So there was relatively good news at the School Board meeting tonight. With parent fundraising, further budget cuts and a renegotiated contract with staff the Board was able to pass budget that includes:
Class Size Reduction at 25:1 for grades k-3
Middle school electives
3-5 science lab
and a middle school counselor
1-5 PE will be funded at a partial level (around 50% - which would mean 1/2 time) with the hope that fundraising over the summer, notably The Taste of the Beach in August, will be able to bring it back up to a full time position.
The down side is that the renegotiated contract (which the staff has yet to vote on - but seems on board with) includes 5 furlough days.
I'll post more about this as I have time, but I wanted to just get the bullet points out.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Fixing Funding
If you've been following along with the home game, you'll know that funding California schools is a byzantine process - alright, well maybe you don't know that, but take my word for it, it is. At the moment, a lawsuit is attempting to address that issue. Here's a video interview with the Superintendent of the Santa Clara School District discussing the suit and why California schools are in so much trouble.
More state woes
So when we talk about school districts going under, here's what we're talking about.
According to this post, 16% of California's School Districts project that over the next two years they won't be able to pay their bills. It's not a pretty picture. While these districts are already in big trouble, things aren't over yet.
Here is the key phrase:
This is exactly what we're going through now. Hopefully, the work our District is doing with the budget will give us a little leg room, not just for this year, but for the future. I'm heading to the school board meeting tonight so I'll post an update on the whole thing soon. But it's going to be an uphill battle.
Here's the list of schools in trouble.
According to this post, 16% of California's School Districts project that over the next two years they won't be able to pay their bills. It's not a pretty picture. While these districts are already in big trouble, things aren't over yet.
Here is the key phrase:
The latest report was based on districts’ budget projections as of March. Since then, some districts have wrenched concessions from unions and laid off teachers to get off the list, at least for the moment. But until Gov. Schwarzenegger signs the state budget for the fiscal year that starts Thursday, districts won’t know if even their conservative revenue projections were optimistic.
This is exactly what we're going through now. Hopefully, the work our District is doing with the budget will give us a little leg room, not just for this year, but for the future. I'm heading to the school board meeting tonight so I'll post an update on the whole thing soon. But it's going to be an uphill battle.
Pointing out that K-12 schools saw budget cuts of $17 billion over the past two years, Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell said he has “grave concerns that more and more school districts will face financial crisis unless state lawmakers find solutions to the state budget crisis and provide adequate funding for our schools.”
Others agree. The districts’ next financial report, based on spending and revenue in October, will include projections for the 2012-13 fiscal year, when the picture will turn even darker, unless there is a miraculous economic turnaround.
Temporary state taxes will have run out, and districts must return to the full 180-day school year. They also will lose temporary flexibility on spending that the Legislature authorized for three years. Even if lawmakers extend “categorical” flexibility, many districts’ finances will be dire.
Here's the list of schools in trouble.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Redondo Beach
Here's a good story from the Easy Reader on Redondo Beach's budget situation. Hermosa's facing a tough situation but so is Redondo Beach, so is Manhattan so is every district in the State. If you get mad about this stuff (and you should), act locally, get mad globally - well - at least get mad on the State level.
All the rest HERE.
Parents and teachers filled the boardroom at Redondo Beach Unified School District headquarters Tuesday night in hopes of saving jobs and books. But the school board, facing a $3.6 million budget deficit, reluctantly passed a budget that includes the layoffs of 16 teachers and the elimination of a popular language arts workbook.
School board president Drew Gamet, himself a teacher, expressed deep remorse.
“You try to stay level as a leader in the community, but at the same time you are a parent, and I have a daughter going into third grade next year and this is just killing me,” Gamet said. “It is killing all of us…The kind of decisions we have to make are horrific.”
All the rest HERE.
Budget updates
I went to the School Board/Budget Committee study session yesterday afternoon and things don’t look quite as grim. Take that with a grain of salt because it’s still going to be a tough year, relatively speaking. Some additional cuts were presented along with shifting funds and a commitment to use at least 10% of the reserve fund. But a lot depends on negotiations with staff over possible furlough days (a prospect which parents are sure to weigh in on) and/or other layoffs and/or pay cuts.
