Superintendents ponder doomsday predictions
By Joann Groff joann@theacorn.com
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"We've been smacked in the face with the reality that California schools are some of the most underfunded schools in the nation," Weis said. "The fat has already been cut, the muscles atrophied, the flesh stripped, and they are beginning to cut into the bone."
The meeting, which brought together the superintendents of Conejo Valley, Las Virgenes, Oak Park, Moorpark and Simi Valley school districts, was hosted by the volunteer group Californians Organized to Rescue Education and the 12th District PTA.
The governor's budget--in his "Year of Education," CVUSD Superintendent Mario Contini pointed out--calls for districts to cut 10 percent of their budgets across the board, or about $4.8 billion.
Schwarzenegger has proposed decreasing the cost-of-living allowance by 2.4 percent; it was anticipated to be increased by 4 percent next year. He also wants a 6.5 percent adjustment to special programs like special education and a suspension of Proposition 98 funds, the minimum amount the state is supposed to earmark for education each year.
"We, like you, are here this afternoon because we are personally distressed that we may not have the resources we need," said Kathryn Scroggin, Simi Valley's superintendent. "Cuts to education affect the quality of everyday life for every single one of our communities."
Scroggin said the estimated budget shortfall for 2008-09 for the five districts totals $27.5 million, including the governor's budget, declining enrollment and automatic annual increases in expenses.
The breakdown for the budget shortfall is $8 million for CVUSD, $7.2 for SVUSD, $6.8 million for LVUSD, $3.5 million for MUSD and $2 million for OPUSD. More than 67,000 students make up the five districts.
Scroggin discussed the difficult prospect of laying off teachers. She said in addition to the pain of having to let them go, the loss would result in an increase in class size and a reduction in course offerings.
David Pollock, past president of the California School Boards Association, said March 15 layoff letters were mailed and more will go out May 15. The governor is expected to release a revised budget around May 9 or 10, which the CSBA hopes will reduce the number of notices that will be sent out that month.
Tony Knight, superintendent at Oak Park Unified, lamented the loss of teachers, staff and other employees.
"When there are increases in the ratio of students to caring adults on school campuses it affects students academically, socially and emotionally," Knight said. "Personally, for me, this has been a very demoralizing process. We have sent off 40 layoff notices. This is not just a political game. A lot of us are very upset about this and mystified as to how this happened."
Also under consideration is the reduction of counselors, psychologists, nurses and deans, which would increase wait times and reduce access. A reduction would mean fewer staff members assigned to maintain student discipline and instructional improvement, impacting the school's learning environment, Scroggin said.
A reduction of classified employees would mean less maintenance of facilities; less instructional support in kindergarten, special education and English-language-learner classes; and fewer library staff and computer technicians. The districts are also looking at less funding for transportation and summer school programs; music, physical education and science programs; and extracurricular activities.
"Some of these programs are what keep kids coming to school each day," Knight said. "I look at these budgets the principals have now, and I don't know how these schools function."
Don Zimring, LVUSD's superintendent, countered accusations that school districts are inefficient. He pointed out that districts in the region are below average for both site and district administrative costs. Zimring also said that they have initiated many cost-saving approaches, including bulk purchasing, creative leasing of cell sites and facilities, and aggressive energy savings.
"This should not be a time when we are asking, 'What do we have to cut?'" Zimring said. "It should be a time when we ask this question: 'What do we want our schools to look like?'"
The last consideration was school closure, which is "nothing any of the districts want to do," said Knight. Conejo Valley Unified voted last month to close two elementary schools in the 2009-10 school year.
MUSD Superintendent Ellen Smith said that in order to address the public education funding crisis, the districts' greatest needs are adequate funding, stable funding and local authority of use for funding.
"There's this wild fluctuation in funding each year," Smith said. "We live in this boom-or-bust environment. Funding is so regulated that when things are tough we have no control on a local level on how to help ourselves. . . . Let us do our job."
LVUSD parent Kimber Salvaggio emphasized community support.
"I hope that people who don't have kids, or who have kids that are grown or out of the district, know that this is all of our problem," Salvaggio said. "These kids are going to be the ones taking care of us when we are old and vulnerable. Now they are the ones who are vulnerable, and we need to take care of them. They are all of our kids."
Acorn Bits
Districts statewide have been asked to cut 10 percent of their budgets across the board, which is about $4.8 billion in cuts. That's the equivalent of:
•Shutting down every school in the state for about one month
•Laying off 107,000 teachers
•Increasing class size 35 percent, although California already has one of the highest average class sizes in the nation
•Laying off 137,000 education support professionals
•Cutting $24,000 from every classroom in the state
