MOMS UNITE by Victoria Rierdan Hurley

LAUSD Board of Education Approves 3 Year Budget

As we all so painfully know, the Los Angeles Unified School District is facing the largest budget crisis in its history.  It has sustained round after round of cuts from the State, forcing the Superintendent and his team to make some very painful decisions.  I can say with a fair amount of certainty that Ramon Cortines truly feels every lost job and every cancelled program.  He’s the easiest guy to blame, and he can take it, but he’s really not the bad guy.  Look to our State government that does not put education anywhere near the top of the priority list for real villains – but that’s for another day.

 

Yesterday brought some bittersweet news.  The Los Angeles Unified School Board approved a series of budget recommendations for the 2009-2010 through 2011-2012 school years.  As I’ve written about in the past, California law requires school districts to submit balanced budgets by June 30 for three years in advance regardless of the District’s visibility into the State budget. Remember that the State is only required to budget one year out.  The budget package was approved by a 5-2 vote.   Marguerite LaMotte and Julie Korenstein were the two opposing votes. 

 

Here’s the situation – straight from the Superintendent’s office. LAUSD faces a $1.3 BILLION deficit over the next two school years. That’s right - $1.3 billion!  And most of this is in cuts directly from Sacramento.  The $582 million in Federal Stimulus funds has gone to save jobs, but it clearly doesn’t even come close to closing the gap. 

 

For better or worse, the Superintendent is a realist.  Even he doesn’t like some of his budget recommendations but he knows that he can’t pretend that the news from the State doesn’t exist. To balance the 2009-2010 budget deficit of $869.5 million, the following steps are being taken.  Many of these we already know about.

1.        A reduction of outside consultants and contractors

2.       Delaying textbook purchases as long as they can (they must purchase

       textbooks by law at predetermined intervals but can push it to the very

       last minute)

3.       Layoffs of teachers and non-instructional employees

4.       Larger class sizes

5.      Cancellation of summer school for elementary and middle school

       students

6.       Reduced transportation for students who ride a bus to school

7.       Deferred maintained

8.       Reducing categorical programs

 

Naturally this is horrible and if things don’t change, the next two years will be significantly worse. I have the list of cuts, but I’m hoping that it doesn’t come to that and that I don’t have to publish it.  Honestly, I’m too squeamish.  If help comes from the State, the Federal government and the Unions, and/or any other public or private sources, things can change for the better.  To further alleviate the problems, a Parcel Tax was recommended and approved by the Board.  This basically means a small hike in property taxes that would go directly to the schools to reduce class size.  

 

There is a tiny silver lining.  Faced with such dire circumstances, the District is open to new ways of thinking and new ideas from the outside.  MOMS UNITE is working (pro bono, of course) directly with the Superintendent and several other departments at LAUSD to help.  We’re thrilled, we’re grateful and we’re inspired.

 

Victoria

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MOMS UNITE is a grassroots parent advocacy group devoted to improving public education in California. To join, please send your contact information to join@moms-unite.org, join our Facebook group and follow us on Twitter @MOMSUNITE.

LAUSD Breaks Ground on New High School – And How They are Paying for It

Tomorrow at 10:00 in the morning, a small groundbreaking ceremony will take place to celebrate the building of a new high school in the Central District of Los Angeles.  This school will eliminate over-crowding and involuntary bussing for the students in the Santee Education Complex.

 

If you’re wondering how the District can pay for a brand new school when it can’t pay teachers, here is another peek into the complexity of how it all works.  The money, which is part of LAUSD’s $12.5 Billion school construction program, comes from Bonds that were voted for in a City election.  It is illegal to use those funds for ANY OTHER purpose, no matter how dire the budget situation becomes.  It seems frustrating, I know. But that’s how the system works in California.

