Results tagged “budget cuts” from School Notebook

The University of California Board of Regents finance committee is set to approve a series of highly controversial fee increases today that will raise undergraduate tuition by more than $2,500. It will be the eighth fee hike since 2002.

UC officials are seeking a $913 million increase in state funding.

The fee increases will impose strains on California families at a time when many are struggling in the recession, according to an editorial appearing in Wednesday's San Francisco Chroncile.

The committee is meeting at UCLA, and large protests are underway there and at other UC campuses

*Update: Fee increases have been approved, 14 protestors arrested.

Unprecedented funding cuts hitting California have had wide-spread ramifications on the state's public school system, including increased class sizes, fewer resources for students and more canceled classes, according to a report released Tuesday by the Education Coalition.

According to the press release, although education only represents 40 percent of the state budget, California public schools have been subjected to 60 percent of the cuts.

Lauded as an event 40 years in the making, city and school officials from Torrance shared the stage to discuss the state of their respective agencies and outline potential areas of collaboration in an attempt to cut costs.

"This is a first step in a long process, but I think we owe it to the citizens to be innovative," said Don Lee, a member of the Torrance Unified Board of Education and a former city councilman. "There's a lot of possibilities, and I'm excited about the possibility of providing a better product to our citizens."

As far as anyone could remember, it was the first time in four decades that members of the Torrance City Council and Torrance Unified Board of Education gathered to hold a joint meeting.

Like many cities and school districts across the state, the two governing bodies have been reeling with funding losses and are looking for ways to trim operating expenses.

At the public meeting, which was held Monday evening at the Torrance Cultural Arts center, officials spoke about possible areas where the two organizations could work together and share expenses, including running co-elections and sharing the use of city-owned and district-owned facilities. Among them are the city's cultural arts center and a potential gymnasium at the new Hull Middle School. The school is under construction and expected to open in 2011.

The two agencies already share some services. The city provides crossing guards to district schools and a school resource officer for each high school. High school swim teams use the Benstead Plunge Swimming Pool for practices and the city has donated video cameras for use in the district's board room. Maintenance services are also shared, including field mowing and tree trimmining.

In an attempt to downplay worries among service employee groups of layoffs, council and board members stated numerously that jobs were not at stake, despite talk of potentially combining services.

"We are in charge of educating the children and the city is in charge of providing essential services," said board member Mark Steffen. "The goal is to save dollars, and not at the expense of employees."

Nearly $27 million in state funding has been cut from Torrance Unified's budget the past two years.

"The school district is in more dire straits than the city," board president Al Muratsuchi said. "We're looking at every dollar we can get to keep the cuts outside the classroom and away from the kids."

The potential savings that could be had by holding joint elections came up several times throughout the evening. Typically, council elections are held in March while board of education elections are held in November.

The Nov. 3 election cost the district $280,000. Councilman Patrick Furey called the sum " agross waste of money."

"It's hideous that we'd go on this way and have a separate election system," he added.

The district hasn't been alone in their financial difficulties. Sales tax revenue in the city is down 20 percent.

Mayor Frank Scotto called that number a "serious hit."

As the meeting came to and end, board member Terry Ragins commented on a lack of dialog she said was once perceived in the community between members of the council and board of education.

"When I came on the board six years ago, there was friction," Ragins said. "It wasn't just perceived, it was there."

But throughout the evening, officials commended each other for reaching out and vowed to continue talks.

"This discussion tonight it the beginning of a discussion that will last a couple of years," Scotto said.

Now, the next step: City staff members will develop an "action list" within 90 days of six to 10 potential areas of collaboration.

And the nations largest public university system is looking to cut more. Spring admissions have already been eliminated and university officials are expected to ask Sacramento lawmakers to restore $804 million in lost funding. The California State University Board of Trustees is expected to vote on an annual budget Nov. 17. If funding is not restored by the state, fee increases, program cuts and more faculty furloughs could be implemented.

Overall, university officials said they are looking to trim enrollment by 40,000 students across the 23-campus system.

Here's an article about how students are responding at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

And here's the press release from the Chancellor's Office.

From the San Francisco Chronicle: A San Francisco judge refused Monday to block a 20 percent fee increase for California State University students immediately, but scheduled a hearing in two weeks on whether to overturn the new charges.

