PVHS Needs Some Updates: Looking Into The District’s Lack Of Funding

The “Main Event”, a local auction with parents and other PV residents, is the biggest source of outside revenue for the Palos Verdes Peninsula School District. 

Admission is 175 dollars a ticket for a night of dancing, eating, and performances. 

Around 200,000 dollars is raised every year at this event, but why does the district have to host it in the first place?

The money raised at this event makes up a part of the 1 million dollars expected in donations from PV residents and other local companies to the district over the year, opening the discussion on why so much money from the community needs to be raised. 

To give some background, the biggest source of funding from the government is state income tax, due to Proposition 13. California spends an average of 4,000 dollars on each student per year, 1,000 less than the national average of 5,000 dollars. 

Furthermore, this funding was drastically cut when enrollment started to go down in 2013. 

Mira Costa, a high school part of the Manhattan Beach School District, spent 67 million dollars on extensive renovations on their baseball field, lunch benches, classrooms and landscaping in 2015. 

However, it doesn’t stop there. Just in 2019, they spent another 38 million dollars solely to build a new gymnasium. Mira Costa is a 65-year-old school, which is almost tied with Palos Verdes as a 62-year-old school. 

This is not to say our school doesn’t get any funding for renovations. We had a few electrical, sewer, gas, and other safety related updates back in 2000 and 2005. 

There is also a “Facilities Modernization Project List”, which outlines plans for future renovations. However since then, it’s been crickets and tumbleweeds.  

Now, rumors are floating around about some new AC units. These are outlined in the Facilities Modernization Project List, and are projected to be installed in the next few years. As of right now, only a few sections of classroom pods have working units. 

As a junior, though, I have to laugh at the time frame. There hasn’t been a fall semester where I didn’t curse the heat and all the inconveniences it brings, especially when trying to learn in a boiling classroom. 

Many upperclassmen, including myself, are disappointed that after our wish has finally come true, we will have already graduated. 

There are a few other telltale signs of how our school is funded, or lack thereof. 

A trip to the lower half of campus shows a dated gym, with even older looking locker rooms. The whole pod surrounding the gym is in dire need of renovation, or at the very least a paint job. Both the football and baseball fields are extremely nice, however, their sister buildings should match. 

Though still functional, most of the lower half of campus is like a flashback from the 70’s. 

Other complaints are sourced from some of the 500 portables, as they look like they’ve never left the 60’s, some students explaining that “the whole building shakes” when you walk around. 

One of the biggest problems with the facilities in our school is parking. 

We have made efforts to fix this problem, but we still have students parking in illegal spots just so they don’t have to park on Paseo del Mar, or all the way down below the football field. 

The situation always gets worse in the spring, as more students get their licenses and start driving to school. The conversation regarding parking is a tired one, as many of our staff have made great efforts to try and fix the problem. 

These areas of campus are in obvious need of renovation, so when donations come in for places like the stage in Sea King Park for renovations when they are not necessary, it raises questions. 

We need donors to consider fixing things in need rather than give money for campus beautification projects. 

PV High School is located in one of the most beautiful areas in California, so I only ask that our facilities match the prestige that the rest of our campus holds.