District Budget Update

Every December, the school district is required to submit an interim budget report to the County Office of Education. In that report, the district must include the latest numbers for the current year and project out for two more years. In the current report, the third year, 2012-2013, has a projected deficit of $2.75 million. Significant cuts will need to be made to solve this problem. Since those cuts are not yet built into the budget, the district will have to submit the budget to the County with "qualified" status, and won't be receiving "positive" certification.

This deficit is based on current assumptions about the state budget. But as we speak, California is grappling with a deficit that has grown to nearly $28 billion. It is hard to imagine the legislature solving that budget problem without further cuts to education. One ominous sign is that the Proposition 98 guarantee will once again be reduced. In addition, each of the past two years, our budget crisis has been cushioned by federal stimulus money. With the change in Congressional leadership, no further federal stimulus money can be expected.

In last year's state budget deal, the legislature added $1.7 billion back to the proposed school budget. However, payment of was deferred until next fiscal year. Now, the safe bet is that schools will never see that money. Add to that the $2 billion reduction in the Proposition 98 guarantee, and it is possible that schools will face the loss of another $600 per student.

All of these cuts mean that California continues to shortchange our students. Basic support for K-14 education in California has fallen by $6.6 billion, or 13 percent, since 2007-08. And while every state-funded program needs to absorb cuts during this recession, the rest of the general fund budget, excluding education, has declined by only 0.7 percent. If the cuts described above occur, then cuts to education over the current 5 year period will reach 17 percent. Read more about how schools have taken the lion's share of the budget hit here.

RuskinFIT Wins Regional Award

Ruskin Elementary School has been participating in the Governor's Fitness Challenge for several years and this year was the regional winner for the entire Bay Area. 100% of their students participated, meaning they spent at least 30 minutes exercising every single day. With the obesity epidemic in American these days, being physically fit is important.

Ruskin Elementary School recognizes that being fit is not just good for us physically, but also leads to better academic outcomes. Their description of being RuskinFIT "include being academically and emotionally smart, physically active, and civic minded." Today, Kenny Rogers from the Governor's Fitness challenge recognized Ruskin and helped CVS Pharmacy present the school with $6000. The first $5000 will be used to provide fitness equpment for the school and the remaining $1000 is in the form of a CVS gift card to buy any supplies that the school needs.

Ruskin has twice been a California Distinguished School this decade, and being fit is a large part of their success. They have carried the program to a higher level, teaming up with the Nike Store for NikeFIT days on Fridays and will be installing a school garden to promote healthier eating habits. And they were recently featured in TriSports.com's blog.

Piedmont Middle School has also been very successfully participating in the Governor's Fitness Challenge. I have been promoting the idea that all of our schools should introduce fitness programs based on the fact that physical fitness helps promote mental fitness, which leads to improved academic performance. Tonight, Brooktree Elementary School kicks off their participation in the challenge. They will be joined by Ada Wong, a finalist on the current season of NBC's Biggest Loser.

Congratulations to Ruskin for a job well done!

Low Performing Schools?

Early in 2010, the California legislature passed legislation that required the State Board of Education (SBE) to issue regulations allowing parents to apply to transfer their children from specified underachieving schools to higher-performing schools. Over the summer, SBE approved emergency regulations and generated a list defining the state's 1,000 "low achieving" schools. Any school on the list was required to notify parents of their option to transfer their children to a higher scoring school.

The formula used to identify schools for the list has been criticized as flawed by state officials, legislators, and members of SBE. Ironically, the 2010 list of "low achieving" schools includes 31 schools that scored above the target API of 800. Two of those schools are in the Berryessa Union School District; Brooktree, which scored 830 this year, and Toyon, which scored 810.

While we know that these schools are performing well and making great strides, being identified as a "low achieving" school is demoralizing for teachers, staff, and families. Fortunately, the state has a waiver process so that schools can be removed from the list. Next week, at our November 16 Board meeting, the BUSD Board will hold public hearings to approve submitting waivers for Brooktree and Toyon to the State Board of Education.

Budget Update

As you know, California finally has a budget for 2010-11. The good news is that the budget, while providing less money for education than last year's budget, included more money for schools than the Governor's May Revise budget proposal. That means that there is more money coming to our school district than we planned for when this year's budget was approved. When I last discussed the budget, our district's projected deficit for next year (2011-2012), excluding one-time federal money, was about $1.7 million.

The new state budget will help us minimize the deficit next year, but we will still need to look at some reductions to address the anticipated $4 million strucutural deficit that must be addressed over the next two years.

Our district's Assistant Superintendent of Fiscal Services, Pam Becker, gave a very thorough presentation on Tuesday, Oct. 12, at a special board meeting on the budget. You can view this presentation here.

The risk is that the state budget only resolved about half the state's budget problem. The Legislative Analysts Office is already projecting that California is facing an $18 billion deficit in 2011-2012. Therefore, we have to be prepared for possible mid-year budget cuts and the possibility of cuts in next year's budget.

But at least the district can breathe a bit easier for now. Thanks to everyone in the district for helping weather the storm of the past couple years. And special thanks to Pam Becker and her department for quickly analyzing what the recently passed state budget means for Berryessa schools.

Program Improvement

Last month, I posted a discussion of the national Adequate Yearly Progess measures that are part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, previously knows as No Child Left Behind.

Our school district learned that 4 of our schools [Morrill (year 3), Summerdale, Vinci Park, and Piedmont] are now considered "Program Improvement" (PI) schools. To be labeled a PI school, a school may miss just one of 46 possible measures. Learning where our schools are falling short is a key way to focus on improving achievement.

In addition to the individual schools, our district is now considered a "Program Improvement" district. As a result of this designation, our district must undertake a very thorough study of how we are providing what are called 9 Essential Program Components. This study will be done during the next two months. Our Education Services Department, under the leadership of Assistant Superintendent Barbara Johnston, will lead the study and the effort to implement corrective actions at our schools.

Last night, the Board held a study session to learn more about what the district needs to do address its deficiencies and what kinds of restrictions and requirements are placed on PI schools and districts. A discussion of what it means to be a PI school is available on the district website. The law imposes some restrictions on how Title I money can be spent and will require additional Supplemental Instruction activities be offered.

A Temporary Reprieve?

At last week's board meeting, the Board approved the year-end close financial documents for 2009-2010. Due to good fiscal management and savings in areas such as energy use and supplies, the district's ending balance was higher than originally projected, resulting in a higher beginning balance for the next two years.

In August, the state legislature allocated the federal EdJobs Funding money. It turns out that the Berryessa Union School District will receive over $1.3 million from that allocation.

At the time this year's district budget was adopted in June, it looked like the district's deficit at the end of the 2011-2012 school year would be about $3 million. The higher ending balance and the addition of the EdJobs money (assuming the district doesn't spend any of it) brings down the deficit projection to $400,000.

You can view the presentation on the budget that was presented by Assistant Superintendent Pam Becker to the Board here.

However, there are 4 major considerations that will result in an increase in the deficit.

1. It is September 23 and there is still no state budget for this year. Therefore, we don't really know how much money the district will receive from the state. The conference committee budget provides $3 billion more in education funding than the May revise did. That is the good news. On the other hand, the latest word this week is that legislative leaders are close to a budget, and are about $2 billion short. Rumor is that in order to close that $2 billion, all of it will come through additional cuts to education, which may bring us back to the May level used in our adopted budget.