Today, I received a lengthy email from an anonymous "South Bay Pollyanna" who identifies herself as a local elementary school teacher. (Or "himself"? We'll just say herself since the writer chose a female fictional character as a pseudonym.)

This writer is asking South Bay residents to donate $5 to each of the area's 12 public school districts.

Can you afford to donate $60 in total to this one time cause? If just 10% rose to the call, it would be an impressive $430,000 for EACH district! If every man, woman, and child took action, we would raise over $4.3 million for EACH of these districts.

She describes what she calls "chaos" caused by state budget cuts and beseeches South Bay residents to take action in support of students' education.

I'm not endorsing the writer's views (or anyone else's) or vouching for all the data she cites, of course. Nor am I suggesting that I would in future post anything sent to me by readers. But someone obviously put a lot of effort into this, so here it is.

The letter is posted below.

The Los Angeles school board heard budget-cut recommendations Tuesday from Superintendent Ramon Cortines, who didn't go for any sugar-coating.

"We are not going to be the same. I am not going to sit here and lie to you and say everything will the same," Cortines said. "Schools will suffer."

He later continued: "I would say that these (cuts) are not in the best interest of our children, but you don't have any choice. ... You tell me where to get the money to fill that bucket. I've taken everything I can take. What I am recommending negatively affects every aspect of this district."

The district, which has already this year cut $427 million from its $6 billion budget, needs to slice off another $140 million by the end of the year. In the 2009-10 school year, the district needs to cut $596 million -- and another $156 million in 2010-11, according to a presentation by district CFO Megan Reilly.

To reduce spending for next year's budget, Cortines had recommended laying off about 8,500 employees, including 3,600 teachers. His recommendations included:

--layoffs and reassignments of one-quarter of headquarters staff
--cutting in half the budgets of local district offices, which will be moved onto campuses
--layoffs of nearly 500 counselors
--increased class sizes across K-12
--one-day furloughs for all employees

Cortines said the avoidance of midyear cuts made more dramatic reductions now necessary. Board members will vote on his proposed cuts March 31.

Here's the take from Daily News reporter George Sanchez, who talked to some parents who protested outside the board meeting.

Also of note: Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez today continues his focus on local schools with a critical look at UTLA's 347-page contract, which requires the newest teachers to be laid off first, regardless of talent. (The teachers union and LAUSD came to a tentative contract extension through 2011 yesterday.)

Superintendent Ramon Cortines will today present budget recommendations that include laying off nearly 8,400 employees and cutting valued programs, it's being reported.

With his budget update, Cortines will tell the Los Angeles Unified board that there is already a $140 million deficit for the current school year. He'll try to patch that up by shifting funds from categorical programs, according to an LAUSD memo to board members. (It's at the end of the meeting materials -- a big download.)

The potential closure of small campuses, including Sellery Special Education Center in Gardena will be discussed as part of Cortines' budget proposals today. A decision on that will be made next week, district officials said.

(To watch the meeting, which begins at 1 p.m., go here.)

Cortines' budget recommendations will include giving schools more freedom to use their own funding as campus administrators see fit. Making preliminary budget decision so early in the year means the district is "entering new waters," Cortines wrote. He wants decisions made early so that schools can plan to "buy back" eliminated jobs with freed-up funding.

He also notes: "[L]et me be clear, we will not be receiving enough federal stimulus funding to offset the reductions that we are facing from the State and there will be reductions in personnel at our schools."

In today's papers, the Daily News writer Connie Llanos reports that class sizes could increase under the plans -- up to 42 students per instructor in some high school classes.

The Los Angeles Times' Howard Blume writes that a dropout prevention program is on the chopping block. He writes that the budget crisis has given Cortines a an opportunity to make some reforms though a chance to "trim or gut some of the central bureaucracy."

"I'm dealing with a budget deficit over three years and five years. Not everybody will be saved, and," Cortines said, "everybody shouldn't be saved."

The first thing that struck me upon arriving at today's LAUSD board meeting -- where almost 9,000 initial layoff notices were on the agenda -- was the LA Schools Police officer with the handheld metal detector.

Every single parent, teacher, employee and journalist got the once-over with a wand before entering the board room. Wow.

Then, once the meeting began, board President Monica Garcia read a statement blaming the state budget for the votes board members were about to take.

"This year Sacramento put schools first in line on the chopping block and it will do it again in May," Garcia said.