One of the bigger things to come out of it was the prospect for at least some Class Size Reduction to return but the School Board still needs to prioritize a list of “Add Backs” using parent fundraising money at the June 30th meeting (full list down at the bottom.)
The numbers – notably the deficit - in my post below on the overall budget have changed slightly and some recommendations have been made to bridge the gap. The “barebones” budget fact sheet presented by Dr. Newlin to the group at yesterday’s meeting listed the deficit as $670,000.00. That would include a budget assuming class size at 30 to 1, would include Technology support, library programs (2 librarians at ¾ time in both schools) and Step and Column Increases.
With several proposed cuts and some changing/ shifting of funding sources, the deficit falls to around $303k.
The proposed additional cuts would be an Operational Worker (janitors), District Office Clerical Reduction, Accounting/ Food Service, Conferences, and Board Salaries. Those functions won’t go away, someone will still have to do them, but what they’re looking at is combining them. It should be noted that salaries for the five school board members would be eliminated entirely, which will be a savings in the amount of $8,000.00 over the year.
There was also a cut (50% reduction) to expenses related to staff and Board members attending conferences.
Of course $300k is still a sizable chunk of money to find, but things aren’t over. Notably the District is set to negotiate with the staff. In those talks, furlough days as well as additional salary cuts (which could mean positions or pay reduction) will be brought up. Also, the recommendation was made by the Board to use 10% of the $1.3 million dollar reserve fund to help bridge the gap.
Other items discussed included attempts to find savings in Special Education expenses, (UPDATE: which was brought up by a parent, not the school board) (Special Ed is a complex enough issue that it might require its own post later on), the public perception of exactly where there is money available to be cut and the efforts teachers are making to cut costs by bringing in their own supplies and making their own copies. Board members were concerned that some parents believe there is a significant amount of fat that can be trimmed when it is not the case. Energy costs was an example. Although the District is working on ways to reduce these, the total costs for energy are not in and of themselves significant enough to make a very large impact on this budget. Lottery Revenue was another issue where parents seem to believe large amounts of money exist, but last year the District only received about $144K in Lottery money.
All parties do seem hopeful and everyone seems to understand that what we’re all dealing with a problem that’s being passed along from Sacramento.
I’ll keep you posted.
List of Add Backs
(these are programs that could be added back into the budget using parent fundraising money along with the cost of adding them back.)
Kindergarten Class Size Reduction $72K
1st Grade CSR $72K
2nd Grade CSR $72K
3rd Grade CSR $72K
Elementary PE $84K
3-5 Science Lab $98K
Middle School Electives $150k
Art, Tech, Spanish, other
Counselor/ Admin Support $90K
Elementary Music $90K
Total add backs $800K
Amount Available for add backs $558,529.00
Unfunded Amount $241,471.00
(some of the EEC money is already spoken for in the budget for Library Technicians and Technology Support and the total amount is still in flux as my understanding is there are still donations coming in)
One of the bigger things to come out of it was the prospect for at least some Class Size Reduction to return but the School Board still needs to prioritize a list of “Add Backs” using parent fundraising money at the June 30th meeting (full list down at the bottom.)
The numbers – notably the deficit - in my post below on the overall budget have changed slightly and some recommendations have been made to bridge the gap. The “barebones” budget fact sheet presented by Dr. Newlin to the group at yesterday’s meeting listed the deficit as $670,000.00. That would include a budget assuming class size at 30 to 1, would include Technology support, library programs (2 librarians at ¾ time in both schools) and Step and Column Increases.
With several proposed cuts and some changing/ shifting of funding sources, the deficit falls to around $303k.
The proposed additional cuts would be an Operational Worker (janitors), District Office Clerical Reduction, Accounting/ Food Service, Conferences, and Board Salaries. Those functions won’t go away, someone will still have to do them, but what they’re looking at is combining them. It should be noted that salaries for the five school board members would be eliminated entirely, which will be a savings in the amount of $8,000.00 over the year.
There was also a cut (50% reduction) to expenses related to staff and Board members attending conferences.