2. The Federal Ed Jobs bill requires that the money be used to pay for education jobs by June of 2012. One approach could be that the district uses the funds only for existing employee expenses. However, our district would benefit from spending some of that money now to enhance educational opportunities for our students. Therefore, some increase in spending is likely to result.


3. Last week, I posted a discussion of the unrealistic requirements of the Elemenatry and Secondary Education Act (No Child Left Behind) that have resulted in schools in our district (and our district as a whole) being labeled "Program Improvement." Because of this categorization, there are some additional requirements that will cost the district money. The district will hold a special Board Meeting on October 5 to discuss PI and what it means for us.


4. The district continues to operate under deficit spending. Our ending balance is dropping every year because we are using up all of our reserves. The numbers are clear on slide 3 of the budget presentation. The expenses line for 2011-2012 is $4 million larger than the revenues line. This is largely due to the state of California underfunding education, but unless that problem is resolved, the district needs to eventually solve this structural deficit.

STAR Test Results - the Problem with NCLB

The Bush administration touted their educational legislation, called "No Child Left Behind." The plan had a laudable goal of ensuring that 100% of students will be proficient by 2014. This means that every student in every school, even those that are still learning English, such as new immigrants, or those who have special needs, must be proficient or a school is deemed failing.

In order to get there, California's standards for Adequate Yearly Progress require double digit gains every year. Today, Santa Clara County released county-wide STAR test results, showing continued growth by county students. Even during this trend, more schools are failing the federal Adequate Yearly Progress standard. The County Office of Education, in their press release, explained how unrealistic the goals are.

"Because the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 requires that 100 percent of students become proficient or better in math and English by the year 2014, schools now are expected to meet unprecedented double-digit improvement standards each year. A rapidly increasing number of schools and districts are unable to meet these growth marks, and therefore are placed in the Program Improvement category."

Charles Weis, the Santa Clara County Superintendent of Schools explained that "the increase in the number of schools not making Adequate Yearly Progress this year might be misinterpreted as indicating that schools are performing worse. But nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, student scores are better than ever. However, we're at the stage now where unrealistic expectations for growth are outpacing our rate of improvement. Here's how unrealistic the national growth expectations are: There has never been an educational program that has resulted in double-digit growth each and every year. Not in this state, not in this country, not anywhere in the world."

More from SCCOE: "Weis cautioned that there could be unforeseen pitfalls to unrealistically high growth standards. "We don't want to misidentify schools as 'failing' when they have been improving," he said. "This might cause them to abandon successful methods, just because they haven't met unrealistic goals. Having high expectations is important. Having unrealistic expectations can be self-defeating." In the mass of detail that inevitably surrounds the release of the APR, Weis said it is important to remember some consistent trends: County students are doing better every year; all subgroups of students are improving, and the achievement gap is narrowing."

In Berryessa, overall district growth in the API this year was 6 points. 11 of 13 schools showed growth, 7 showed double digit growth, and 11 of 13 schools are above the state standard for exemplary. Of the remaining two, one is only 5 points shy and the other is 29 points short of exemplary status. Overall, what is even more impressive is that the district has shown this type of growth or more in each of the last six years!

Let's celebrate the achievements of Berryessa and all county schools over the past decade to make significant progress in student achievement. We will continue to focus on areas where we are still falling short. But let's not punish schools that are failing to meet unrealistic federal expectations.

Say Goodbye to Paper Packets

Today, the agenda for the September 14 board meeting was published, and a printed packet is being delivered to the house of each of the five board members. At the meeting next Tuesday, copies of the complete packet will be available for members of the public to pick up in order to follow along with the meeting business. All of this paper is both wasteful and expensive. The district spends over $300 per month copying board agendas.

Beginning in October, the Berryessa Union School district will go to an online agenda system, which will eliminate the need for all the copies. The complete agenda and all of the supporting documentation will be available online, where all members of the public will be able to review everything before the board meeting begins. The meeting agenda will be displayed on a big screen in the board room so everyone can follow along.

A more powerful feature is that all meeting agendas and minutes are fully searchable and are stored for 10 years on the server. It will be easy for members of the public to read about past discussions and find when certain actions were taken. Meeting meetings can be generated easily in the system, allowing them to be posted in a more timely manner after the meeting is done.

The Latest News from Sacramento

There was a lot going on during the summer that will affect the coming school year. While there has been no progress toward a state budget resolution, there have been other legislative actions of note. Most importantly, Congress stepped up and passed a new Jobs Act, which allocated billions of dollars to save education jobs. California will receive about $1.2 billion as a result of that action. It is unclear yet how much money the Berryessa School District will receive. Estimates range from $100,000 to nearly $1 million. Regardless of the amount, the extra revenue is welcome. Yesterday, California's legislature passed a bill to release the money quickly and allocate almost all of it to local education agencies. So we will find out soon how much it means for us. It is important to remember that once again, this federal money is one-time money that that can help us balance our budget this year and have a more positive beginning balance next year.

Another bill that passed the legislature yesterday is one that will gradually change the qualifying age for kindergarten. By the year 2015, children would have to turn 5 before September 1 to be eligible to start elementary school. A new Transitional Kindergarten would be established for children who miss the new cutoff, funded by the money that would have been spent on regular kindergarten. These changes would ensure that students are ready to succeed when they enter kindergarten.

When I last wrote about the district's budget, it looked like we had a deficit of nearly $3 million. As a result of the district's great work controlling expenses, when the books closed on 2009-2010, the deficit had dropped to $1.8 million. Once the Federal jobs money is received, that number will be even lower. All of the district's employees should be thanked for being fiscally responsible and keeping us in a position to retain as many services for our students as possible.

Of course, until California has a state budget, it is unclear exactly what our district's budget will look like. So we will continue to monitor the discussions going on in Sacramento and continue to be fiscally prudent while providing Berryessa's children with a quality education.

Congratulations to Berryessa's Employees of the Year

As the new school year starts, we should acknowledge those who are the key to the success of the Berryessa School District. We are successful because of the dedication and hard work of our wonderful employees; teachers, staff, and administration. These selfless people care deeply about the well-being of our children.

At the August 24 Board meeting, three employees were singled out as district Employees of the Year. These are employees selected by their peers for demonstrating high expectations of themselves and enhancing the educational opportunities for the district's students. They exemplify the professionalism of our staff and what is outstanding about our district.

The Classified Employee of the year is Diana Carlet, who is the School Secretary at Noble Elementary School. She helps keep that school running smoothly and is the smiling face that greets every visitor to the school. More importantly, she always has a focus on the students and provides incredible customer service to everyone who comes through the doors at Noble.

Administrator of the year is Chris Mosley, the principal at Morrill Middle School. Wherever in the district Mr. Mosely has been assigned, he has sought excellence, made the success of students his highest priority, and worked closely with staff and parents to make his school the best possible place. Prior to being principal at Morrill, he spent several years as the beloved principal of Noble Elementary School and assistant principal at Sierramont Middle School.

This year's Teacher of the year, who will represent the district at the County Teacher awards in September, is Randy Lee, a kindergarten teacher at Ruskin Elementary School. Mr. Lee has an amazing ability to work with youngsters who are just starting school, to motivate them and teach them the skills they need to be successful as they embark on the journey toward high school graduation. He represents the values we expect from all of our teachers.

