School Funding Formula
- Neelum Arya | Zuni Drive
Schools in the Del Mar Union School District (DMUSD) are in the top 1% of all schools in California and the nation, yet most residents are unaware of how our property taxes contribute to that success.
Most school districts in California (96%) receive funds according to a formula known as the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). In the typical district, fewer students means less state and federal revenues. Poway and San Diego Unified are facing multi-million budget deficits because of declining enrollment. Del Mar also has had declining enrollment, but the budget outlook looks very different in Del Mar because of our “basic aid” status. We keep our extra property tax revenue regardless of our enrollment.
According to data presented by DMUSD’s Chris Delehanty and Sarah Smart at the September 10th Board meeting, roughly 90% of the revenues for DMUSD are generated from our local property taxes and other local revenue sources. Contributions from our Del Mar Schools Education Foundation (DMSEF), which raises funds primarily from parent contributions to support STEAM+ teachers, are equivalent to resources we receive from the federal government. Mr. Delehanty noted, “We have not felt much of an impact of the up and down with the federal government.”
While the amount fluctuates each year, in the 2024-2025 school year, DMUSD received nearly $25 million more in funds from our property taxes than districts like Poway or San Diego Unified. Whether the district has been making the best use of those dollars remains an open question.
Now that Superintendent Marisa Janicek has officially joined the District, residents can expect that she will bring greater transparency to how our district uses funds. What is particularly impressive about her former district of El Segundo is that the two elementary schools have test scores comparable to our Del Mar Heights and Hills campuses, but they had a fraction of the resources at their disposal. The per pupil expenditures for the two elementary schools in El Segundo were under $8 and $9k per year, versus Hills and Heights which were $21k and $27k in 2022-23, the most recent data available.
For more information about basic aid districts see https://ed100.org/blog/basic-aid.