Schools in the near-Downtown communities of Pacific Beach and Ocean Beach and in La Jolla are poised to receive less federal funding this year to support students whose families struggle financially. The San Diego Unified School Board of Education voted 3–2 on Jan. 27 to give less federal funding to some beach-area schools and shift it to other schools. SDUSD board member Richard Barrera said the move was an effort to give money to schools that have more students from poorer families. Barrera voted to shift the money, but he said he rushed last week’s decision. “I made a mistake,” Barrera said. “I think I jumped into a decision without… community input. My feeling is that we need to back up a little.” The board will address the issue at its next meeting Tuesday, Feb. 10, according to Barrera. Schools in the beach areas that stand to lose funding include: • Pacific Beach Elementary: $31,752 • Spreckels Elementary: $66,444 • Ocean Beach Elementary: $35,476 • Correia Middle : $80,948 • Dana Middle: $75,852 • Standley Middle: $108,584 • Clairemont High: $176,384 • University City High: $212,660 • Point Loma High: $198,156 Board members John de Beck and Katharine Nakamura voted against the motion to move the money, while board members Sheila Jackson, John Lee Evans and Barrera voted in favor. Nakamura said the board also eliminated the district’s “6 to 6” program. The program provides childcare for working families before and after school. “These are families that are right on the edge and we’re going to pull the carpet from under them?” Nakamura asked. The decision to eliminate federal funding for schools with students and families qualifying for assistance only makes the budget for these schools worse, she said. The cut comes as the unified school district works to close an estimated $30 million budget shortfall for this year. Schools like Pacific Beach Elementary could lose teachers in subjects such as math and Spanish if money isn’t available to pay them, according to Dawna Deatrick, president of the Friends of Pacific Beach Elementary, the school’s parent-teacher organization. “Our teachers that are already spread thin will be spread even thinner,” Deatrick said. “The students just won’t get the same instruction they’re getting now.”