCS Finance Committee meeting show that Chang was the only member present. Despite this apparent lack of quorum, Chang still led a “discussion on researching Employee Retention Credit (ERC).” Those notes show that even though the state of California defunded the schools during the COVID-19 pandemic and did not cut funding, Valley Charter Schools withdrew $793,500 from the PPP program, depriving small businesses of the money withdrawn, which could have saved them from bankruptcy during the crisis. It also notes that they would pay a 10% fee to apply for the program, presumably to an outside company, rather than doing it themselves. An incomplete sentence suggests they wanted to invest the money rather than spend it directly on students to help them recover from the effects of the pandemic.

Because more recent records are not available to the public, it is impossible to say whether Chang's charter school ultimately received money from the ERC program. If this is the case, it could indicate a serious lack of judgment in someone who now wants a seat on the LAUSD board. The IRS has warned of pervasive fraud in the program and has aggressively sought penalties and interest from those who make false claims. At the time of the forced closure, North Valley Military Institute (NVMI) was under investigation for its handling of these funds. If Chang were to allow Valley Charter Schools to be deceived by a bad actor in an ERC program, it would not reflect well on his ability to provide the oversight that LAUSD desperately needs.

While Chang is correct that current LAUSD board members do not have the necessary skills to oversee the budget, his qualifications as a math teacher do not prepare him any better for the task. Instead, district stakeholders desperately need candidates who admit they need help understanding the budget and promise to hire an independent analyst with the necessary background. This is the only way to ensure the accountability of LAUSD’s army of bureaucrats.

Carl Petersen is a parent advocate for public education, particularly for students with special needs, and serves as education chair of the Northridge East Neighborhood Council. As the Green Party candidate for the LAUSD District 2 School Board election, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action. Dr. Diane Ravitch called him “a brave fighter for public schools in Los Angeles.” Links to his blogs can be found at www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com. The opinions are his own.