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Parents Advocate League Update Dear PALs, This school year marks the third year of Parents Advocate League. I would like to thank all the parents, teachers and community leaders who are part of PALs. We are over 400 strong! I have met many amazing people who care deeply for children’s education. It is truly a passion of mine to make sure awareness of public education issues is at the forefront, as every decision made can have a direct influence on our children. We might not agree on every issue; however, it is imperative we stay informed. Thank you for all the positive and constructive feedback. I am anticipating another eventful year and hoping for the day when all children are the focus of public education.
Board Meeting Update Tues., Sept. 15, was the regular board meeting. There were 36 items on the agenda. Please read about some of the discussed items from the meeting. This update has other information you need to be informed about: changes in the way you vote for CUSD Trustees and the CUSD Foundation fundraiser. Sept. 15, 2009 Board Meeting Summary Items 1-10 and 12-26 were approved 7-0 Item 11: Purchase Orders Trustee Palazzo raised concern for the new I.B. program at Hankey Middle School. She wanted to know how it was being funded. She was especially concerned that the program requires teacher training that would require substitutes. (The CUSD sub list is now based on teachers who have been pink-slipped and not hired back. These subs can get paid up to $350 per day instead of the usual $90 per day a typical sub would get. The district is required to hire the pink-slipped teachers to sub before they hire non-pink-slipped subs). Supt. Mahler explained that the IB training is on a Saturday; therefore, no subs were required. Further, it is at the cost of $3,000 and is being funded by PTA and a variety of categorical funding that does not dip into the General Fund. The item was approved 7-0. Item 30: Election Waiver Request At the recommendation of Supt. Mahler, the issue to pursue an election waiver request was brought forth to the board. In order to apply to the state, the board has to meet certain criteria, including the public hearing that was held on Tuesday night. Some parents, CUEA, CUMA, CSEA and PTSA were looking to the Trustees to approve a waiver to the Ed Code 33050-33051 that would allow the board to decide (without an election) to change the way we vote for Trustees in CUSD. A large parent group wants to change the current way we vote for Trustees from “at large” (vote for each trustee) to “By-Trustee Area” (voting only for the trustee who represents your area). If approved, the waiver would avoid those costs associated with a regular or special election. A special election in June would cost more than a regular election in November. The costs incurred are estimated from $8,500 for a regular election to $400,000-$500,000 for a special election. The final cost depends on the actual number of people who vote. Getting a waiver would avoid the costs. The main concern by some trustees, such as Ken Maddox, was that it would not give the voters a say in how they want the future elections for CUSD Trustees to run. Parents, however, argued that they have thousands of signatures that state most parents want to vote By-Trustee Area. Another issue (according to Trustee Maddox) is that the current way the Trustee areas are arranged gives unequal trustee representation. He contends the areas are not balanced based on the number of residents. This is a violation of the California Voters' Rights Act. The board attorney suggested redoing the boundaries prior to a By-Trustee Area election. The parents who support the waiver believe it is a separate issue that does not need to be resolved right now. Most of the board supports the idea of a By-Trustee Area. They want this to be up for a vote for the November 2010 regular election. The board voted 5-2 (Brick and Palazzo dissenting) to decline the waiver. The next step is a public hearing in front of the OC Committee of School Districts Organization on Sept. 30. They will decide if CUSD will vote to change the method for an At Large Election to a By-Trustee Area. If they approve that, then they will call for a special election in June 2010 or a regular election in Nov. 2010. Interestingly, two former CUSD board members sit on this panel (Sheila Henness and Sheila Benecke). Item 32: Preliminary Financial Statements Ron Lebs explained the budget and the $25M cuts that will have to come out of the 2010-2011 budget. He said that due to the freezes and sweeps of last year, CUSD is in a better place compared with other districts. Also helpful, enrollment is up, there are some savings from keeping jobs vacant, health insurance savings, and the state gave a textbook adoption waiver to school districts. Payroll is 85 percent of the budget, and expenditure for 2010-2011 is estimated to be $379M. He was not sure if mid-year cuts would need to be implemented at this point. The discussion quickly turned to the reserves. The state did allow districts to dip into their reserves, but CUSD has only 2 percent reserves, $7.6M. Even if CUSD uses reserves, they have