VHS Journalism Ventura High School
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The Cougar Press Friday, September 22, 2017
“There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism.” -Alexander Hamilton
Volume 70 Edition 03
DREAMers search for hope amid chaos Micah Wilcox “When I came here, I was seven years old,” the VHS student said, “and I found out that I had to be careful.” Illegal immigration is not usually viewed at VHS as something that affects students. But for some students, the consequences are enormous. “My mom told me [that I was undocumented],” the student, who preferred to remain anonymous for privacy reasons, continued. “She said that she brought me here to have a better future.” Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals made headlines September 5 when President Trump announced an end to the program, created by former President
Barack Obama in 2012. DACA allows undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children, known as DREAMers, before June 15, 2012 to work and live in the country for two year periods without fear of deportation. Among other benefits, this system allows recipients to apply for driver’s licenses, a traditional coming of age rite for high schoolers. “When [Obama] announced it [DACA], my mom thought that it would be a good idea to apply so that I could get a job and have more opportunities,” said the student. “I was allowed to work… I wasn’t afraid of being next to a police station.” 12,000 people in
Photo by: Micah Wilcox Ventura County has 12,000 reidents eligable for DACA. Some of them are students at VHS.
Ventura County alone are eligible for DACA, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Of those, 7,000 are immediately eligible. To qualify for DACA, applicants have to meet certain criteria, according to the United States Customs and Immigration Services: they must be in school,
have graduated, or have received an honorable military discharge; have not committed a felony, more than three misdemeanors or a significant misdemeanor; must prove they have been living continuously in the United States since June 15, 2007; were under age 31 on June 15, 2012; had arrived in
the country before turning 16 and had no lawful status on June 15, 2012. Despite these provisions, DACA is not amnesty for DREAMers– recipients must reapply at the end of the two year period to remain in the program, and they cannot apply for citizenship or travel outside the United States. And, as noncitizens, they cannot vote; another coming of age tradition for high schoolers. President Trump ordered that DACA, an executive order created by President Obama, be phased out in six months, in order to allow Congress to craft a legislative solution to deal with DREAMers. continued on... Page 3
Follow the money, see where it goes: VHS edition Tobin Berger-Cahn Clayton Currie VHS is funded from a broad spectrum of sources, including locally and from the state government. However, according to the California Department of Education, the largest sum the school receives is through the Local Control Funding Formula, or LCFF. This formula determines how much money each school district gets from the state government based on a variety of factors, with the largest of those being Average Daily Attendance, or ADA. The money given to the district can then be further separated into two different categories: restricted, and unrestricted. Restricted funding is money that the district must allocate for specific purposes. For
Infographic by: Clayton Currie
example, Title One funds are required to go towards projects intended to better the academic performance of students on the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum. The other type of funding --unrestricted funding-- are funds which the district may allocate based on need or desire. These are funds without a predetermined purpose. The money given to
the district through the LCFF originates from two sources: property taxes and the state government. This formula determines a minimum amount which the district shall receive. If the district does not receive enough funding through property taxes to meet the minimum, then the state government will provide the remainder. However, if the district receives more than enough funding through
property taxes then they are not required to give the excess to the state government. Ventura Unified School District does not meet the state minimum for funding without state assistance. Betsy George, the Director of Budget and Finance at VUSD, said, “… in [the year] 16/17 we got about $140 million for our Local Control Funding Formula, about $60 million of that was property taxes and so then the other $80 million … would have been from the state.” Once the funding is placed in the budget of the district, it must be further divided amongst every school under its jurisdiction. But even before this, salaries must be accounted for: “8085% of our costs are salary related,” said George. Once salaries and restricted funds are
accounted for, the remaining unrestricted funds may then be allocated towards funding the wants and needs of the schools and district -- be it maintenance or a new curriculum. An example of this allocation of funds would be the decision to move towards a digital curriculum in English courses, which requires Chromebooks. When an issue is encountered at a school site that requires funding to remedy, the school must voice their needs to the district. The district will then investigate whether the need is actually a necessity, and not just a desire. An example of one of these needs would be a school forced to operate without air conditioning for a period of time. continued on... Page 3