Lights On! Song Sheds Light on Local Control Funding Formula

This is part of a series highlighting issues and stories from Building Healthy Communities (BHC) sites located throughout California. Produced in partnership with the California Endowment.
Lights on! A light bulb flashes to life, and the upbeat music, charged with elements of funk, unfolds with a catchy refrain that young children and Spanish-speaking mothers can sing along to. Lights on! Martha Gonzales from the band Quetzal sings dynamically, channeling the festive energy of the room filled with children of all ages, parents and organizers in Boyle Heights. This song, produced into a music video, was generated in a series of conversations and workshops on the Local Control Funding Formula.

Local Control Funding Formula. Or LCFF. The term sounds so abstract that it can be difficult to even imagine what it means, let alone understand how it would directly impact the lives of millions of K-12 students throughout the State of California. The wordage is made of the kind of opaque language that most common folk would expect to be used by closed-door politicians. Something written in code, made deliberately inaccessible to the public.

And yet here they are, over a hundred Boyle heights residents, versed in the language of LCFF singing about their collective vision for youth and the future of the community. They are ready to take action.

In truth, once you remove the layers that muffle its meaning, quickly you will find that the LCFF, passed by Governor Brown in July of 2013, is a straightforward plan with specific and simple goals intended to benefit all students in the state. First of all, it restores education budgets to 2007-2008 levels, prior to the major cuts put into effect during the economic recession. It also gives individual school districts more control in determining how these funds will be used, which means that educators and parents will also be able to have more input in these decisions. Also, the LCFF allocates significant, additional funds to low-income students, English Language Learners, and youth living in foster homes.

However, the shroud of language can work against parents and communities without access to information about how this new budget works. These also happen to be the communities that would most benefit from LCFF.

And this is where the Boyle Heights Youth Institute at the Weingart East Los Angeles YMCA is shedding light on the subject, using art, music, and songwriting. "Lights On," a music video produced in a collaborative songwriting workshop with Boyle Heights residents and members of the band Quetzal, is a call to action that begins with "turning the lights on" or waking up to the workings of how education funds are used and most importantly, how they should be used.

Yet, this neighborhood is not new to community organizing and with organizations such as the Boyle Heights Youth Institute, among many others, have learned strategies to make their voices heard.

Writing songs and making music videos is one of them.

The video was the product of a year-long process that consisted of songwriting workshops, rehearsals, and a video shoot with Boyle Heights youth, parents, and community organizers, and is part of a larger campaign to raise awareness about the LCFF and to activate community members into pressing the school district to respond to their needs. David Valdez, Director of Youth Development at the Weingart East Los Angeles YMCA, says that the youth have been working for some time on this campaign and are ready to have their voices heard at the three upcoming LAUSD public hearings.

On May 26, students will kick off these efforts with a public presentation of the song at the first of three public hearings, in which schools will be able to present their specific set of requests, and after which board members will decide how the funds will be spent. Valdez, along with the youth and parent participants, know that presenting a strong, clear voice will ensure that their requests will not be lost in the massive institution, full of often competing demands, that is the LAUSD.

This includes the voices of students. "Usually, adults speak for youth and don't consider the critical perspective of young people", notes Quetzal Flores, member of Quetzal and ACTA's Southern California Program Manager. He notes that at the songwriting workshops, youth openly articulated their experiences about attending schools with great needs, but were also able to offer solutions.

IluminARTE

In Spanish, prender el foco, or to turn on a light bulb, can mean "to have a realization." Many parents who participated in the songwriting class realized that they could use art to learn new ideas, express themselves, and teach others. On posters, participants used colorful markers to fill in blank light bulbs with ideas of how they would like their schools improved. Parents and youth wanted more counselors, books and open, functional bathrooms, for instance.

"It allowed me to see that I can be a songwriter. We can use art to transmit education and our rights. We can transmit what we learn to our children and our community" said parent and workshop participant Yolanda Rodriguez.

To turn the light on someone or something, can also imply taking a critical perspective or scrutiny. Or, in this case, Boyle Heights youth and parents turn the lights on to place accountability on LAUSD board members, who according to David Valdez, need to be reminded of how LCFF funds should properly be used. "There's about 700 billion dollars that would help low-income, foster, and ELL youth, but LAUSD might have other ideas about how to spend that money."

"LCFF dollars should help the most vulnerable students. We can do that by providing more academic counselors, mental health services, wellness centers and restorative justice practices - all areas that are provide actual support to help students graduate high school," states Valdez.

The song lyrics are pointed, cutting straight to the questions that many parents and students raised during the workshops. The workshops consisted of asking a lot of questions and talking through them collectively. What is LCFC? What is its purpose? Who controls these funds? What type of agency do we have? "Where does all the money go?" sings Martha Gonzalez from Quetzal while teenagers sing along or groove out.

According to David, the music is not just the product of a workshop. "It's participatory arts engagement. The video is a tool to engage and retain folks. Its part of a continuum."

Why songwriting? The arts have a long history of social activism in the Boyle Heights area. More recently, in the last few years, Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA), in collaboration with the BH BHCI and a task force composed of representatives from local organizations including the YMCA, have anchored a health-focused project in traditional arts practices, including music and songwriting, among many others. Since 2012, they have organized a series of community events, including SaludArte, ActivArte and IluminARTE.

The word play in the title of each event is indicative of kinds of social shifts they are aiming to effect in each of its areas of focus. Salud is the Spanish word for health, but when combined with the Spanish word "arte" for art, transforms into SaludARTE, "to greet you." The event focused on taking stock of cultural assets that make Boyle Heights a healthy community, using the arts to connect residents. The word activar (to activate), transforms into ActivARTE, "activate you." ActivARTE brought together artists with residents in dialogue about gentrification. Following a similar pattern of word play, iluminar, meaning "to illuminate," which can also mean, to brighten or color. IluminArte, an event focused on generating conversation around LCFF, was meant to invigorate community on a topic that is crucial to its well-being and future. Combined with "arte", the potential of words is transformed, possibilities are expanded.

According to Valdez, art and the "organic voices" of the song also give character to campaigns such as this. Raising awareness around Local Control Funding Formula requires not just information for the public, but for the information to be brought to life. "The song allows us to engage and to organize," says Valdez.

In addition to collaboratively writing the song, nearly 200 people participated in the video shoot and students from the YMCA Boyle Heights Youth Institute handled live cameras, captured sound, and even ran the crane. "It's participatory arts engagement. And it's part of what a participatory democracy is," says Quetzal.

In addition, he adds, that for many of the band members, the connection to this cause and the making of this video touched on a personal note. Evan Greer, Juan Perez, Gloria Estrada and Martha Gonzalez all attended K-12 in LAUSD. Perez and Estrada, Quetzal notes, were particularly connected with this community because they were also raised in Boyle Heights and attended Roosevelt High School.

But LCFF is relevant not just to Boyle Heights, but to all low-income communities like it state-wide. "The questions we are asking here they are asking in Oakland and other areas," says Valdez. He hopes "Lights On" will resonate with those communities as well.