Congratulations to all three winners. And thanks to all the employees of the Berryessa Union School District.

Schools Are Ready for Return of Students

Next Monday, students will flood back into Berryessa schools. Teachers and staff are already back in the schools readying their classrooms and lesson plans. Families and children I have spoken to are excited in anticipating a new school year.

During the summer, employees in the facilities department have been busy making needed improvements, fixing up playgrounds, and making sure all the schools are in good shape for the year.

Today, I visited Northwood and Cherrywood schools, where their roofs and HVAC equipment have finally been replaced. Lots of dry rot was found in the old roofing material at Northwood, and I know the staff there will be happy to stay dry during the next rainy season. Contractors are working hard to make sure everything is ready when school opens on Monday.

There was much publicity during the summer of the fire at Trace Elementary School in the San Jose Unified School District. This summer, we upgraded the fire alarm systems at Northwood and Ruskin Elementary Schools to bring them up to code.

Fields and playgrounds have also been tended to during the summer. All kindergarten playgrounds have had their tan bark replaced with new rubber material. The kids will love it.

Welcome back everyone. Berryessa Union School District is open for business for another school year.

Consolidating Our District with Orchard

Over the years, I have had numerous discussions with people about consolidating our district with Orchard, a single-school district located right next to Berryessa. Intuitively, it makes a lot of sense to consolidate and would seem to be the best way to maximize the benefit of limited education dollars.

This past spring, the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury came to a similar conclusion. They suggested several district consolidations across the county, one being the Berryessa-Orchard combination.

There are many issues that would have to be resolved before such a consolidation could occur. Here is the letter I wrote in response to the Grand Jury, which is my obligation as Board President.

---

Dear Ms. Cardoza,

I received a copy of the final report "Achieving School District Efficiency Through Consolidation." In accordance to CPC Section 933.05(a), I write to respond to the findings of the report relating to the Berryessa Union School District. The District appreciates the recommendation to consolidate the Berryessa Union and Orchard School Districts. Intuitively, such a merger makes sense in trying to maximize the benefit of every public dollar spent on education for our students. However, there are also serious concerns that would need to be overcome in order to make such a merger work in the current fiscal and educational environment.

There are many variables in any merger that may have a negative impact on the students and community of the Berryessa Union School District, both academically and fiscally. Our district would need to study the mechanics of a merger and make sure that any concerns are adequately explored and addressed. That being said, Berryessa Union School District is willing to begin discussions with the Orchard School District Board of Trustees about consolidation and how some of the negative aspects of that action might be mitigated if consolidation is deemed feasible by both districts.

The Berryessa Union School District will not entertain consolidation unilaterally, but if initiated by the Orchard School District and/or the Santa Clara County Committee on School District Organization will cooperate fully with them in considering such an action.


Sincerely,



David Cohen
President
Board of Trustees

Not Out of the Woods Yet

In June, the Berryessa Union School District passed a budget that is balanced for 2010-2011, but the district is still deficit spending, meaning that any remaining reserves will be gone in the 2011-2012 school year if further cuts are not made. State law usually mandates a 3% reserve, which will also be gone unless action is taken.

By the time the district submits its first interim budget at the end of this calendar year, we must demonstrate that we are able to reduce spending or increase revenues by enough to maintain that reserve. Otherwise, the district runs the risk of being classified with a "qualified" financial rating. That means that the district is at risk of falling short of adequate funding going forward, although not in danger of immediate bankruptcy. The consequence of this filing will be additional oversight and control by the Santa Clara County Office of Education.

The number of at risk school districts across the state has increased by 38% since the beginning of 2010, according to a story in the Los Angeles Times.

The Mercury News ran a similar story that listed districts that are facing financial risk. In Santa Clara County, Frankiln-McKinley and Orchard are at risk in 2010-11, while East Side Union HS District and Milpitas Unified face risk for 2011-12. The Board's goal is to keep the budget balanced so that we stay off the at-risk list. (UPDATE: Franklin-McKinley was originally listed as "qualified" before they implemented huge cuts in the spring that brought their finances back in line.)

John Festerwald of the Silicon Valley Education Foundation discussed in his blog the danger already facing 16% of districts across the state. Districts that fall into negative certification are at risk of being taken over the by the state. Fourteen districts fell into that category this year, most of which are in the Bay Area.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said that "the contributing factor is lack of adequate funding from the state for several years in a row. These are cuts upon cuts upon cuts. It's totally exhausted whatever revenue they might have in terms of their surplus, in terms of money set aside." In Berryessa, those cuts total 18% of our revenues.

The deficit Berryessa is facing looks like it will approach $3 million by the end of the coming school year. We just struggled to reduce the budget by $8 million, but the work is not done. Stay tuned for further discussion of how the district will approach the budget process for next year.

Summer in the District Office

In order to save money, the District Office is closed this week. Employees who work there are either on forced vacation or unpaid time, depending on their job classification and amount of vacation accrued. Some people suggest that the office should be shut down for the entire month of July.

I had the pleasure of spending a couple hours in the District Office last week in order to meet with those who are working hard over the summer to make sure that the district is ready for the new school year that starts at the end of August. Many people do not realize how much work is done during the summer, when students, teachers, and other school employees are not in school. Here are a few examples of the crucial work being done during the summer.

• The fiscal year of a school district closes on June 30. Just like a private business, the business office must close the books and reconcile the ending balances during the month of July. In some ways, July is the most important month of the year for the business office, and it may be the most stressful.
  
• The personnel office must make sure that all vacant school jobs are filled. Teachers and staff who retire and leave must be replaced by the time the new school year begins.
  
• The special education department runs the mandated summer school programs and works on contracts for the education of special needs students.
  
• The nutrition services director is working on menus for the coming school year and making sure that contracts are in place for all the ingredients that are purchased during the year.
  
• The facilities department is managing all kinds of site improvement projects, from capital work on roofs, HVAC, and fields, to restriping of parking lots, playground maintenance, and basic repairs at all the school sites.
  
• The IT department is working to make sure that all the site computers have the latest software and will work with the new internet backbone and client-server setup.
  
• Education Services staff are processing enrollment forms for new students entering the district and making sure that all students have necessary vaccination records in place.

As you can see, a proper functioning district requires lots of hard working and dedicated employees. Important work is done during the summer so that schools are ready for the next school year and the transition from summer to fall is a seamless one for students and their families.

A BALANCED Budget

Last night, the Board of Trustees passed a budget that has been a year in the making. We have held public hearings, study sessions, committee meetings, and many board discussions in the development of this budget, and now the budget has been approved on time.

It is a balanced budget, as required by law. But when I call the budget balanced, I am not simply describing it in a mathematical sense. What I think makes this a strong budget is the balance it achieves in protecting vital school services during unprecedented bad times. Districts around us have had to take extreme measures, such as eliminating library services, cutting counselors back to bare bones levels, or increasing class size at lower grades to 30 students.