Of course $300k is still a sizable chunk of money to find, but things aren’t over. Notably the District is set to negotiate with the staff. In those talks, furlough days as well as additional salary cuts (which could mean positions or pay reduction) will be brought up. Also, the recommendation was made by the Board to use 10% of the $1.3 million dollar reserve fund to help bridge the gap.
Other items discussed included attempts to find savings in Special Education expenses, (UPDATE: which was brought up by a parent, not the school board) (Special Ed is a complex enough issue that it might require its own post later on), the public perception of exactly where there is money available to be cut and the efforts teachers are making to cut costs by bringing in their own supplies and making their own copies. Board members were concerned that some parents believe there is a significant amount of fat that can be trimmed when it is not the case. Energy costs was an example. Although the District is working on ways to reduce these, the total costs for energy are not in and of themselves significant enough to make a very large impact on this budget. Lottery Revenue was another issue where parents seem to believe large amounts of money exist, but last year the District only received about $144K in Lottery money.
All parties do seem hopeful and everyone seems to understand that what we’re all dealing with a problem that’s being passed along from Sacramento.
I’ll keep you posted.
List of Add Backs
(these are programs that could be added back into the budget using parent fundraising money along with the cost of adding them back.)
Kindergarten Class Size Reduction $72K
1st Grade CSR $72K
2nd Grade CSR $72K
3rd Grade CSR $72K
Elementary PE $84K
3-5 Science Lab $98K
Middle School Electives $150k
Art, Tech, Spanish, other
Counselor/ Admin Support $90K
Elementary Music $90K
Total add backs $800K
Amount Available for add backs $558,529.00
Unfunded Amount $241,471.00
(some of the EEC money is already spoken for in the budget for Library Technicians and Technology Support and the total amount is still in flux as my understanding is there are still donations coming in)
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Here comes the sun...
One of the things the district is doing to save a little money is looking into solar panels for the schools. They're in the process of researching it, but at the last school board meeting Business Manager Angela Jones said the District's electric bills are between $6k-8k a month so if they can put in enough solar panels to meet the schools' needs that would be a significant savings.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Fantastic work
This was in the Surf Report - thought I'd repost it since it's great news.
Note: the donation form was in the PDF - I changed it to a link to the HBEF site - so click and scroll to the bottom and you'll find the form.
1 Week Left to Donate to This Year’s Excellence in Education Campaign!
Thank you to everyone who participated in the EEC Change Jar
Competition. The jars raised over $2,000 at View alone! (The Valley jar
is still being counted.) In total, the EEC has raised $608,000 for our
schools! On top of this, the HBEF and HVPTO have together raised an
additional $234,000 which brings our fundraising total to $842,000. If
you haven't already contributed to the EEC, please do so before the
campaign closes on June 30th. Donations of all sizes are welcome and
the EEC Committee encourages every family to participate at whatever
level they are able! Please donate online at www.hbef.org or print a
donor form (click here) and return it to your school office before the
end of school.
Questions: Jill Stamp | jillbstamp@verizon.net
Note: the donation form was in the PDF - I changed it to a link to the HBEF site - so click and scroll to the bottom and you'll find the form.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Budget time
The Hermosa Beach City School District faces a serious budget battle this year. Education funding cuts from Sacramento have bitten deeply into the money Hermosa Beach will receive to run its schools. So deeply, in fact, that beyond trying to save cherished programs or teachers, there is some thought that if the economic situation in the State doesn’t improve, Hermosa Beach might not be able to sustain a school district in the future. The Board does seem committed to maintaining the District and outlining a long-range plan to prepare for certain contingencies, but right now, they face an uphill battle with the next school year.
Under current state funding levels, at this writing, the District's projected budget for 2010/2011 is $9.06 million dollars. Current revenues - the money that the District expects to receive from all sources excluding money raised by parents - are projected to be $8.4 million. That means, as of this writing, Hermosa Beach Schools face a $600,000.00 budget shortfall to provide a basic education. That does not include programs like music, art, middle-school electives, foreign language and class size reduction. That also means 30 children per classroom in all grades. The Board currently has a June 24 public meeting set to consider further cuts to balance the budget.
