News Impacting CA Schools for the Week Ending January 15
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If you missed the CSBA Forecast webinar, go here for all of the resources. The webinar included an economic forecast and an assessment of the impact of the Governor’s budget on school districts.
Federal
Why are school districts holding out in participating in Race To The Top funds when State policies are changing regardless of their participation?
In his proposed budget, the governor assumes that the federal government will grant the state a waiver so that the state can spend $600 million less on K-12 education than it promised the federal government it would as a condition of taking stimulus money last year.
The California Teachers Association is used to getting its way. The union that represents 340,000 public school teachers has traditionally been one of the most powerful forces in the Capitol. In the past decade, it spent $38 million on lobbying – more than anyone else in the state. So it was an unusual loss for the CTA when the Legislature last week approved the Race to the Top education bills that the union and its allies opposed.
Sacramento
While the LAO characterized the Governor’s budget as reasonable, the Legislature should assume that federal relief will be billions of dollars less than the Governor wants—necessitating that it make more very difficult decisions affecting both state revenues and spending. Therefore, the Legislature and the Governor need to agree to a framework to solve much of the budget problem by the end of March.
Much of Gov. Schwarzenegger’s plan to save the state $1.6 billion by cutting state workers’ pay, boosting their pension contributions and limiting the government workforce can’t be done unilaterally but requires agreements from the public-employee unions or the Legislature – or both.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is projecting spending $340 million less than anticipated during the current school year, and $550 million less in the school year beginning in September for class size reduction. Together, the reductions would save the state nearly $900 million. This would mark a huge rollback of the program which now costs the state about $1.8 billion a year. Since 1996, California has spent more than $22 billion on the program, making it the most expensive education reform program in California history. The state is counting on districts abandoning the class-size reduction program to help bail out the state budget this year and next.
California’s credit rating on $64 billion of general obligation bonds was cut by Standard & Poor’s as the most-populous U.S. state faces renewed strains over a $20 billion budget deficit.
Buried in the Governor’s budget proposal is a request to eliminate the law requiring that teacher layoffs and reassignments be done strictly on the basis of seniority. However, local union contracts would still be effect.
Reforming State and Local Governance
Here’s a rundown of bills and vetoes, courtesy of Peter Detwiler, staff director of the Senate Committee on Local Government. It’s a compendium pursued happily by political junkies throughout the state. Enjoy!
KQED Capitol Notes points some of the inconsistencies in the Governor’s budget.
In the zero sum game of the current budget proposal, cities and counties continue to feel the pinch.
School Districts Impacts
With the release of the Governor budget, school boards across received the bad news from their staff. By in large, the projected is about $200 less per student. Stockton target reductions rises from $20.5 million to $28 million while Oakland shows their target reductions go from $28 million to $36 million .
Cypress ESD
Amid tears on the dais and in the crowd, Cypress Elementary School District trustees unanimously agreed to shut two of their eight schools to help wipe out a $2 million shortfall.
Riverside USD
The Riverside school board voted on laying off 124 kindergarten through third-grade teachers before the 2010-11 school year.
Cupertino Union School District
The Cupertino Union School District Board of Trustees voted to increase the number of students in its first-, second- and third-grade classrooms as part of a cost-cutting measure that could save the district $3 million. The district plans to combine classes and increase the student-teacher ration from 20:1 to 30:1 by the start of the next school year. District officials said the cuts will result in about 100 teaching positions being eliminated. The board’s Monday decision comes as the district looks to close a projected $5 million deficit for the 2010-2011 school year. Other cuts include reducing custodial night staff, eliminating some office positions, cutting hours at a teacher resource center and eliminating summer school and the GATE program.
Lodi USD
The Lodi Unified School District’s top administrators will be furloughed five days this school year and seven days in 2010-2011.
San Diego USD
The San Diego school board took part in a colorful game of connect-the-dots to set its budget priorities during an unusual meeting last night. Trustees set their priorities by placing color-coded stickers on a poster containing the broader set of 15 goals from earlier in the month. The items that earned the most stickers made the list. The board voted 4-1 to ratify the priorities, with trustee John de Beck voting against the initiative. De Beck called the process a “cockamamie waste of time that makes work for staff and delays the inevitable — making cuts to personnel.”
Chino Valley USD
Justine Cunningham, president of the Associated Chino Teachers union, said the union supports the early retirement option because it would be a better cost-saving measure than a recent proposal for a pay raise freeze.
Paso Robles USD
Paso Robles Public Schools could eliminate all coaching stipends and cut sports transportation funding by an additional 50 percent. Coaching stipends now range from about $1,500 to $4,000 for a season depending on the sport.
Upland USD
The Upland Unified School District is looking at more than $12 million in cuts over the next two fiscal years.
Hayward USD
The school district may see improving attendance after the City Council has made truancy an offense punishable by a fine of up to $500, levied on the guardians of the class-cutter.
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