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$55 MILLION DOLLAR DEFICIT:
MDUSD BOARD OF EDUCATION
PRESIDENT GARY EBERHART
RESPONDS WITH TANGIBLES
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
MDUSD's Board President Gary
Eberhart responded to my
posting, yesterday, about
the dire financial situation
for education. Here is his
response that was originally
posted in yesterday's
comments, that I felt should
be made a posting of its
own. - MisterWriter
"I
totally agree that we need
to overhaul public
education. If we want our
economy to have the freedom
to continue to grow beyond
the current boundaries, we
must interject efficiencies.
There are a lot of things
that come to mind when you
think about government;
efficiency is not one of
them.
There are ways that school
districts can assist in
reducing statewide expenses.
Here are just a few:
1. We currently must
purchase new text books
every 5 to 7 years whether
we need them or not. We
rotate the subjects that we
must purchase text books
for, this year it is math.
Math hasn't changed that
much since Isaac Newton was
around, certainly not that
much since the last time we
purchased math books. Text
books can cost $100 each. We
have 35,000 students and
they all have to have a math
book and every classroom
must have a classroom set so
that kids don't have to lug
10 pound books back and
forth. If the state would
allow school districts to
make decisions on when to
purchase textbooks based on
the needs of our students
rather than based on how
much money the textbook
lobby is giving politicians,
we could save millions of
dollars.
2. Allow school districts to
lump together categorical
and grant funds and make
decisions about how money is
spent based on student
needs. Every state
politician seems like they
want to make their mark on
education so that they can
say that they are the best
thing for public education.
What that has caused is
hundreds of individual
programs that are all funded
separately. Each one of
those programs must be
administered at the state
and local level. We are
spending millions of dollars
administering programs and
we really have no choice. If
we want the money, and we
do, we have to play by their
rules. Let local school
boards, under the
supervision of the parents
and community members in the
local community determine
how to best spend the money.
Let the state hold us
accountable for student
outcomes, not every last
micro detail of how each and
every program is
administered.
3. Give school districts
utility rates based on the
usage of the entire school
district, not based on the
usage of each individual
school site. We have 56
schools, if we could get a
rate based on combined
usage, our rates would
decline. That is a change
that the California PUC
could make. It would be a
way to reduce expenditures
without having to add a
layer of administrators.
4. Set up a statewide
payroll system. Each and
every school district must
manage their own payroll
department. It is an
extremely complex system
that is fraught with
inefficiencies and
inaccuracies.
5. Set up a statewide
collective bargaining system
that negotiates salaries and
benefits for all school
district employees. School
districts spend incredible
amounts of time and money
negotiating contracts.
Settlements are dependent
upon on the amount of money
that is provided by the
state. If the governmental
body that had to negotiate
contracts was also the body
that had to fund those
contracts, maybe there would
be less of a disconnect.
5. Develop a statewide
benefits system so that
everyone in the state has
benefits. There has to be
cost controls put in place
for benefits and the only
way that we can achieve that
is to stop forcing people to
go to the emergency room to
get basic medical needs met.
Our employees need medical
benefits to provide for
their families. The current
cost of health insurance for
a family in our district is
about $14,000. That is a
tough nut to crack.
6. School districts are one
of the largest real estate
owners in the state. The
state needs to help
facilitate partnerships
between businesses and
school districts so that
where it is appropriate,
business and school
districts can team up to
build larger facilities
where the school district
gets it's needs met and
business can have the
balance of building space
for their use. One example
is the Loma Vista site in
Concord on Cowell Road. That
site is where we administer
our adult education program.
Our adult education program
is highly successful and
that single story site is
always full. Also on the
site are sports fields that
are run by the City of
Concord. The site is only a
couple of blocks from the
Concord Bart station. If we
could partner with the City
of Concord and a developer,
there could be a multistory
office building placed on
that site that would provide
brand new, state of the art
building space for our
programs, while providing
hundreds of thousands of
square feet of office space
that could be leased. The
sports fields could be
upgraded so that the entire
site, every user got
something great. And what a
great place for an office
building near Bart. The
school district would have
brand new facilities at no
cost and a stable income
stream that would last for
decades. We could even move
our district offices out of
the residential neighborhood
where they are currently
located, freeing up that
real estate, and locate them
in the "new" Loma Vista
Center.
7. Develop three year state
budgets. At present, we are
not even getting budgets
that last an entire year. It
is time for the politicians
in Sacramento to do their
jobs. The hair brain crap
that we are getting from
Sacramento is at best,
gimmicky. I'll give you one
example. The Governor's
proposal to shorten the
school year by 5 days. He
claims that the State can
save hundreds of millions of
dollars. Aside from the fact
that doing so will hurt our
kids, school districts have
collective bargaining
agreements with their
employees that can't be
broken. So the Governor
would reduce the funding by
five days, but school
districts would have to
continue to pay our
employees. Frankly it scares
me that the Governor of
California seems to have a
fundamental lack of
understanding about how
public education funding
works and how collective
bargaining agreements work.