The Berryessa School District Board has made it a priority to preserve as much of a rich student experience as possible. To that end, we ruled out closing one of our schools, eliminating elementary music, or closing libraries. Instead, we have spread out the cuts as much as possible. Class size in the primary grades (K-3) will increase to 24, and in the higher grades (4-8), average class size will increase from 30 to 32. Elementary school students will still be offered music through a program that is the envy of other school districts. Clerk time in our school offices will be reduced by 1 hour per day, meaning that front line service for our families will be reduced a bit. District-supported library hours will decrease by 1 hour per day, but students will still be able to make regular visits to the library to read with the media techs and check out books. Each middle school will have a 25% reduction in counselor time, dropping from 2 full time counselors at each school to 1.5. Finally, the school year for the next two years will be shortened by 2 days.

Make no mistake, these reductions are all bad things and we wish the budget situation didn't necessitate having to make these kinds of choices. Families will probably notice a slight reduction in the attention students get and the ability to get things done as quickly. Employees will suffer under reduced hours and higher work loads. But the pain is balanced across all our different activities.

Credit for the ability to create a well-balanced budget goes to everyone in the district. Our fiscal managers have kept our financial house in order such that we are in better shape than many other districts across California. Our employees have stepped up and worked with us to solve our budget challenges. And members of the public have been heavily engaged in the process of developing a budget that continues to meet the priorities of the Berryessa community. Thanks to everyone for their patience and cooperation over the course of the year. Next year will continue to present budgetary challenges, as even with this budget, we continue to face a deficit and will need to make further cuts. But I am confident the district will approach the challenges with the same seriousness with which we developed this year's budget.

June is Here

June is a busy month as schools wrap up for the year. For the Board of Trustees, June is even more important, as we must have a budget for the district in place by the end of the month. On June 8, the Board will be presented with a budget proposal and the Board will adopt a final budget for 2010-2011 on June 29.

We had been in a holding pattern until the Governor's "May Revision" to the California budget, to see if there would be any changes to education funding. The good news is that no additional reductions were proposed. The bad news is that instead, the Governor has proposed major cuts to social services that are likely to be unacceptable to the Legislature. It remains to be seen where the Legislature will find funding for the health and human services the Governor proposed cutting and whether education will have to sacrifice to fill the gap.

A couple weeks ago, we were hopeful that Congress would pass legislation to provide money for education in one of several proposed Federal Jobs bills. However, just last week, the House abandoned the effort over fears of increasing the federal deficit. Such a bill would have provided California with $3 billion for education, but now it is less likely that such money will arrive to bail us out.

Given that it is unlikely that the California Legislature will adopt a budget for several months, our district must proceed as planned, needing to fill a deficit that amounts to $10 million over the next two years. The framework for the coming cuts has been discussed at public hearings, committee meetings and Board meetings this entire school year. We are now in the final stages of preparing our district for making do with state support of just $4750 per student, which is about $250 less in state funding than last year and an almost 20% reduction over the past three years.

In the meantime, I look forward to end of the year activities at schools across the district. Perhaps I'll see you at an elementary school event or middle school promotion ceremony. And I hope everyone enjoys their summer.

What It's All About

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the celebration at the Santa Clara County Office of Education, where Ruskin Elementary School was one of 35 schools in Santa Clara County to be honored as a Distinguished School in 2010. This is the third time in the past four years one of our schools has been so honored.

This week, I want to change pace and rather than focus on our budgetary challenges, I will review some of the great things going on in our schools. After all, these are the reasons we are all involved in the school district, to provide more opportunities for our children to learn and grow.

At the Distinguished School celebration, each honoree school is asked to present a best practice. Ruskin showed off their RuskinFit program. They have made a concerted effort to add physical fitness as an integral part of their educational programs. Ruskin's data shows that fitness correlates with better attendance and improved performance. And this year, Ruskin is a finalist for the Governor's statewide physical fitness challenge. We'll find out next month if they win the grand prize, which comes with $100,000 towards a school fitness center.

Academically, the district continues to show great growth. Eleven of our thirteen schools surpassed the target 800 level on the API in 2009. Noble and Northwood Elementary Schools have climbed above 850. Ruskin scored over 900 for the second straight year.

Toyon Elementary was one of just 8 schools in the state that exited "needs improvement" status in its first year. Toyon has been a leader in using Mind Institute's STMath self-paced program to improve math performance. All the school's classes participate, and by May 1, 12 classes representing over 85% of the student body had achieved progress scores of 75% or better. Toyon was also 1 of 2 schools in San Jose selected to be part of Comcast's national day of service.

It has been a great year for Piedmont Middle School. Last month, their music department participated in the California Heritage Festival in Southern California and was recognized as one of the best music programs in the state. Advanced Choir received a Gold Rating and an invitation to sing at Heritage Festivals Gold Series of concerts at Carnegie Hall next year. Piedmont also took home the biggest award at the festivals, the sweepstakes award, given to the school with the highest score in choir, band, and orchestra.

Piedmont sent 27 students to the Synopsis County Science Fair and 11 came home with prizes. Students from Morrill and Sierramont also participated in the Science Fair. Science starts early in the district, and both Ruskin and Northwood Elementary Schools hosted wonderful science fairs to showcase the work of their students.

Piedmont's AVID program is one of the best in the County. 8 students from that program won spots to attend the 9th Annual AVID Writers Conference held at Stanford University. Piedmont also was recognized as a middle school finalist for the Governor's Physical Fitness Challenge.

This is just a small subset of the great things happening in Berryessa schools. The district's accomplishments in a broad cross section of disciplines are why I am proud to live in the Berryessa School District and even prouder that my daughter is a student in the district. These accomplishments are a testament to the hard work of the dedicated staff at each of our 13 schools and the support of our community for education.

District Office Services

At last week's special board meeting dealing with the budget, the Board requested that the district's administration study the possibility of closing the district office for a week during the summer in order to save money. Most of the savings from such a move would come from savings by forced vacation of district office employees. The proposed budget for 2010-2011 proposed by the district includes savings out of administration of over $200,000, including laying off 1 1/2 people from the business office, savings in principal salary, and cuts to administrative salaries.

Schools have been in a long term budget crisis over the past decade, requiring budget cuts almost every year. Fortunately, our district focused most of the cuts in prior years on district level personnel and administration, in order to preserve services at the school sites. A power point presentation outlines the cuts to the district office since our current Superintendent, Dr. Liebman, joined the district.

Two years ago, the district laid off 9 custodians and has not replaced all the maintenance employees who have retired. Two more such positions are proposed to remain vacant next year.

The Board two years ago asked district administration to compare our administrative staffing and expenditures with those of comparable districts in Santa Clara County. The study (available here) found that we were near the bottom in administrators and staffing per 1000 students in each district office department. The district is currently investigating how that comparison has changed in the two years since.

There has been lots of speculation that school budgetary problems are caused by overspending on school administration. In fact, California has one of the lowest administrator-to-student ratios in the nation. According to the California School Boards Association, statewide, 62 percent of school districts' general funds in 2008-09 went into the classroom and another significant amount went to direct student services such as counselors and libraries. The average district budget spends just 5 percent on "general administration."

It is important to understand all the needs that a school distict has when it comes to administration. There are three departments; Education Services, Business Services, and Personnel Services. Below is a brief description of each of these departments in the Berryessa Union School District.

The Education Services Department oversees curriculum, instruction, staff development, assessment, special education, student services and categorical programs for the thirteen schools. Curriculum is aligned with both state and national content standards. Education Services also helps schools, parents and staff understand, implement, and comply with reforms, statutes, regulations and guidelines. State and national policies regarding school accountability impose a need for more oversight in areas such as student testing, and data decision-making.

