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Suddenly Pleasanton School District’s Red Ink is Doubled

January 15, 2010

The amount of red ink that Pleasanton is facing for next year’s school budget more than doubled in two days, to $6.9 million, after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gave his budget me ssage Jan. 8.

    The school administration early last week sent the board a list of recommended cuts based on an estimate then of a state funding shortfall. The district was looking at a potential reduction of $3.6 million in costs. The list of possible cuts already included such things as elimination of K-3 and ninth grade class size reduction.

    Just two days after Schwarzenegger promised in his State of the State message Jan. 6 that he would not harm K-12 education funding, the governor presented a budget message that will strongly increase the hit suffered by school districts.

    The Pleasanton district has not had time to react to the addition of the new blow. Discussion was scheduled for a board meeting Jan. 12, after The Independent’s deadline.

    The earlier $3.6 million shortfall estimate was based in part on the fact that one-time federal and state money this year will not be available next year. Therefore, much of that programming would have to be cut. The board has been aware of that need.

    Many of the programs that would be eliminated were added painstakingly over the years, before the state budget started failing two years ago. The K-3 and ninth grade class size reduction programs proposed for the budget ax have been very popular with parents and teachers.

    The board had already changed K-3 class size reduction from 20 to 25 students per classroom for this school year. That would rise to 30 students. The ninth grade classes would increase from 25 now to 32 students.

    Also to be considered are reduction of the number of counselors from 25 full-time equivalents to almost 19. The cu rrent level works out to be 485 high school students per counselor. Next year, that would rise to 685:1.

    District funding for the Barton Reading Program, at $45,000, would be eliminated. Reading specialists, cut by 50 percent this year, would be eliminated, a savings of $360,000.

    Reducing specialist sections in elementary schools, and having teachers take on the preparation periods, not specialists, would save hundreds of thousands more dollars.

    There are also items that would have to be negotiated with employees, as set out in the labor contract. They include fewer instruction, development and work days, for a possible total elimination of 10 days. That could save $450,000 for each day that is eliminated.

LOOKING FOR

REVENUE SOURCES

    The board was busy at its special meeting Jan. 5 at Amador Valley High School looking for new revenue sources.

    The board held a brief formal meeting, then sat in the audience at a larger community forum to hear about ideas for more revenue.

    At the small, formal meeting, the board agreed unanimously to meet the deadline of Jan. 8 to apply for Race to the Top federal funding. Assistant superintendent Luz Cazares, the district’s top financial officer, said the money might offset some of the cuts that the district has made. However, she did not anticipate the funds would make a big impact.

    There is no guarantee that California will receive the promised statewide funding of $700 million. That won’t even be known until April. However, Jan. 8 was the deadline to take the first step to gain the fu nding by signing an application.

    Board president Chris Grant and superintendent John Casey signed the application. Teachers union president Trevor Knaggs said at the time that he would consider signing it. The district would receive more priority points on its application if the teachers union signed on. However, later in the week, Knaggs declined to sign.

    Knaggs told The Independent, “We’d fully support getting more cash to the district. However, we have some really strong reservations on what we would put our name to, and how binding it would be.”

    Knaggs said that he first heard about the application the week before Christmas break. It was difficult to contact the membership, and come back to make a decision by Jan. 8. “I’m not comfortable making a decision with that kind of notice, on something that could have a drastic effect on the bargaining unit,” he said.

    The California Teachers Association has been critical of Race to the Top because it would make changes in issues that are regulated by teachers’ contracts. Knaggs said that very little is generally known about just what the changes would be, as required by Race to the Top.

Suddenly Pleasanton School District’s Red Ink is Doubled

    The board and an audience of 150 also heard ideas from political consultant Larry Tramutola about how to pass a parcel tax. He was invited by trustee Jamie Hintzke to attend the session. Tramutola has helped communities pass hundreds of parcel taxes over the years.

    The Pleasanton district fell 4 percent short of the needed two-thirds majority for a parcel tax on the ballot last June. A second go at one has not been discussed b y the board.

    Tramutola said that most parents will be for a parcel tax. However, most of the voters are not parents, so it’s important not to rush to the ballot. Instead, the district needs to take time, as much as one year, to educate the public thoroughly about exactly what programs will be supported by a parcel tax.

    When the Pleasanton district went for the June measure for $233 per parcel, the decision was made in February, in hopes of trying to hire back as many teachers as possible from the layoff list that went out.

    It’s also good to go for a smaller amount first, after surveying the community to see what amount would receive at least a two-thirds majority, said Tramutola. In later years, a district could go for a higher parcel tax to support more programs, he said. The Pleasanton trustees bypassed trustee Valerie Arkin’s suggestion that voters be surveyed on the amount for the June election.

    Tramutola’s firm has been successful with school district parcel taxes, including in Piedmont, where 30 percent of the district’s budget relies on the parcel tax.

    The one problem with Piedmont’s tax is that it has an expiration date, said Tramutola. The whole system could come down if the tax were not renewed. The next logical step is for Piedmont to pass a permanent parcel tax, he said.

    It’s clear that with state education financing the way it is and has been in recent years that it’s desirable for school districts to have a parcel tax, said Tramutola.

    Discussion in the audience revealed a second consultant was there, too. San Ramon resident Gayle Larson, who was active in passing a parcel tax in the San Ramon school district, got together with some of the supporters. They started their own small, grassroots consulting firm called Wise Campaigns.

    Larson told The Independent that the firm “mobilizes communities for elections.” It works among residents, and doesn’t operate at the more expensive level of polling and other sophisticated techniques that Tramutola’s firm would use. She said the two kinds of consultants can work in tandem to get measures passed.

    Pleasanton resident Barbara Kirk told her fellow audience members that she and a dozen others have been meeting as an informal committee to see what to do about raising more revenue. She said they have met with people in the San Ramon district to get more ideas.

    One audience member, David Miller, said he would like to see the district form a large committee to come up with possible expenditure cuts. The district does have a budget advisory committee, and it has done some of that work, with recommended priorities about cuts. However, it has members from various stakeholder groups, and is not comprised exclusively of district residents.