New budget allows for renovations

Sep 26, 20243 min read

By Shiny Xu and Chelsea Lu Sep. 25, 2024

Returning students may have noticed the upgrades the school received this year, with sleek new golf carts dashing around and fresh synthetic floors in each classroom. Ranging from the new floors to upgraded classroom technology, these renovations intend to create an effective learning environment for students to reach their full potential.

According to Principal Harveen Bal, the school has a School Plan for Student Achievements (SPSA): a strategic action plan that details school goals, along with the amount of money needed to help fulfill these critical needs. Last school year, one major goal was supporting student engagement, providing social education learning, expanding extracurricular opportunities and increasing participation in athletic events, while the budget was set to $39,449. The school will present the SPSA for this year to the School Site Council on Sept. 25, and the council, made up of parents, teachers, students and administrators at the school, must approve of where the money is going. Once the council approves the budget, it can receive funding either from the district or from ASB and its related organizations.

Each year, the school receives a set amount of money from the San José Unified School District (SJUSD), who centrally controls funding and matches resources to needs. SJUSD is a basic aid district, meaning the funding it has is based completely upon property tax. According to the Orange County Department of Education Newsroom, Proposition 98 mandates that 40% of California’s budget must be designated for schools and education programs.

On the other hand, ASB is in charge of the money that comes from the Student Bank. ASB manages a separate budget from the school, overseeing all clubs and classes such as Yearbook. Money raised from Vertical Raise or boba fundraisers go directly to the ASB account of the club that is hosting them.

Beyond district funding, school-connected organizations such as Leland Parent Club and Leland Bridge provide donations as well, providing departments between five to ten thousand dollars to support the teachers. For example, when Multimedia needed more computers with access to Adobe Creative Cloud, Leland Parent Club and Leland Bridge bought 15 iMacs through donations; this year, they gifted the school new golf carts and paid for teachers’ summer training. The school further generates revenue by renting its facilities during the summer to organizations and programs such as Math Enrichment.

Furthermore, state-wide propositions may directly establish budgets for specific education areas. A new boost to this year’s budget comes from Proposition 28, an initiative passed by California to improve arts and music funding in schools. Based on this, the school will receive $38,000 for the Visual and Performing Arts Department, which will go to repairing or replacing musical instruments.

“I am really excited about this new funding because the students who borrow instruments from school can finally receive newer ones. Sometimes the school doesn’t have the resources to fix instruments, so students have to either play on an old one or wait for a really long time to get it fixed, ” Sophomore Sarah Li, school orchestra member, said.

So far, the school’s overall budget has been used for projects such as remodeling the gym, classroom flooring and roofing. During fall break, plans are in place to remodel the weight room flooring as well. The school does its best to use its money to go towards its specific educational goals, though some students would like to see the budget go towards other places.

“The school should work on funding student events more efficiently. While tickets for Homecoming and other dances are expensive, the events themselves are relatively underwhelming with the bare minimum being a DJ to play music,” Junior Pargol Kouchesfehani said.

Each year, a lot goes on behind the scenes to establish a sufficient school budget, which is critical to maintain a high-quality education. Through strategic allocation and use of the resources, administrators, teachers, parents and students can provide students with the tools necessary to flourish without technical limitations.

About the Contributors

Shiny Xu

staff writer

Shiny Xu is a Junior at Leland High School and a Staff Writer. This is her first year in journalism. She likes theater, reading and hanging out with her friends.

Chelsea Lu

staff writer

Chelsea Lu is a staff writer and this is her first year in Journalism. She loves hanging out with friends, building legos, and rotting in bed. She also loves writing stories.