The Business Services Department serves the district's 13 schools, maintenance facility, and district office by providing support in developing budgets, handling audits, accounting for attendance, managing payroll, purchasing goods and services, paying bills, ensuring categorical program compliance, managing worker's compensation, controlling inventory, coordinating transportation, running child nutrition services, and overseeing emergency preparedness. The department also oversees warehousing, information technology, and facilities. The Business Services Department is responsible for keeping the books and accounts in proper order in compliance with state and federal regulations. The summer is an important time as final budgets are developed in June and the books on the previous fiscal year are closed in July.

The Personnel Department is responsible for overseeing and carrying out functions related to staffing, including hiring, transfers, layoffs and termination of employees. The department also makes sure personnel practices are followed, personnel records are kept, health and fringe benefits are properly provided, and personnel policies and regulations are aligned with current education and labor codes.

Our district office staff and administration provides a high quality of service in a number of necessary areas, and operates in a very lean manner. I will continually look for ways to save money in these services without cutting corners in a way that will harm district operations.

District's Straw Budget

The latest analysis of the district's budget crisis over the next two years pegs the 2-year deficit at just over $10 million. To put this in perspective, in order to save $4.8 million per year without any cuts to services or layoffs of employees, each employee in the district would have to agree to take a 10.6% pay cut. (Each 1% of district salary is equal to $472,000.)

Absent such a concession, the district has presented to the Board a proposal that includes cuts and changes that would reduce $8.3 million, which would still leave the district more than $1.6 million in the hole after the 2011-2012 year. The district is required by October to develop an interim budget to present to the state that shows how the budget will be balanced over the subsequent 2 years, ahd must pass a 2010-2011 budget by the end of June.

The list of proposed cuts presented at the April 20 Board meeting did not contain any surprises. It was a compilation of choices presented at all the budget hearings, committee meetings, and public meetings, after taking into account the feedback from all the various constituencies.

The biggest ticket item on the proposed list is increasing class size (24:1 K-3 year 1, 26:1 K-3 year 2, 32:1 4-8), which would save $3.4 million over two years. Reducing the work year for teachers by 2 days each year would save $740,000. The savings from retiring teachers nets $300,000 per year. The district is proposing savings of $640,000 by reducing the number of couselors paid for out of the general fund. The district's proposed list of cuts would result in savings of nearly $6.5 million from certificated employees (teachers). Most of these savings could only occur if they are agreed to by the teachers' union.

Proposed cuts to classified staff include a reduction of 1.5 people in the business office, a cut of one case facilitator, and reduced hours for school clerks and media techs (1 less hour per day), plus a 10-day shorter work year for school clerks and school secretaries.

The Board will be discussing these proposed reductions and any other options that may be available to the district this week at our special board meeting on Wednesday, April 28. While the discussion will not be interactive with the public, those who are interested are welcome to attend the meeting and listen to what will surely be a lively discussion.

Rescinding the Pink Slips

In order to preserve the flexibility needed to balance the budget and comply with state laws regarding reduction in teaching staff, the district distributed over 80 layoff notices to teachers in early March, long before we were able to decide on issues like class size. Earlier this week, hearings were held for teachers that are still on the list of potential layoffs. Each teacher on the list is entitled to an administrative hearing to verify that their seniority position is proper.

Fortunately, as final decisions on class size are coming into focus through negotiations with our teachers and the number of retiring teachers is becoming known, the district has been able to rescind 64 of the layoff notices. There are still 22 positions in danger as we are forced to consider larger class sizes next year. As further decisions on budget priorities are made in the next 2 months, many of these 22 teachers will be able to retain their positions as well. It is a testament to the good fiscal management of the district that we continue to make it through these bad budgetary years with relatively few layoffs.

For a complete description of the pink slip process and an explanation of why so many pink slips were distributed in the first place, see my previous post on the subject.

School Facilities Upgrades

The Berryessa Union School District has been upgrading and replacing all the school roofs, HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) systems, fire alarm systems, irrigation systems, and landscaping, plus repainting all the schools. The money for these renovations comes from a bond measure passed early in the decade. UPDATE: The bond money has all been spent and the remainder of the projects are being paid for from money received for the sale of our Flickinger property.

The schools in the Berryessa School District are all more than 30 years old. All the roofs need to be replaced in order to fix drainage issues. New roofing materials that are energy efficient and comply with Title 24 requirements are being used. At some of our schools, buckets are used during the rainy season to collect rain leaking into classrooms and hallways. At others, workers have found dry rot in the roofs that means the rain is damaging the buildings' infrastructure.

The HVAC systems that have not yet been upgraded are mostly original equipment from when the schools were built. They are very old and ineffcient. New systems will conserve energy and allow for control by an energy management system.

A few years ago, satellite images of Berryessa allowed for easy identification of our schools, as many of the fields were brown all summer long. This is because many of the irrigation systems were inoperable and have not worked for years. As a result, school fields are unusable. The lack of maintenance means that gophers have taken over, making the fields hazardous for our students. We are replacing all these fields in order to provide safe play areas and enhance our physical education programs. The work will also enhance the visual appeal of our schools.

The project work began in 2004. So far, 10 of the schools have had their roofing/HVAC completed. Three projects remain. Northwood and Cherrywood are scheduled to be done this summer. Piedmont is scheduled for the summer of 2011. The grounds work is underway at the last two schools, Vinci Park and Northwood. In addition, Ruskin's fire alarm system will be upgraded this year and Northwood will be painted in 2011.

The projects scheduled for fiscal year 2009-10 are budgeted to cost $3.79 million. In total, the remaining projects will cost more than $7 million. For those of you who are budget wonks, these projects are being paid for out of Fund 40, which currently has a balance of $8.7 million. Much of the remaining Fund 40 money is earmarked to help pay for the technology upgrade the district implemented this past year. Another portion of the money is used to pay for some of the district's maintenance staff.

The money in Fund 40 is capital money that by state law cannot be used for general fund spending. (UPDATE: This money came from the sale of the Flickinger property.) The state for one year allows school districts to transfer money out of Fund 40 to help bridge budget gaps. If we were to decide to cancel projects and use the money for our general fund, it may be years before additional capital money is available for these projects without asking the voters to support another bond issue.

Students and Counselors

When students have problems at school or home, it can have a profound effect on their academic achievement. It is important that there be somebody at school to help these students work through their problems and get them back on track. Home problems can range from unemployed parents to a death in the family. School issues might be fighting on the playground or struggling with homework. All of these students need the attention of a counselor.

Counselors also help schools set class schedules and guide students' coursework so they are ready for high school, college, and the workforce. The counselors at our three middle schools are completely booked during the day meeting with students and planning programs.

We have been able to maintain two counselors for each of our middle schools, which have 1000 students each. That is a ratio of 500:1, and is half as many counselors as recommended by the American School Counselor Association. Most of our elementary schools do not have any counselors. District-wide, our ratio is about 1000:1, including our elementary schools.

Using numbers from 2 years ago, California overall had a counselor to student ratio of 806:1, which is the second worst in the nation. The national average was 467:1. ASCA recommends 250:1. Budget cuts in California are only going to make these ratios worse.

