School Budget Cuts Not Too Bad

After multi-hour and Tuesday nights, the is hoping things aren’t as bad as they could be. 

After making , the board this week restored a number of the cuts and added a full-time principal at (reversing a cut that was made two years ago).

The board voted Tuesday night to restore 0.4 positions in math at, following a presentation made by Principal David Finnane on Monday night. With the initial cuts that were made in February, the seven algebra classes would have had an average of 31 students, which Finnane said was higher than allowed under the teachers’ contracts. By restoring 0.2 positions, an additional section could be created to allow the algebra classes to be closer to 27-28 students per class.

The extra 0.2 positions was restored at White Hill to allow the P1P2 math classes, which teach algebra at a slower pace for students that have been struggling with math, to have class sizes of 21-22 students. A number of math teachers pointed out that the lower level classes can be a struggle when they get too large, because it becomes a management and discipline issue.

“We set it as a district goal [to get all students proficient in math] and so we need to support that,” said Board President Chris Carlucci.

Additionally, the board voted to add another 0.2 positions for an additional section of Spanish at White Hill in order to meet the current demand.

The board had previously considered cutting French, because of a lack of demand, but with the enrollment numbers for next year, there are 30 students signed up for French and 92 signed up for Spanish. Under the current system, which offers three classes of Spanish one year and just two the next, there would have been room for just two classes – or 60 students in Spanish – and the rest of the students would have been put on a waitlist.

The board, after extensive discussion about what would have to be cut in these challenging economic times, decided to add another section of Spanish in order to meet demand.

Trustee Annalise Bauer said she was uncomfortable with the board considering just those things that were being presented, because all the programs and schools in the district hadn’t made presentations asking for things. Additionally, some of the trustees were concerned that a section of Spanish was being added at a time when other programs and positions were being cut and questioned whether or not the district would continue to be able to meet the demand for foreign language.

“We don’t grow in enrollment in other subject areas and ask whether we’re going to offer it or not,” said Trustee Sharon Sagar, who also suggested that the board ask the community for contributions to pay for foreign language before cutting it entirely – if in the future that was something that had to be done.

In February, as part of the cuts the board made to meet to maintain a fiscally sustainable budget, 25 percent of Special Education aides were eliminated. However, per recommendations made two years ago, Director of Student Services Toni Beal, explained on Monday, White Hill is ready to transition to a new model of Special Education services. That model, which utilizes a learning lab and learning center to teach a variety of skills to students, as well as in-class aides to allow kids to continue instruction in their general education classes, relies heavily on aides. And Beal requested that the board consider reversing those cuts to aides at White Hill.

The board agreed that it was important for a new program to have all the resources it needed in it’s first year and restored some of the cuts to Special Education aides at White Hill.

The last major addition the board made to the budget was to reverse a cut that was made two years ago at Lower Brookside.

Marci Trahan has served for the last two years as a part-time principal at Lower and part-time Director of Human Resources, which a number of teachers and parents at Brookside said had not been working and wasn’t fair to the kids at Lower. The board voted to add the funding to bring the principal position at Lower Brookside up to full-time, but did not add a full additional position in order to also bring the human resources position up to full-time.

The board was able to restore these cuts and make these additions without cutting other things from the budget because of a fortunate turn of events.

A large number of staff are retiring, leaving for other positions, or on a work exchange, said Trahan at the meeting. Because of this, Trahan said, she was able to play around with the numbers and try some different cost-saving ideas.

Without eliminating any of the now empty positions, she said, the district will still save around $90,000 because a number of the teachers and staff that left or retired were at the highest level of pay, while the positions will be filled at a lower entry-level of pay.

Additionally, Finnane suggested that instead of replacing Student Activities Director Linda Bell at White Hill that stipends be offered to other teachers and community members to run the different programs Bell ran. This would save approximately $9,000. Other small steps like that were discussed.

The cuts enacted totaled $511,000 in the end and included all the items on the , except those that were restored.

Negotiations are still ongoing to eliminate three days from the school year and put the teachers on furlough days. If that happens, then some of the class size increases will be eliminated. The administrators will also take three furlough days if, and only if, the teachers and schools do.

The district has to cut $500,000 from the upcoming school year, $500,000 from the next year, and just under $400,000 from the following year, because of a structural deficit. The Marin County Office of Education, which approves all the school districts’ budgets, told Ross Valley that it had to stop spending from its reserve and come up with a budget where revenue met expenditures.

Additionally, because more state funding cuts may be coming down the line, the district wants to keep enough of a reserve to deal with any hard times next year. If the state tax measures don’t pass in November, then the district plans to fill a large budget hole with its reserve. If the tax measures don’t pass in November and more cuts come from the state, a worst case scenario may see the district cutting an additional $2 million on top of the cuts it is already making.

In that case, the district may consider going out for a parcel tax. Its current parcel tax expires in 2014.

“It may be a parcel tax or Armageddon,” said Trustee Conn Hickey on Monday.