Superintendent Ramon Cortines started his report on the cuts when United Teachers Los Angeles President A.J. Duffy approached the lectern, refusing to leave.

"What is going on here is a travesty," Duffy said, speaking over Garcia, who attempted to restore order.

Teachers, waving anti-layoff signs, chanted "We won't let you cut our future" and "Shame on you."

Garcia took the meeting to an adjacent room that's usually used for closed sessions.

(Board member Julie Korenstein, a big union supporter, stood looking sadly at the chanting audience with her hand on her heart. "Don't go, Julie!" union members chanted until she left.)

Then ... a verbal skirmish broke out between a set of well-dressed district mothers and Duffy.

"Why are they disrupting this to the point that we can't hear what's going on?" one mom cried. "This is about communication. You guys are preventing communication."

Teachers then went in for another round of chanting, led by UTLA organizer and Carson Councilman Mike Gipson: "You say cut back, we say fight back!"

What theater.

I went to the press room and then the cafeteria to watch the meeting at that point, leaving a board meeting room full of protesters.

Anyway, as you probably know by now, the board voted to send out the notices. Cortines stressed that he hoped he would not have to actually lay off the number of people who would receive preliminary notices.

Board member Yolie Flores Aguilar focused her anger at Sacramento: "This is what we have been handed by the state of California," she said. "there needs to be outrage, but the outrage is misplaced. It needs to be at the state level."

Much of the board debate centered on questions about seniority and "bumping rights," perhaps prompted by today's LA Times story on the cuts.

The district faces $718 million budget shortfall over the next 17 months. Through the end of the school year, the district has a negative $140 million balance, officials said.

NOTE: I was at the meeting to report on plans for a 128-unit apartment complex that may get built on the north end of Gardena High School's campus. It was approved, and I'll have more on that later this week.

Los Angeles Unified announced this morning that the school district will not be cutting teaching positions midyear, a drastic and unpopular move that had been discussed earlier this month in response to state budget cuts.

"Due to the lack of clear information from Sacramento, the need for stability at schools in the second semester, and the high level of interest in a retirement incentive program, there will be no mid-year teacher layoffs," Superintendent Ramon Cortines said in a statement.

The statement said that more than 2,000 certificated employees are interested in early retirement, which would help the district financially.

The Board of Education voted last week 4-2 (with Harbor Area/South Bay rep Richard Vladovic dissenting) to approve firing up to 2,600 nonpermanent teachers and 2,000 substitute teachers -- most of them in elementary schools.*

At the time, Cortines said he was seeking alternatives to the cuts, which would have been based on seniority.

The district has already cut more than $400 million from its budget this year, and is looking to cut another $400 million now, depending on what happens in Sacramento.

United Teachers Los Angeles had vowed to fight the layoffs, and the union has planned a march in downtown L.A. next week to protest state and local budget cuts.

*Numbers from UTLA

The California Teachers Association on Monday launched a 60-second radio ad that makes the same "our future economy depends on educating our children" argument made in an L.A. Times op-ed published yesterday.

The ad notes that California ranks 46th nationwide in per-pupil funding. It doesn't specifically mention Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plans to cut $2 billion from state K-12 education funds.

Here's CTA's release.

By the way, it's American Education Week.

A few budget shortfall links from today's papers and over the weekend:

Starting with this lede from an editorial in the Sunday Los Angeles Times:

For California's schools, the question of the state budget shortfall comes down to this: Will they have an utterly unthinkable year, or just a horrible year?

The editorial calls for a moratorium on No Child Left Behind sanctions, which cost school districts money, as well as a lifting of the class-size limit from 20 (for K-third grade classes) tp 24 or 25. The ed board also recommends the state free up categorical funding, which usually goes only to specific programs.

The ed board also on Sunday looked at the irony of Measure Q's forthcoming riches -- $7 billion limited largely to construction and physical improvements -- in a year of budget crisis that may even force school closures. The editorial calls for the district to "use money more judiciously" and "focus on its core mission at a time when it may not be able to afford much else."

In an op-ed oday, UCLA professor Saree Makdisi writes, "There is nothing left to pare" of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to cut education funding in an effort to close a gaping budget gap.

Schwarzenegger's plan would slash $2 billion in K-12 education funding, $330 million from community colleges, $66 million from Cal State schools, and $66 million from the UCs.