The East Side Union High School District has proposed cutting down to 1 counselor per high school. For schools that have over 2000 students, that means that each student could expect to have no more than 45 minutes time with a counselor for the entire year. This means they won't get career, academic, and personal coaching that they need.

A likely outcome of our district's budget difficulties will be a reduction in the number of counselors available in our middle schools. The importance of counselors in the lives of students should be considered as discussions continue.

Funding Levels for Berryessa and Other Districts

Two weeks ago, Ed-Data posted updated financial information for the 2008-2009 school year. This data illuminates the huge disparity in funding suffered by the Berryessa Union School District and a few others versus the wealthiest districts. Our district has a general fund that is 12% below the statewide average of funding for elementary school districts. Statewide, the average per-pupil funding level is $9059. School districts such as Los Altos and Saratoga received $10,500 per student or more. A couple of elementary districts have significantly more than that.

Berryessa Union School District had $7996 per pupil in 2008-2009. It is one of four elementary districts in Santa Clara County below $8000 (the other three are Evergreen, Cupertino, and Union). Our revenue limit contribution from the state of California was a paltry $5451 per student. Remember that these numbers are for last school year. Funding is lower in 2009-2010 and will be even lower in 2010-2011. We did get a boost this year from Measure W, which added about $210 per student this year. Also helpful was federal stimulus money added about $500 per student for one year only.

I often make the comparison between Berryessa and Palo Alto in terms of per pupil funding and state that we receive about 1/2 of what they do to educate students. The data show that our funding was 56% of theirs in 08-09. As a unified school district with high schools, Palo Alto should receive slightly more money, but the statewide average for unified districts is $9476, which is just 5% more than elementary districts.

You can check out the data yourself at www.ed-data.org. Click on "District" under Reports to look at district by district numbers.

One conclusion to draw from the numbers is how well we are doing in Berryessa considering our funding disadvantage. Both academically and fiscally, our district is performing tremendously with the resources that we have. Thanks to all our employees, including teachers, classified staff, and administrators, for their incredible work. And thanks to the parents in our district, who help our schools and our students succeed.

Two Finalists in the Governor's Physical Fitness Challenge

Congratulations to Ruskin Elementary School and Piedmont Middle Schools for being finalists in the Governor's Physical Fitness Challenge. They are the top elementary and middle schools in the Bay Area. There was also one high school finalist, and one of those three schools will receive a $6000 award as the regional winner in May. At that time, the top school in the state at each level will receive the grand prize of $100,000 for a new fitness center.

I attended the awards assembly at Piedmont Middle School this morning. They received $1000 (an oversized check was presented) from CVS Pharmacy for their achievement, as did Ruskin. Great job by the teachers and students at both schools in being active and logging their physical activity. Being physically fit correlates well with student achievement, so we must encourage all our children to stay in shape and participate in fitness activities.

Success in Schools Depends on the Entire Staff

During budget pain, we tend to focus on the obvious effects on education in the classroom. However, it is important to keep in mind that school success is dependent on everyone who works in the schools. A lot has been said about increasing class size, saving music programs, and protecting counselors. But equally important are the rest of the support staff that do the day-to-day work that keeps the district running smoothly.

For example, every school has a secretary and a clerk (two clerks in each middle school). These employees are the ones who interact with parents and community when they walk into the school. They keep track of daily attendance, make sure classes are properly scheduled, manage report cards, document the results of English Language testing, and even serve as health clerks for students who get sick or hurt during the day.

Employees in the district's business office keep track of all purchasing and payments, manage the facilities department, make sure food service is adequate in the schools, and oversee the information technology infrastructure for the schools.

Custodians keep the schools clean, make sure bathrooms are stocked, provide routine maintenance, and set up for assemblies. Maintenance workers repair buses and trucks, fix broken equipment, maintain facilities and furniture, change lightbulbs, and clean up graffiti.

Media techs keep the libraries at school sites open, read with children, teach students about library research, organize book collections, distribute textbooks, and manage library circulation.

These are just some of the key positions in the schools and district office that have been cut back over the years. Unfortunately, as we look at cutting expenses for 2010 through 2012, these support services are vulnerable again. We must remember through the process that all district employees are integral to the successful education of our children.

Why So Many Pink Slips?

Tonight, the Board meets to vote on reductions to the Certificated staff of the district. Certificated employees are those with teaching credentials, including teachers, counselors, and administrators. Unfortunately, in order to retain flexibility in the uncertain budget situation, the Berryessa Union School District will be handing out dozens of pink slips in the next two weeks.

Why so many, and why now?

Let me answer the second question first. California law requires that in order to reduce certificated staff, those affected must be notified by March 15. Even though we don't yet know what the final budget situation will be, what negotiated solutions we have available to us, and what our final choices will be, it is necessary to plan for all contingencies now.

California law also requires that layoffs be done in reverse order of seniority. The board authorizes layoffs by passing a resolution that reduces specific services the district provides. For example, we may resolve to cut back on music and counseling, and increase class size. The district must then use seniority rankings to determine which specific employees are let go. There is an appeals process that is followed if employees think they should be ranked differently. As a result, more pink slips are distributed than necessary in order to retain flexibility as the process plays out.

In past years, our district has given out pink slips and revoked most if not all of them before the end of the school year. As budget decisions are finalized, the number of affected employees will go down. There are still 3 1/2 months before a final budget is passed. In the meantime, budget assumptions will change and cost savings will be realized through other approaches and negotiations. In addition, retirements and other attrition will open spots for some of the teachers who receive pink slips this month. Hopefully, at the end of the process, the district will be able to minimize the number of employees affected by our budget crisis.

District Budget Forums

I want to thank everyone who has come out for our first two forums on the district budget. Over 100 parents, teachers, staff, and other community members came to Morrill Middle School and Vinci Park Elementary School to help prioritize the list of cuts that we are faced with for 2010-2011 and 2011-2012.

In the four years I have been on the board, the Berryessa Union School District has been forced to make cuts every year. This is due to the fiscal problems in California, and the fact that every year, our allocation of dollars from Sacramento has declined. Due to strong fiscal leadership by the District Office and Board of Trustees, we have been successful at keeping the budget cuts away from the classrooms. The district office and maintenance departments have absorbed cuts at a much greater percentage of their size than the school sites. As a result, we now have fewer custodians and mechanics, and an administrator to student ratio that is near the bottom of comparable districts in Santa Clara County.

We were also one of the only districts in Santa Clara County that avoided school site layoffs or increased class sizes in 2009-2010. That is because of a one-time bailout from the Federal Stimulus package in conjuction with the passage of our Measure W local parcel tax. It is also because our business department is doing a phenominal job of finding cost savings in all of our budget areas.

Unfortunately, the level of cuts for the coming year is unprecedented and we are left with far fewer choices that don't effect the education of our students. The only way to make up an $8 million shortfall over the next two years is with big dollar items. These are almost all programmatic things. That is why the choices presented at these budget forums include increasing class size, eliminating elementary school music, cutting middle school counselors, reducing media tech (library) hours, reducing school clerk and secretary hours, closing a school, and shortening the school year by up to four days.

The goal of holding these hearings is to find out how the public ranks these various items. That way, when the Board is making decisions about which items to cut as a last resort, we will have a feel for which are the least desirable choices. It will also help us decide what should be added back first in the event of an improved budgetary situation.

