On Thursdays at 6 p.m., Jan. 22, 29 and Feb. 5 Mountain residents, realtors, business minds, students, teachers and parents are all invited to bring new ideas to the budget workshops for ETUSD
By Patric Hedlund
You recall the evil villain tying the damsel-in-distress to the railroad tracks—or dangling her over a cliff—just as the good guy bounds onscreen? But (oh my!)…is it too late?
That time-proven silent movie plot point is where last week’s workshop on balancing the ETUSD budget left off.
The next open community brainstorm for balancing El Tejon Unified School District’s 2015-2016 budget is January 22, 6-8 p.m.
More community involvement will be welcomed, said Superintendent Rod Wallace and ETUSD Board Chair Vickie Mullen.
Quick notes from the first meeting
On Jan. 15, the district’s three principals, union leaders for both teachers and support staff, a union negotiator, about five teachers, The Mountain Enterprise, a handful of community residents and a few students joined in for the background briefing.
The numbers appeared unforgiving as they were jotted on the white board. The district is trying to cut $800,000 from next year’s budget. If they can’t find more creative ways to do it, that might mean 10 teachers could be cut from the already pared-down teaching staff.
Personnel costs consume 72% of the district’s revenue, based on the 2014-15 first interim report. Because so many cuts of younger teachers have occurred already, the teachers left have seniority and tenure, at an average cost over $75,000 a year each in salary and benefits.
Support staff salary packages cost between $11,000 and $20,000. District office clerks come in at about the same. Many are part time.
Full transparency
“Let’s have full transparency here,” Supt. Rod Wallace said as he continued jotting numbers on the board. “Let me show you what we pay for district administrators.”
Salary and benefits for site administrators (school principals) come in at about $95,000 each. The district business manager costs about $82,000. The superintendent’s salary is $116,000—$131,000 with all benefits.
‘Me Too’ clause
The district has a policy that if the salaries for any one employee sector rises or falls, all other employees receive the equivalent percentage of increase or decrease.
Special Education
After salaries, special education costs are the next biggest hit to the small district’s annual budget. That is because the services provided to a tiny fraction of students cost $1,791,934, “or 22% of our total budget,” said Business Manager Sarah Morris. Most of that is now paid to the Kern County Superintendent of Schools (KCSOS) for transportation to Bakersfield and special education classes, plus extra services such as speech pathology sessions.
This expense is not the fault of the students or the families who receive these services. Federal politicians created an unfunded mandate, requiring public schools to provide a high level of service to disabled and special needs students. But the federal government reimburses schools for only a small fraction of the real cost. The politicians promised to pay for the cost of the laws they passed, but they didn’t.
This has created a national problem. The majority of public school districts across the United States are confronted with the kind of dilemma that faces ETUSD today.
Seeking solutions
The superintendent and the business manager have presented a plan to save about $65,640 a year of the special education expense if ETUSD begins transporting students attending special ed classes in Bakersfield itself, rather than paying KCSOS.
Providing those same classes locally could also save hundreds of thousands of dollars. But strict conditions must be met.
Last year, three “Saturday School” events won the district $56,000 in additional revenue. That could be planned again for this year.
Extra pain
Though enrollment has been going up a bit recently, Frazier Mountain High School, El Tejon Middle School and Frazier Park Elementary School are caught in the national trend of ‘rural declining enrollment schools.’ Frazier Park and El Tejon are in competition for students with “schools of choice” such as Gorman Elementary (pre-K to 8th grade) and Peak to Peak Mountain Charter (K-8th grade), plus home school services such as Valley Oaks Charter (K-12), run by KCSOS.
Successful schools
Barbara Newbold and Vickie Mullen spoke about the strong success in higher education and careers that graduates of ETUSD schools have had. Mullen said that internet ratings of local schools provided by online real estate services are filled with errors. She asked the community to help correct those ratings. Good schools increase the value of real estate and attract families, which adds to enrollment.
State law creates bind
California’s education code requires that ETUSD show that its budget can be balanced over a three year projection while maintaining a reserve fund for emergencies. The law also says that teachers whose contracts may not be renewed must be notified by March 15. If they are not notified, that tool for trimming the budget is taken off the table for a year.
So, in February, the ETUSD Board may have to vote to pass out layoff notices even if they hope not to lay off any teachers. This double bind hurts morale.
Cliffhanger time
“I don’t want to lay off any teachers,” Vickie Mullen said.
“I want to see what ideas the community has to offer,” Supt. Wallace said. “I don’t want it to come from the top down. For instance, what if we had 95% of our parents come and say, ‘for this one year, cut all transportation, just for one year’?” [Transportation costs ETUSD $290,000.]
“Or,” Wallace continued, “What if someone comes up and says, ‘I’m funding all the athletics programs for a year’?” [That could save $63,000.]
“This is cliffhanger time,” Wallace concluded. “Now let’s everyone go back and figure out how to get to this done.”
The next workshops are Jan. 22, 29 and Feb. 5, 6-8 p.m. at the Continuation School, NW side of the FMHS parking lot on Falcon Way (off Peace Valley Road), Lebec.
Photo captions:
Anne Duhm reports on the need to explore grant opportunities to enhance programs at Frazier Mountain High School. FMHS student Katie Duhm, 16 listens closely.
Right: The faces of former trustee Anita Anderson (right), parent Anne Duhm and FMHS student Katie Duhm showed shock when Supt. Rod Wallace illustrated that the usual way to reach a school budget goal is to slash teaching positions. He showed the numbers. Below: “Laying off
10 teachers will get us to the $800,000 goal…But is there another way?” Wallace asked. State law makes this a hard question to answer before the February deadline.
Above left: Superintendent Rod Wallace tells the workshop the targets for cuts that the district must meet to balance the budget. Above, right: ETUSD Board Chair Vickie Mullen said she does not want to send out any layoff notices, and wants to see real plans to avoid that.
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This is part of the January 30, 2015 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.
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