SB Unified: Would Focusing On Financial Data Cure What Ails Us?

Much local ink was spilled after Santa Barbara Unified’s marathon School Board meeting, on March 11, where 85 teachers were tentatively axed. Much of the reporting touted Celeste Kafri, the Board’s newest Board Member whose focus on financial data was categorized as “a new way of thinking.” My interest was piqued, so I did a bit of talking and significantly more listening and this is what I learned: 

SBU oversees12,000 students across 13 public schools with five elected school board members who are each given monthly stipends of about $350. From the outset, I think it’s important to stress that while this board has – within strict State mandated constraints – budget/oversight responsibility, truly consequential decisions are made by our well-paid (and somewhat embattled) Superintendent, Hilda Maldonado. CA law suggests stipend levels, but can we demand fulltime diligence or employer-like Superintendent oversight when members are basically volunteering? Service requires diligence so I’m not giving the board a “pass,” but I do think the question needs asking. Anyway, what Ms. Kafri focused on was SBU’s audited financials that, for many education professionals, is important. 

The Center for Public Education, for example, outlines eight factors that define successful school boards – including the idea that they are “accountability driven” and that they are “data savvy” such that they use data to “continuously drive improvement.” In AJ Crabill’s book Great on Their Behalf: Why School Boards Fail, he speaks with authority about “re-alignment” advocating that boards should focus on measurable student outcomes. So, how does SBU do when looking at data and outcomes? Well (and these are just the facts), not so wonderful.

As we look across the district, we see that Average Daily Enrollment has declined by 15% from 14,035 students in 2022 to just 12,201 in 2024. During this same period, however, administrative costs increased by 24% from $13.4M in 2022 to $15.4M in 2024. Instruction-related costs have also skyrocketed moving from $138M in 2022 to $166M in 2024. By the end of 2024, we were spending $13,600 per student, compared to $9,836 in 2022. If student outcomes had similarly increased during this period, perhaps this wouldn’t be all that problematic, but they didn’t: Overall Assessment scores have remained stagnant with 50% of the students reading below grade level and 61% testing below grade level in math. 

Does data alone provide a path forward? Probably not, but it certainly allows an objective way to evaluate the quality of education, where monies should be spent and whether certain expense buckets are producing tangible results. In my informal discussion with Board Chairperson Gabe Escobedo, I asked for his thoughts, and what he said was “…absolutely, financial data is a path forward with the understanding, of course, that the devil is in the human details that account for 90% of the budget.” I for one wish the entire board success, because any dispassionate look at the numbers reveals that the status quo needs to change. Good luck!  

Jeff Giordano, SB County Resident