Your input is crucial in this determination. If you have not yet attended one of these forums, please consider joining us this week. Our final two budget hearings start at 7pm and will be on Wednesday Feb. 24 at Piedmont Middle School and Thursday Feb. 25 at Majestic Way Elementary School.

Board Budget Development Priorities

In December, the Board of Trustees approved a set of budget development priorities to help guide the decisions that will need to be made this year. Each possible budget cut should be evaulated using these criteria. While all five criteria are important, the order in which they were placed represents the relative weight that each will be given.

Here are the priorities as they were approved:

1) Maintain Core Academic Programs for Students: Our primary responsibility is to make sure we have educational programs in place that support our students in achieving state and district standards. The core subjects of mathematics, reading, language arts, history and science must be maintained.

2) Maintain Other Educational Programs and Services for Students: We acknowledge that successful educational programs include more than core academics and therefore, as much as possible, we support maintaining other programs such as music, counseling, sports, and electives.

3) Maintain Acceptable Levels of Eseential Services: The district must maintain a level of support services, such as secretarial, business, personnel, maintenance, and administrative functions. These services allow us to meet legal requirements and operational goals required for the district to operate effectively.

4) Maintain a Commitment to our Employees: The district strives to maintain the commitment to our employees to compensate the adequately, support their work, and retain them to the fullest extent possible. It is also critical that we focus on the importance of recruiting and retaining a high quality work force.

5) Make Decisions that are Sustainable: The district should make decisions with an understanding of their long term impact on the instructional programs for students, personnel, and essential services in the District and to avoid short term decisions that have long term consequences.

These priorities will be achieved by following a set of strategies, listed below.

Strategy 1 - The district Mission Statement will serve as the basis for all decisions.

Strategy 2 - The Board will approve a balanced budget for the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 school years.

Strategy 3 - The Board and Superintendent will invite and receive input from a broad base of constituents.

Strategy 4 - The Board and Superintendent will work with employee organizations to resolve the fiscal challenge resulting from a deficit in excess of $8 million and to minimize the impact on students and employees.

Strategy 5 - The Board and Superintendent will strive to maintain a balance between direct services to students and operational services.

Strategy 6 - The Board and Superintendent will be guided by the 5 principles listed above to prioritize choices when allocating scarce district resources.

Guided by the priorities and following the strategies listed above, the district will make it through the challenges of the next couple years and continue to serve the children of Berryessa with distinction. Please join us at one of our community forums on the budget on Feb. 22, 24, or 25, to provide your input to the choices we face.

Help Guide the District's Budget Choices

How do we prioritize all the district's programs in light of the current budget crisis? The district faces cuts of up to $8 million for the next two school years and has to start making decisions in March about which programs to cut.

Should elementary music or middle school counseling be a higher priority? Which is more important, keeping class sizes small or keeping libraries open? Would it be better to shorten the school year by up to 4 days or close one of our 13 schools?

During the month of February, the Berryessa Union School District will be hosting a series of community budget hearings in order to get your answers to these questions. It will be important for a good cross section of the community to attend so that the board gets meaningful input to the decision-making process.

The first hearing will be this Thursday, Feb. 11, at Morrill Middle School. On Monday, Feb. 22, there will be a hearing at Vinci Park Elementary School. Piedmont Middle School will host a hearing on Feb. 24, and Majestic Way Elementary School on Feb. 25. All four hearings start at 7:00 pm. You are welcome to attend any or all of the hearings.

New Blog Format

As you can see, I have moved the Board President's blog to a new host. The blogging service offered by Google (blogger.com) provides greater functionality than the district's site. For example, blogger offers the ability for readers to "follow" my postings and keep up with discussions. It also is more flexible for posting comments.

I hope that this site will provide a forum for a cross section of our community to participate in discussions on the budget and other important subjects throughout the course of the year. As I have said repeatedly, we will only get through the next couple of years if we stick together and collecting feedback is part of that. Please let me know your thoughts on any of the subjects posted here or anything of importance to the Berryessa School District.

I will get back to discussing the budget next week. Please consider attending one of our budget hearings. The first will be held on Feb. 11 at Morrill Middle School. Three more will occur on Feb. 22, 24, and 25. See the district calendar for details.

Fund Schools, and Reform Sacramento

There has been a lot of talk recently about school "reform." The state legislature has been rushing to pass reform measures in order to get its hands on a small amount of money from the federal government through the "Race to the Top" program. The amount of money at stake for most schools in California from RTTT is quite small.

Meanwhile, the Governor has proposed additional reductions to school funding that would reduce per pupil spending in California by another $200. Tami Gunther, a trustee of the Atascadero Unified School District, wrote the following commentary. I think it speaks to the great sacrifices that California schools have made over the past few years. In fact, our schools have done quite a lot to solve the state's budget crisis while continuing to provide quality education for our children.

"I think the reform most needed right now is not in our schools, but at the state level in our Assembly and Senate.

"North San Luis Obispo County school districts have had to absorb a decrease in funding of approximately 20 percent over the past two years. Our students have already seen reduced access to counselors, psychologists and nurses. They will be using older textbooks and have less time in the library. They are seeing much larger class sizes, they receive less help from their teachers since classroom aides have been cut and they will no longer have summer school to help with problem subjects.

"We have all cut transportation, administration and maintenance. Sports, music, drama, science and other electives have all seen reductions or even elimination. We are not talking about starting new 'reforms,' we're just trying to maintain the programs we already have that are working.

"Sacramento needs to stop talking about reforming our schools and get to work reforming the way decisions are made in our Capitol. Our local schools have already done more than our share to solve the state’s budget problems without having to bear the burden of yet another reform sent down by legislators who have lost touch with local reality."

Unfortunately, we are being asked once again to sacrifice programs in our school due to the state's budget crisis. Our children will suffer the consequences of whatever bad choices we end up having to make as we formulate our budget for the next two years.

(originally posted 1/26/2010)

Budget Cut Options

Last week, the Board of Trustees held a study session on the budget. We started with a list of options for cuts that we can make as we work to balance the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 budgets. These cuts are divided into two categories - those that the board can unilaterally impose, and those that would require agreement of our bargaining units during negotiations. As we discovered, the only way to come up with $8 million in cuts over the next two years is through a combination of cuts from the two groups.

A complete list of potential cuts is available on the district's website. That document also includes scenarios for balancing the budget that were derived by district administration before the study session.

Some of the largest savings that we could realize would require negotiation. These are K-3 class size, 4-8 class size, and reduction in the work year. By shortening the work year for all staff in the district by 2.5 days, we could save over $500,000. Over two years, that is 1/8 of our deficit. Increasing class size to 24:1 at K-3 would save $1 million each year. Increasing class size at grades 4-8 to an average of 32:1 would save an additional $816,000 per year. The board discussed pursuing these three changes, which would provide $4.6 million of the $8 million in cuts.

The discussion of budget cuts that don't require negotiation was much harder. Based on our discussion, the cuts could be grouped into three categories based on how comfortable the cuts would be. The first group would be enough to balance the budget in combination with the negotiated items listed above. Some cuts are already a done deal: reduce the salary of the superintendent and assistant superintendents ($10,000); reduce the work year for delivery drivers to 10 months ($10,000); and leave two maintenance positions vacant ($96,000). The rest of these "tier 1" cuts include reducing the assistant principals to 1/2 time at each middle school, transferring $450,000 worth of SLIP funds from schools to the district, and eliminating one position in the business office ($91,000).

