Commentary
The fiscal year of July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020, was one of the more memorable for California’s school districts. The COVID-19 pandemic would dramatically impact students in March of 2020. The Golden State had not seen anything like it since the Spanish Flu epidemic in 1918, more than a century prior. This unique worldwide event included a lockdown of public schools, thanks to an executive order from Gov. Gavin Newsom.
With the benefit of hindsight, let’s use a simple fiscal metric to determine how the school districts in Los Angeles County were initially impacted fiscally, based on their audited financial statements.
Each district has established boundaries and serves a specific population. Taking the population and dividing it into the district’s unrestricted net position, which is reflected in its basic financial statements, one arrives at a per capita with which to determine a range and to rank the districts. Those at or near the top are fiscally stronger. Those at or near the bottom will have greater fiscal stress should there be an economic recession….