School staff puts together the budget with guidance and finally approval of school Board. The revenue numbers used in building the budget are based on guidance from Sacramento given earlier this year, but the process is complicated by the fact the numbers are only a prediction of what revenues will be once the State’s budget is passed. The process by which the State sets and distributes school funding is extremely complicated. For Hermosa Beach, a fully funded budget would require state funding in the amount of $6,384.00 per student based on average daily attendance (ADA). But, Sacramento has cut that and, in fact, is reclaiming money it feels was overpaid last year in the amount $250 per student. They are also including a negative COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment). As of this writing the best guess is that the State will provide $4932.00 per student which totals $5.9 million for Hermosa’s 1200 students (based on ADA – there are actually slightly mores students). Other revenue sources, which include some federal money, lottery money, state special education money (which doesn’t come close to covering the District’s special ed costs on state mandated programs) and local sources such as the rent on North School and the extended day program at South Park, bring the total up to about $8.4 million.
Why that per-student number is a “best guess” is because no school district in California will know exactly how much money it will get from the State until the State Budget is settled. When that will happen is anybody’s guess. But the District is still required to submit a budget to the County Board Of Education for approval by June 30. It’s a little like going shopping and waiting until you’re at the check-out before you find out how much you have in your wallet. Also, looming like storm clouds on the horizon, there is talk in Sacramento of suspending Proposition 98, the law that sets a percentage of the State’s budget for education.
In prior years parent fundraising has been used to save programs like art, music, P.E. and foreign languages. As of now the Board wants to continue that tradition. Using parent money to simply balance the budget could cause serious problems for future fundraising as well as for fundraising this year. But it’s important to understand the Board faces a very tough challenge. It seems unlikely in the current situation that all the programs parents have donated for can be saved under these budget conditions. There is fear that parents will pull back donations given to support certain programs if there is no chance of those programs being reinstated. That fear is realistic but we are in a crisis. The schools our kids attend next year will, without question, look very different from the schools they are attending now. Pulling back donations in this climate might be personally satisfying but would not help our children or our town.
As of right now, the Board has only considered Certificated (teacher) salary cuts because the District was required to issue pink slips by March 15. At the June 24 budget session, which is open to the public, they will consider cuts in Classified (administrative and support staff) salaries and other basic and support costs in an attempt to meet the shortfall before using parent contributions to reinstate electives and other programs. The District does have a reserve fund of $1.3 million but that money is often needed to aid cash flow due to the state practice of distributing funds long after the District is required to spend them. Also, as has been done in past years, the State can issue further budget cuts well into next year. That would mean less money from Sacramento and further cuts to the school's budget – after the school year is in session. A bad situation could get worse. That possibility demands any prudent budget maintain a reserve.
Fundraising efforts continue and it is critical that every parent who can contribute do so, but this is a tough year for a lot of people. Given the District’s importance to the community at large it seems that fundraising efforts could be expanded beyond the parent base. That will, of course, take time and sweat and more parents will have to step up to volunteer.
Our school district is small and many of us believe that is one of its great strengths. But in this struggle it may prove to be its greatest weakness. Ultimately there may not be a solution at the local level, at which time the school board would have to consider merging the district with a neighboring city. None of us want that and we must not give up on one of the finest school districts in California without a serious fight. It may be tempting to take that fight straight to the School Board or the staff, but it is important to remember that this is not only a local problem. The bulk of our school funding comes directly from the State and is decided upon by the Legislature and Governor. School districts statewide are facing these same concerns. Some will survive, some may not. The situation amounts to a catastrophic failure of government with our children as victims.
Under current state funding levels, at this writing, the District's projected budget for 2010/2011 is $9.06 million dollars. Current revenues - the money that the District expects to receive from all sources excluding money raised by parents - are projected to be $8.4 million. That means, as of this writing, Hermosa Beach Schools face a $600,000.00 budget shortfall to provide a basic education. That does not include programs like music, art, middle-school electives, foreign language and class size reduction. That also means 30 children per classroom in all grades. The Board currently has a June 24 public meeting set to consider further cuts to balance the budget.