The second tier of cuts includes reducing the work year of school secretaries and clerks by 10 days ($72,000) and reducing the number of middle school counselors from 6 to 4.5 ($160,000). The third tier includes things that nobody on the board wants to do, but must remain on the list in the event of failure to negotiate increases in class size and/or a shorter work year. These include eliminating the elementary school music program ($362,000), closing a school ($380,000), reducing middle school counselors to 3 (another $160,000), and reducing media tech (library staff) work days by 1 hour ($85,000).

In the absence of a negotiated increase of class size at the K-3 grade levels, the district may be forced to withdraw from the class size reduction program and reset K-3 classes to a 30:1 ratio. The savings from such an action would be $156,000 per year.

There are some additional items that will likely be used in some way to balance the budget over the next two years. First is a proposal to reorganize the middle school instructional schedule in order to save between $500,000 to $780,000 per year. This would likely mean fewer instructional minutes for students and less time for elective classes. Secondly, we have the flexibility to reduce our reserves below the state mandated level of 3%. We are considering reducing the reserves by 1% ($630,000) in order to prevent some of the cuts.

If all three of the tiered cut solutions, plus elimination of K-3 class size reduction, use of the reserves and reorganization of the middle school schedule are done, the total savings to the district over the next two years would be $6.8 million. That falls short of the $8 million deficit we are facing. Thus the importance of finding some negotiated solutions.

The board will continue discussing these scenarios at every board meeting for the rest of the school year. There are two meetings scheduled each month. In addition, there are four public hearings being held in February to allow the public to provide their feedback on the proposed cuts. Tonight, the board will ratify a budget calendar for the next 5 months. All upcoming meetings are posted on the district calendar.

(originally posted 1/19/2010)

2010 Budget - Will Education Be Sacrificed Again?

In his State of the State address, Gov Schwarzenegger said he was going to protect eductation from further cuts. But did his proposed budget, released last Friday, really do that? The details point toward further cuts to schools.

The budget released by the Governor proposed some maneuvering that will reduce the funding baseline for schools guaranteed by Proposition 98. As the California School Boards Association explains, “In the past, the governor and Legislature have manipulated the minimum funding guarantee to lower levels and then claimed to have ‘protected’ schools by funding them at that new, artificially reduced level.”

Proposition 98 put in place a formula that says that K-14 schools must receive at least 39% of all General Fund revenues. This was intended to be a baseline, with a built in increase to schools each year. During these terrible budget years, the state has used the Proposition 98 guarantee as a ceiling rather than as a floor. And as general fund revenue decreases, the amount set aside for schools can be cut.

In this year's proposed budget, the Governor estimates that since last year's revenue came in lower than projected, education's Proposition 98 guarantee is $1.5 billion less in 2010-11 than what it would otherwise be under current law. Another trick the Governor proposes is to eliminate the gasoline sales tax and increase the fuel excise tax. In essence, that shifts money from the general fund, which reduces the floor for education funding even more.

The latest estimate is that the Governor's budget would result in a decrease in per pupil funding of $190 per student. For our district, that means an additional reduction of nearly $1.6 million in 2010-2011. So we are now having to build that additional deficit into our plans for next year.

Setting aside education funding, the Governor proposes gutting crucial social services, such as CalWorks, Medi-Cal, Healthy Families, and food assistance programs, among others. The effect of this will be felt in the schools, as children from families in need will come to school without adequate nutrition and health. And it will be left to the schools to provide support for students who are not getting it elsewhere. All of these services are interconnected, so these budget cuts are bad for the future of our state.

You might ask - During such unprecedented fiscal times, do we have any choice? Well, there are all kinds of ways to increase revenues that would help offset the cuts being proposed. It is time for the legislature to insist on increasing revenue, rather than continuing to gut our crucial social and education services. Here are 10 policies that could bring in $20 billion in additional revenue to the state without harming economic growth and recovery.

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Next week, I'll discuss the priorities for cuts that the Board discussed last night at our Study Session. I expect a robust discussion in the months ahead as we grapple with the enormous budget hole.

(originally posted 1/13/2010)

The Budget Challenge We Face

When I joined school board four years ago my intent was to be instrumental in enhancing educational opportunities for the children of the Berryessa Union School District. While the Board has remained focused on ensuring a quality education for our children, the reality of our current economy has, and will, have an impact in our district for the next few years.

In order to help you understand the issues our district is facing here are the answers to a series of questions about our budget:

What is the magnitude of the problem?

Based on current information (assuming no further funding cuts from the state) the district is facing a shortfall of $2.7 million for the 2010-2011 school year, and an additional $5.3 million for the 2011-2012 school year, for a total shortfall of $8 million over two years.

The district must submit a budget in July 2010 that shows balance for 3 years, which means that we must address the two-year projection immediately. Our district’s total budget is just over $60 million, so the shortfall we are facing is equivalent to 7% per year. If the state of California decides to cut funding to schools this fiscal year the budget shortfall will increase.

Why has this occurred?

Our funding comes almost entirely from the state of California. The bad economy has led to plummeting income, capital gains, and property tax revenues. Education spending makes up over 40% of the state budget. Once the legislature decided that they would balance the budget without increasing any revenues, it was inevitable that education would take a sizeable cut.

While the projected $8 million district shortfall takes into account cuts the state has already made, California starts 2010 with a $20 billion deficit. As of this blog posting no further cuts have been officially proposed, but there is no indication from the state that education is safe from additional cuts.

What about the Measure W Parcel Tax?

Measure W provides $1.7 million to the Berryessa School District each year. Without this revenue the district would have had a budget deficit for 2009-2010 and an additional $3 million shortfall (for a total of $11 million) over the next two years. We thank you for your support of Measure W, without which our students would be shortchanged even more.

Why was the 2009-2010 budget balanced so easily?

The state cuts to education were significant in 2009-2010, but the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), also known as the federal stimulus package, provided nearly $4 million to our school district for the current year's budget. That money is the reason we were able to run the district this year without significant cuts and without staff layoffs. However, this was only one-time money and we do not know yet if there will be any additional stimulus money for the next year. In addition to the stimulus money, our district administration has done a great job freezing spending and conserving resources during the past couple years.

How will we solve this budget problem?

It will take a collective team effort to balance the budget for the next couple years. The board will rely on input from all members of our community. Please attend board meetings and budget hearings, and provide your feedback at our meetings, through this blog or by email. In the coming weeks, I will discuss possible actions the board is considering and ask that you get involved and provide feedback on the choices our district is facing.

I want you to know that as a board member and parent of a child attending a Berryessa school I am committed to doing everything I can to ensure our district maintains a strong educational foundation for our children. Yes, these are tough times, but I firmly believe that if we work together we can meet these challenges without compromising the education of our children.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and I look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas.

(originally posted 1/5/2010)

Welcome to the President's Blog

Welcome to my new BUSD blog. As President of the Board of Trustees, I will be working hard during the next year to assimilate the input of the public as we tackle the tremendous budget challenges we face. This blog will be an avenue to present topics of importance and solicit feedback from the school community. Check back in January for the first in what I hope will be weekly blog posts.

Happy Holidays.

(originally posted 12/17/2009)