Students and parents from the Eastern Coachella Valley Building Healthy Communities Schools Action Team voice their requests for how funds should be used under the LCFF at a press conference at Coachella Boys & Girls Club on June 17, 2014. Photo: AMBER AMAYA/Coachella Uninc

Editor’s Note: In 2013, California adopted the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), which changes how school districts receive funds. Under LCFF, Coachella Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) will receive $19 million for the 2014-2015 academic year. On June 26, 2014, CVUSD approved the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP), a document detailing local funding priorities that was created with input from parents, students, and other community stakeholders. Next, the Riverside County Board of Education will review the LCAP.

Coachella Unincorporated reporters reflected on the importance of parental involvement in their children’s education and why parents should help determine CVUSD’s funding priorities by answering the following questions:

Why should parents be involved in their child’s education?

Why should they help determine how funds get used in the Coachella Valley School District?

“Parents should take a more active role in their children’s education”

Parents should be involved in their child’s education in any way possible. Whether it be attending meetings, assisting them one on one or providing them with the necessary materials to succeed. Education starts at the home, therefore parents should take a more active role in their children’s education.

With parent involvement comes the question of whether or not parents should have a say in how finances are spent. Parents should have a say to a certain extent. They bring a different perspective to the table and one group of parents may feel that money is best spent on technology, while another group of parents may feel that an emphasis on math and reading skills is far more important. Nonetheless, a parent’s say in how finances should be spent is very important.

-Johnny Flores, student reporter

“Parents should definitely have a say in how funds get used”

A child’s education always begins at home. Schools are a community thing where parents need a say in how their kids spend their school days. Parents are not always going to know what’s best for their kids, but with teachers and administrations that are willing to work with parents, it could result in better communication with schools and families. Schools in Coachella also have to keep in mind that this is a working class community. I had a mother that worked ten hours a day. Parents who work a lot leads to many kids walking home and parents not knowing where those kids are going. It’s difficult to be involved at that point, but after-school programs and the school system’s involvement with the community can go a very long way.

Parents should definitely have a say in how funds get used for the school district. Teachers also need a say since they have first-hand experience with what the children lack in the classroom. In low income communities like Coachella, equipment and utilities always seems to be a problem, but being able to hire well-qualified teachers can go a long way as well. The program with the iPads didn’t work too well, so maybe the problem isn’t always technical. It all goes back to the district providing and communicating information on what is needed and what goes on in the classroom. It works so that parents are able to learn from that to know what their kids need.

–Ivan Valenzuela, student reporter

“Parents have the best interest for their children and their education”

Parents should be involved in their child’s education to show support and care, especially when children behave and get good grades. This in turn, shows children that if they do well, they are making their parents proud.

Parents should be involved in deciding where the funds for their children’s education are going because they have the best interest for their children and their education.

–Natalia Cervantes, student reporter

“Parents have the best interests for their sons and daughters”

A parent’s involvement in their child’s education process is crucial because the student will be highly motivated to do their best. If the parents are involved in their son and daughter’s school activities and parent workshops, the students will see how important their education is to their parents. All a child really wants is to make their parents proud.

Parents should help determine where the funds get used in the Coachella Valley School District because they’re the parents of the students who attend schools in that school district. The parents would be aware of what activities or extra help their kids would need in their classrooms. Parents have the best interests for their sons and daughters, not a group of people who has no experience with the economic difficulties students face day to day.

–Karla Martinez, student reporter