Each school year, the Foundation commits to providing the District with a minimum of $1 million from our Annual Campaign. These monies are a vital source of income for operating expenses such as teacher salaries and instructional materials. Specifically, the monies raised through our Annual Campaign fund approximately eighteen teaching positions throughout the District. This enables the District to have smaller class sizes, which contributes to the quality of education for each child in the District.
Many people believe that with San Marino's high property values and the amount of taxes paid by our residents, our schools should be flush with money. In fact, the opposite is true. Not only do our taxes not fund our schools directly, our District receives less per student from the state than almost all other Districts! In 2007-2008, the San Marino Unified School District will receive $6,250 in per pupil spending compared to the California average of $7,250 – that's a deficit of $1,000 per student.
To understand why this is the case, you need to have some understanding of the process by which schools are funded in California.
