San Diego Unified Elementary Schools Are Not Funded Equally— John May

Would you be surprised to find out that high performing schools like TPES get less funding than low performing schools in San Diego? I was surprised, too, and wanted to share some very interesting school funding data with you.

The graph below shows where Torrey Pines Elementary ranks in funding per student compared to all traditional elementary schools in San Diego Unified. That’s us with the star: 4th from the bottom. It sort of makes you wonder what happened to rewarding good performance, doesn’t it?

The graph shows that TPES gets about $1,800 less per student than the average elementary school in the district. Even when we add the money TPES gets from the Foundation, we still have $1,200 per student less than the average. Our success shows that how we spend money really matters—and we make that extra $600 per student from the Foundation go a long way.

This is our current level of funding. More budget cuts are on the way. It is up to us to fill the gap. We know what kind of education we want our children to have and what it takes to make that happen. That is why each year we ask for donations to the TPES Foundation, and why donations this year are more important than ever. This is how we pay for the enhanced educational programming at Torrey Pines so that we don’t have to settle for what the state and local governments decree to be “good enough”. Yes, our class sizes have gone up this year, but they have gone up far less than most schools. Imagine a fourth grade class with 36 students. That is a reality at many schools.

Together we can make a real difference in the lives and educational experience of our children. Thank you in advance for your support!

—John May, TPES Foundation President 2009-2010