After apathy comes… the cuts!
The Redwood City School Board held a meeting yesterday to vote on the coming budget cuts. The meeting was heavily attended and a large percentage of total time was taken by people addressing the Board. The Superintendent clarified the status of a few budget items, the Board approved the cuts and the meeting was adjourned.
The cuts as well as lots of other information is detailed in a document handed out at the meeting: RCSD MEMORANDUM #6.1, June 16, 2009. Since I cannot find this document in the district’s website, here’s a terse summary of the cuts, without editorial comments.
Out of a total budget around 65 million, the cuts required for this year alone were close to 10 million. This year, and this year only, the Federal Stimulus provided funds that reduced the required cuts by around 4 million. Because of this, it seems that we’re only cutting slightly over 5 million but in reality, there are 5 million more in cuts that will happen 1 year from now. I’ll list the cuts in two sets: cuts for next year and programs we can only save for one year, assuming no new sources of revenue materialize in the next 12 months.
The cuts reported are individual line items from Exhibit A in the document noted above. Between parenthesis you can see how much money we’re saving with each cut. I list the cuts in the order in which they appear in Exhibit A, in million by million tranches as prioritized by the Financial Advisory Committee (more on this later).
Immediate Cuts
Note: in the lists below FTE means (Full Time Equivalent). Every time you see FTE, one or more district employees are loosing their jobs.
- 0.5 FTE Videographer (50,000)
- Staff Development Discretionary Funds (60,000)
- 0.2 FTE Wellness Coordinator (20,000)
- 0.2 FTE PE teacher-zero period @ Kennedy (16,000)
- Staff Development Discretionary Funds (130,000)
- 1.0 FTE District administrator-Director of Response to Intervention/Pupil Personnel Services (140,000)
- 0.5 FTE BTSA clerical support (18,000)
- 0.5 FTE Visual & Performing Arts Coordinator (50,000)
- Visual and Performing Arts Committee Stipends (16,000)
- 1.0 FTE Teacher on special assignment-SPED (80,000)
- Targeted Instructional Grouping (TIG) allocation to Orion (14,000)
- 0.5 FTE District administrator-Director of Communications (66,000)
- 1.0 FTP Clerical at district office (50,000)
- Reconfiguration of K-3 class size to operate at break even (700,000)
- 1.0 FTE Library Aides (50,000)
- Computer equipment (168,000)
- TIIBG Allocation to Sites (50,000)
- Pullout GATE Program (49,000)
- 1.0 FTE Technology Resource Teacher (75,000)
- TIIBG Allocation to Sites (205,000)
- 1.0 FTE Counselors (100,000)
- 7.0 FTE Teachers - 7th Period at Kennedy & MIT (600,000)
- 5.2 FTE PE Teachers for K-8 (400,000)
- School improvement program (SIP) allocation to sites (190,000)
- 1.0 FTE Inclusion Specialist (100,000)
- 2.0 FTE Attendance Specialist (90,000)
- 1.5 FTE Library Aide (75,000)
- Cut all administrator’s pay by 5 days (163,000)
- Summer School (260,000)
- Increase class sizes at grades K-3 (1,236,000)
- Facilities Maintenance and Operation (165,000)
- Tier III Visual & Performing arts funds - unallocated (44,000)
- Tier III School Safety & Violence Prevention Funds - unallocated (11,000)
- Tier III Peer Assistance Review (PAR) funds - unallocated (19,000)
- Tier III BTSA funds - unallocated (19,000)
- Cancellation of additional help for summer cleaning at school sites (100,000)
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Thoughts on the failure of a community
One week ago, on June 2nd, Redwood City’s Measure E, a parcel tax of $91 per year for 5 years failed to reach the super majority required to pass. Voter turnout was extremely low: only 23.5% of Redwood City voters actually voted. Of those, 37% voted NO to funds desperately needed by our school district to just maintain existing programs in the face of impending cuts from the state. The 62% which would have been a landslide victory in a normal election was a bitter defeat under the gargantuan 2/3 requirements imposed by Prop 13. These are the facts.
I let a few days go by before trying to put down my thoughts on this matter. This time around, our family participated actively in the campaign, with several phone banking sessions, canvassing the neighborhood distributing door hangers and even calling voters on the day of the election. I know for a fact that the campaign was run very well and that it executed efficiently on the chosen strategy. But painfully, it was not enough, and this is the second time for many of us who still remember the failure of Measure V.
My first thought that night was too painful to put down: this is not my community. A community where 1 of every 3 people I see on the street votes NO to support of the public schools is a community that does not share my values. I know this is a bit unfair… after all, 1/3 of 23.5% is only 8% of our community, right? And I know so many people who like me are devoted to public education and work tirelessly to fund our schools, right?
Right, but the blow of Measure E’s failure hit me in the gut, not in my rational mind. I can’t avoid the feeling that Redwood City has failed me again and might not be the place for me. So many people voted NO and so many more people could not be bothered to vote at all. Shame on us!
And then again, the rational side reminds me that the 2/3 requirement imposed by Prop 13 is unfair, unreachable and after all, the real culprit here. Right?
Sure, but why is it that all our surrounding school districts have managed to pass their parcel taxes? Palo Alto, Menlo Park, San Carlos, Woodside, East Palo Alto. What do they have that we don’t? We will need to answer this question to understand this failure and try again, which I’m sure won’t happen for many years, to the detriment of our kids’ education.
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