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Read or Post Comments At a January 21st panel discussion on the subject of education funding and the issues at hand, speakers Paul Strange, Gary Eberhart, both of the MDUSD Board of Education, along with Assemblymember Tom Torlakson’s District Director, Craig Cheslog, and Walnut Creek Intermediate teacher, Kandi Lancaster, tackled perspective viewpoints on why we are where we are and what we can do about it. It was an informative and depressingly interesting tale about what I call Armageducation – a disintegration of the fabric of education from one end of the spectrum involving funding, to the other end; the result of all the edu-genetic tampering within the classroom.
Now there are those who argue that the education mess is a partisan-botched attempt at some kind of purification of the American way of learning, while others state the need for removing legislation and allowing parents to determine the best course of education for their children. While I certainly like the notion of parental choice; given the scope of parent ranges I have seen out there, I am hardly convinced that would prove to achieve anything more than a variation on the same theme of control, power and finances. Truth be told, we should have the finest education system in the world. Likewise, all our resources should be pumped into teaching children to become fantastic Americans, regardless of race, economics or upbringing. A nice dream, to say the least, and one that we all wish for and allow politicians to pimp as their needs arise. Just as we cannot agree on political leaders, so too the quagmire of education reform is as disgusting a concept as an underwater swim at a wastewater treatment plant. So the panel, each with a point of view of death from an education standpoint, began to illustrate the issues at hand. The first point was that the cuts now taking place affect the students directly. With a limited choice of funding sources to shift – districts such as the MDUSD have far more funding tied to restricted revenue than many other districts around us – finding places to trim is becoming a fine art. Alternatively, with the economy in the toilet and the state unable to allocate resources it might otherwise have pushed toward education, while dipping into city budgets such as redevelopment money in order to stem the bloodletting at their own level, finding additional revenue sources is next to impossible. “So when you look at total budget numbers between districts,” Strange said, “you might get the wrong idea about what is available.” He compared Mt. Diablo’s unrestricted revenue per student of $6,189 to Acalanes’ unrestricted revenue per student of $7,775. “If we had that amount per year, we would have over $54 million per year.” According to Eberhart, the district has been cutting the budget for five years. “We’ve cut over $30 million over the last three years. Vice principals, librarians, custodians, teachers, special ed, food service, bus drivers,” he said. “We are cutting another $6.6 million for each of the next three years, something the state told us we have to do.” Mid-year cuts have created havoc due to contracts in place that cannot be voided. “Ninety percent of our budget is payroll,” Eberhart said. “We hire prior to the school year and they are guaranteed a job until June.” Now what if the state requests near $11 million in additional cuts for the current school year? “How?” asked an exasperated Eberhart. “It’s gone. We’ve already spent the money.” “We are required by the county to budget according to the governor’s latest budget, or we may get a negative review,” Strange said. “Since all of our certificated employees are covered until June and our classified employees need 45 days notice, we can’t do anything.” Teachers need to get noticed by March 15 if there is a potential for having their job cut, Eberhart said. “Notices may be going to all our employees. We have to balance the budget or they (the state) takes over. The impact of all this is that over three years we will be in the red $55 million based on government figures.” “Half of the thousand school districts in the state will not be able to operate,” Lancaster said. ....to be continued in Part 2 on Monday 1/26/09 6pm |
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