"To under-fund our educational system is to jeopardize our position in the global economy," Makdisi argues.

Also today, the Times takes a look at the budget issues facing Los Angeles Unified.

On Sunday, the Breeze ran my (entirely un-budget-related) story about the push for school uniforms in LAUSD.

This is too sweet to go unmentioned, so here you have it:

About a week ago or so -- it could have been two weeks, I lose track of time so easily, sigh -- my colleague Megan Bagdonas wrote a short story about efforts on the Hill to raise enough money to fund salaries for teachers who may be laid off from Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified due to the massive funding cuts all but certainly coming down from the state.

Well a few days ago Megan gets faxed copy of a letter from Silver Spur Elementary first-grader Isabella Parks, who donated and hand-delivered her stash of stockpiled "chore money" to the "Save Our Teachers Now" campaign.

Here's the text , unedited:

"I'm Isabella Parks and I whant to save are teachers. This will be a big oppertonuty for me so here is all the money I have from my chores."

Tres adorable!

Here's the text of the email circulating:

The 4th and 5th grade teachers will be holding a rally
at 6pm tonight, outside the Board of Education
facility on Plaza del Amo. Our teachers want to raise
awareness of the challenges our children will face
with the proposed class size increases, projected to
be ~36:1 in 4th/5th grade next year. Please bring your
family and friends and support the teachers in their
efforts to draw attention to the real impact the
education funding crisis will have on our children.

The meetings are open to the public starting at 7:30
p.m. the evening of the meeting. The board room is
located in the Educational Materials Building at 2336
Plaza del Amo.

Fox 11 news followed our lead on the story about the North High student who is spearheading a letter-writing campaign to fight school budget cuts. Here he is on TV:

Here's a link to the story we ran in the Breeze on Saturday.

Los Angeles School Board member Richard Vladovic will talk about how the state budget will affect local schools at 6:30p.m. Monday at a meeting of the Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council.

Vladovic also will talk about other issues of concern to San Pedro.

The council meets at Peck Park Auditorium, 560 N. Western Ave., San Pedro. Other agenda items include the city's budget, a discussion of trees on North Gaffey Street and lending possible support for an after-school program at Dana Middle School.

As reported by Shelly Leachman in Saturday's Breeze, here's what each district would face under education funding cuts proposed by Gov. Schwarzenegger:

Centinela Valley Union High
Cuts: $3.5 million from a $68 million budget

El Segundo Unified
Cuts: $1.4 million from a 26.4 million budget

Hawthorne Unified
Cuts: $3.4 million from a $48.5 million budget

Hermosa Beach City Unified
Cuts: $0.4 million from a $9.4 million budget
Proposals: 28 teacher layoffs, increased class size

Lawndale Unified
Cuts: $2 million from a $30 million budget

Lennox Unified
Cuts: $1.9 million from a $61 million budget

Los Angeles Unified
Cuts: $460 million from a $8 billion budget

Manhattan Beach Unified
Cuts: $0.9 million from a $36 million budget
Proposals: 5-7 teacher layoffs, fund transfers, combining course sections at Mira Costa, using reserves

Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified
Cuts: $4 million from a $95 million budget
Proposals: 50 layoffs, increased class sizes, eliminating extended-day kindergarten

Redondo Beach Unified
Cuts: $2.2 million from a $67.5 million budget
Proposals: Increased class sizes, early retirement incentives, combining classified positions, introducing fee-based transportation for athletic teams, reducing substitutes, using one-time monies

Torrance Unified
Cuts: $9.4 million from a $196 million budget
Proposals: 70 full-time teachers, 11 custodians, 5.5 full-time special ed teachers, reduction of security at high schools, elimination of incentives including the School Safety Violence Program and the P.E. Incentive Program, early retirement incentives, reduction of travel/conference allowances

Wiseburn Unified
Cuts: $0.5 million from a $17 million budget

Paul Clinton reports that the Palos Verdes Peninsula School District is looking at nearly $4 million in budget cuts through the 2008-09 school year in response to the state funding cuts. That would include some layoffs.

District managers have identified as much as $3.7 million worth of cuts, which would include the elimination of 57 teachers, counselors and other positions.

The district will notify teachers, counselors and other certified personnel of layoffs by March 27. Layoff notices for janitors, secretaries and other classified staff will be mailed by Feb. 28, the district said Thursday.

Read the story.