to pay it back within the fiscal year. Trustee Bryson suggested increasing the co-pay cost from $15 per dr. visit to $20. Lebs explained that is a negotiated item and they are having those conversations now. The district and the union are currently negotiating options. It is presumed that parts of the negotiations being considered are teachers’ salaries, insurance and furlough days. All the detailed information and a PowerPoint presentation can be found on the district’s Website. The next step is to have a series of discussions and presentations at future board meetings. Oct. 13 – the district will identify and review budget possibilities The meeting ended on a positive note discussing the improved test scores overall at CUSD. The overall API is 857, and 95 percent of CUSD schools had increases in their test scores. Fifteen CUSD schools scored at 900 or higher, including three middle schools. All high schools are above 800. The following schools had noteworthy increases: Las Palmas grew 71 points; Vista Del Mar Middle School grew 62 points; SJHHS grew 62 points. Congratulations to the hardworking students, parents and teachers at CUSD! Changes to Voting for Trustees The following information is provided by Erin Kutnick regarding a potential change in the way we vote for CUSD Trustees. She is one of the parent leaders who support voting for CUSD Trustees by trustee area. If you have an opposing opinion, please do your own write-up with your name attached, and I will choose one write-up for the next PALs update. Thank you to Erin Kutnick for taking time to break down the information on how we currently vote for CUSD Trustees and the changes that may be coming. Information provided by Erin Kutnick: Basically, there are currently three ways to vote for school board trustees in California.
There are almost all pros for this voting method, more local control, better representation, more candidates, less money spent, etc. The only con, which was regularly stated by the previous board that everyone hated so much, was that they feared trustees would only care about their own area. Even though you are only voted in or out by your own area, there is nothing to stop other areas from helping to support candidates that they know will be great for our schools. I think by making the campaign smaller, all candidates will be forced to answer tough questions, get out and meet people and do a good job. In order to avoid the "fiefdom" that some are concerned with, we need to make sure that boundary areas overlap school feeder patterns and city boundaries. The minute you see the school board try to gerrymander the boundaries, to isolate certain groups, is when you will see the "all about me" attitude. If we keep boundaries overlapping like they are now, then trustees will be forced to think globally and most decisions are districtwide, except for boundaries and everyone gets territorial during that anyway so there is no way around that. Just picture if you are the trustee for Area 7 and all the kids in your area go to high school in either Areas 2 or 3 then you really won't only be worried about one area. If the areas are only by feeder patterns, it will be a non-stop battle. Our areas need some adjustment, but, overall, the theory of 7 areas split throughout the district is right. I hope this answers some of your questions. The Department of Ed or CSBA may have more info or if you have more specific questions that I've not answered just let me know. (signed) Erin Kutnick CUSD Foundation Update (provided by Linda Wright) First, our 16th Annual Golf Classic is scheduled for September 21 at El Niguel Country Club in Laguna Niguel. We have several local restaurants serving taste-size portions on the course as well as beverages. We have the same fun contests as last year and great silent and live auction items including Montage, Pelican Resort, Renaissance Club Sport, and more! Space is limited so reservations should be made right away. If you or anyone you know is interested in helping with the event, please contact me (contact Linda Wright at 234-9571) Second, we are in the planning process for a “Keys to the Future” car raffle. We are hoping that this will be a huge success and raise lots of money that we can use to help the district! If you are interested in helping with this event please contact me. We plan to hold the raffle on November 17 Third, the CUSD Foundation will be the beneficiary of a “House of Illusion” to be held on Oct. 30-31, and possibly an extra date of Oct. 29, depending on demand. This will be geared toward elementary age students and should be lots of fun! Volunteers are needed, adults and children. Let me know if you’re interested. Fourth, the foundation will be gifting the remaining CSR funds from 2008 to the district to help offset the costs of 25:1 in first grade. We have other plans in the works as well. Our focus remains to help support quality education for CUSD students. Please help us make this a reality. -- Linda Wright, Articles You May Have Missed Are big pay cuts for school administrators a smart move? (includes a list of admin salaries, which are public knowledge) Julie Collier |
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