8. Allow school districts to
use their emergency reserve
funds and pay them back to
themselves over the next 3
to 5 years. For instance,
our school district has
about $6 million that is set
aside for emergencies. If we
spend it now, we are
required to pay it back by
the next reporting date. So
let's say we spend it now,
we would have to pay it back
by June of this year. That
doesn't help us one bit. If
we could spend it now and
pay it back in the next 5
years, it would help us ride
out this horrific state
budget crisis. Currently the
way that state law manages
our emergency funds is not
helpful at all. It just
means that we have $6
million in the bank that we
can't use. What good is
that?
9. Pay school districts
based on how many students
are enrolled, not on how
many days that students are
in school. We spend hundreds
of thousands of dollars
accounting for attendance. I
believe that our attendance
averages about 96%. So 4% of
the kids are gone on any
given day and we don't get
paid for days missed. So we
lose the revenue, but our
operating costs do not go
down a single cent. I am not
advocating that we are not
held accountable for student
attendance, but there must
be more efficient ways than
for every one of the 1000
school districts in the
state sending accounting
information like that to the
state.
10. Modify the 20 to 1
kindergarten to 3rd grade
class size program. Kids do
not come in neat packages of
20 students per class. Her
is an example. Look at the
2nd grade at one of our
elementary schools. Let's
say that there are 64 second
graders. Currently we have 2
choices, we can either have
4 classes with 16 students
in each class or we can bus
4 students to a different
school. If the state would
tell us that the average
class size needs to be 20
students district wide and
that the maximum number of
students can be 22 students
in any class room. We would
now have an additional
option with those 64
students, now we can have
three classes with 21
students and one with 22
students. I can tell you
that right now with the
money as tight as it is, the
option that we use is that
we bus excess students to
other sites. How would you
feel if it was your child
that was bused?
Those are just a few ideas.
Some of them might not work,
but some of them will. It is
time that we interject
common sense into
Government. We can't
continue to ignore the fact
that we are not truly
serving the needs of our
kids and we are not serving
their needs in the most
inefficient way possible.
Nothing will change if we
keep electing people who are
unwilling to stand up for
what is right, regardless of
the pressure to cave in. We
need to get the money out of
politics. We need to end
term limits. Right now the
people in Sacramento who
have the most experience are
the lobbyists. Term limits
has done nothing except
create a game of political
musical chairs. We need to
pass budgets with a simple
majority. Currently 14 State
Senators can hold up the
entire budget and the last
thing that I heard was that
the Republican Senators were
refusing to even come to the
table to take part in the
negotiations. I am not
blaming the Republicans, but
why aren't the people that
are paid to do the job,
doing their jobs?
Things can be better. We can
meet the needs of our kids,
and that is what I expect. I
expect those people who have
been entrusted to represent
do just that. It is time for
change in our state and our
country."
Here are
things that I have had some experience with and have decided that
they are worth sharing. Most come from third party sites. Sometimes
I will post something that I am offering directly. Enjoy
-----------------
HYPNOSIS
- it's not just for people who want to cluck like a chicken.
Starting in 2008 I went to see a licensed hypno therapist. I was
feeling stressed out and had an ongoing battle with blood pressure
that I did not wish to medicate for. I spend six sessions of
about an hour a piece and do believe that I benefitted from it.
As a
result I also discovered
Hypnosis Downloads.com. Here, for a
small fee, I could download hypnotic sessions in MP3 format and
target specific things in my life I wanted to improve. They have hundreds of topics to choose from.
Download and listen in the
convenience of your home. You get to keep the MP3 and use it
whenever you want. Stress, anxiety, weight loss,
self-confidence are just some of the many sessions available. I am
not suggesting (no pun intended) that you stop any medication you
are on - you should always consult with your doctor, however, you
should check out the site and see just what it can do for you.
Sample sessions are available online. I think you will be impressed.
Click to learn more.
Hypnosis Downloads.com
and tell me what you think.
-MisterWriter
PS: If you are interested in using a licensed hypno therapist, send
me an email
HERE and I'll hook you up for a
free consult. -------------------
RESPERATE
- it's not just for blood pressure; it is an excellent tool to help
you relax so completely...
At the same time as I started looking into hypnosis, I also
purchased a Resperate device. This device helps you to
regulate your breathing in a natural, soothing way that leaves you
totally relaxed and your blood pressure at lower levels. There is no
medication involved. The premise is that stress and lifestyle caused
your problems, so by making total relaxation a part of your regular
lifestyle, you can bring everything back to the norm.
Click the video below to learn more.
The unit comes with a money back guarantee - I still have mine and
use it three plus times a week. It takes 15 minutes, runs off a few
AA batteries and is very portable. Even if your blood pressure is
fine, this is a great de-stress item, cheaper than an hour massage
and less toxic than other forms of relief.
If you would like to learn more, click
HERE or the photo below.
"I
totally agree that we need
to overhaul public
education. If we want our
economy to have the freedom
to continue to grow beyond
the current boundaries, we
must interject efficiencies.
There are a lot of things
that come to mind when you
think about government;
efficiency is not one of
them. 