School staff puts together the budget with guidance and finally approval of school Board. The revenue numbers used in building the budget are based on guidance from Sacramento given earlier this year, but the process is complicated by the fact the numbers are only a prediction of what revenues will be once the State’s budget is passed. The process by which the State sets and distributes school funding is extremely complicated. For Hermosa Beach, a fully funded budget would require state funding in the amount of $6,384.00 per student based on average daily attendance (ADA). But, Sacramento has cut that and, in fact, is reclaiming money it feels was overpaid last year in the amount $250 per student. They are also including a negative COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment). As of this writing the best guess is that the State will provide $4932.00 per student which totals $5.9 million for Hermosa’s 1200 students (based on ADA – there are actually slightly mores students). Other revenue sources, which include some federal money, lottery money, state special education money (which doesn’t come close to covering the District’s special ed costs on state mandated programs) and local sources such as the rent on North School and the extended day program at South Park, bring the total up to about $8.4 million.
Why that per-student number is a “best guess” is because no school district in California will know exactly how much money it will get from the State until the State Budget is settled. When that will happen is anybody’s guess. But the District is still required to submit a budget to the County Board Of Education for approval by June 30. It’s a little like going shopping and waiting until you’re at the check-out before you find out how much you have in your wallet. Also, looming like storm clouds on the horizon, there is talk in Sacramento of suspending Proposition 98, the law that sets a percentage of the State’s budget for education.
In prior years parent fundraising has been used to save programs like art, music, P.E. and foreign languages. As of now the Board wants to continue that tradition. Using parent money to simply balance the budget could cause serious problems for future fundraising as well as for fundraising this year. But it’s important to understand the Board faces a very tough challenge. It seems unlikely in the current situation that all the programs parents have donated for can be saved under these budget conditions. There is fear that parents will pull back donations given to support certain programs if there is no chance of those programs being reinstated. That fear is realistic but we are in a crisis. The schools our kids attend next year will, without question, look very different from the schools they are attending now. Pulling back donations in this climate might be personally satisfying but would not help our children or our town.
As of right now, the Board has only considered Certificated (teacher) salary cuts because the District was required to issue pink slips by March 15. At the June 24 budget session, which is open to the public, they will consider cuts in Classified (administrative and support staff) salaries and other basic and support costs in an attempt to meet the shortfall before using parent contributions to reinstate electives and other programs. The District does have a reserve fund of $1.3 million but that money is often needed to aid cash flow due to the state practice of distributing funds long after the District is required to spend them. Also, as has been done in past years, the State can issue further budget cuts well into next year. That would mean less money from Sacramento and further cuts to the school's budget – after the school year is in session. A bad situation could get worse. That possibility demands any prudent budget maintain a reserve.
Fundraising efforts continue and it is critical that every parent who can contribute do so, but this is a tough year for a lot of people. Given the District’s importance to the community at large it seems that fundraising efforts could be expanded beyond the parent base. That will, of course, take time and sweat and more parents will have to step up to volunteer.
Our school district is small and many of us believe that is one of its great strengths. But in this struggle it may prove to be its greatest weakness. Ultimately there may not be a solution at the local level, at which time the school board would have to consider merging the district with a neighboring city. None of us want that and we must not give up on one of the finest school districts in California without a serious fight. It may be tempting to take that fight straight to the School Board or the staff, but it is important to remember that this is not only a local problem. The bulk of our school funding comes directly from the State and is decided upon by the Legislature and Governor. School districts statewide are facing these same concerns. Some will survive, some may not. The situation amounts to a catastrophic failure of government with our children as victims.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Education news from around the country
Apparently the New York City teacher's union has an office in Boca Raton, Florida.
New York City's teachers may do well to ask why their union, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), has an office in Boca Raton, Florida. A recent article in the New York Post figured that rent alone for the Boca Raton branch costs UFT members $183,603 per year. That's not peanuts for a union fretting about its financially strapped members.
The way schools are funded in California
Here's a great page that summarizes the process by which California schools are funded. As always the devil is in the details.
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