 

Before 2000, new schools hadn’t been built for decades.  The population of children in Los Angeles has greatly exceeded the capacity. So, over the past several years, Bonds were passed by voters that allow tax money to be used to build dozens of new facilities.  Santee Education Complex, for example, serves 3,500 students and runs multi-track years.  The new school will mean that that every child in that district has a seat in their local school.  And one hopes that this will save a little money in the end by reducing the need to drive kids in gasoline-inefficient busses all over town.

 

The new school may or may not impact you, but I thought that this is another good example of the value in understanding the context of spending decisions before getting upset.  The Los Angeles Unified School District is a huge, multi-headed beast and I think that sometimes they assume that the public understands things that we simply don’t.   Who remembers voting for (or even against) those Bond measures?  All we see now is that money is being spent to build new schools when we can’t even pay teachers to teach in them.

 

I’ve heard grumblings on the school yard about the money being spent on new construction. And, I have to admit that I wondered too.  What we didn’t understand is that there are many, many buckets of funding and most of them are tightly legislated so that the money can only be spent in the way it was specifically intended. Period. Fortunately, there are other buckets that are less stringently regulated – which is how Superintendent Cortines was able to push funds to the schools so that they could decided where it should be spent.  Many used the money to buy back some of their teachers.

 

I guess in the end, the good news is that new schools are being built where they are desperately needed.  Since there is nothing else we can do with the money, we should join the celebration.  Stay tuned for more developments.

 

Victoria

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MOMS UNITE is a grassroots parent advocacy group devoted to improving public education in California.  To join, please send your contact information to momsunitela@gmail.com, join our Facebook group and follow us on Twitter @MOMSUNITE.

 

 

 

Amid the Scary News – Some Inspiration

This morning I joined some friends to watch the 5^th grade culmination at Castle Heights Elementary School. None of us have children graduating this year, but as parents active in the school we wanted to check it out and support the kids. I haven’t been to an elementary school graduation since I participated in my own and my recollection is, admittedly, pretty dim.  I can, however, guarantee that it was nothing like this.

 

These kids were amazing. Many of them recited essays from memory about their time at Castle Heights, highlighting their accomplishments and talking about their life’s goals.  Not only were they beautifully crafted, but they were delivered with confidence, poise and grace.  I think I can say with a fair amount of certainty that at the age of 11, I had no concept of life goals.  Others sang – solo or in small groups.   And they performed a dance. I remember doing something like a square dance, but these kids learned and perfected a complicated looking swing dance to Zoot Suit Riot by the Cherry Poppn’ Daddies.

 

I watched a group of children from a myriad of ethnic and economic backgrounds talk about their commitment to the environment, their desire to work for the common good and their optimistic belief in the future. Some, who didn’t speak English when they started at Castle Heights, won awards for scholastic achievement.  Others thanked the teachers who had mentored them.

 

I can’t speak for other schools, but what I can say is that I was truly awed by these children and what they were able to articulate about their elementary school experience. It confirmed my belief, stronger than ever, that public education must be saved.  And, that there is a lot there worth saving. I would stack this neighborhood public school graduating class against any private school in town.  

 

By the time they cheered for themselves and filed out to where their parents, grandparents, teachers and friends were waiting, I too felt optimistic about their futures and their ability to reach their goals.  Isn’t that what we all want for our kids?

 

Victoria

 

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MOMS UNITE is a grassroots parent advocacy group devoted to improving public education in California. To join, please send your contact information to momsunitela@gmail.com, join our Facebook group and follow us on Twitter @MOMSUNITE.

More Budget News – Still Not Too Good

The Los Angeles Unified School District budget is more complicated than anything I’ve seen. First, it’s over 500 pages thick. One afternoon, Ginger Bower and I spread it out on the floor and spent hours poring over it to try to understand how and where the money is being spent.  Now, we consider ourselves to be intelligent women.  We both know how to read a budget. And we were both confused messes at the end of several hours.

 

Here’s what we didn’t know that day.  LAUSD is required to submit a three year budget to the Los Angeles County Office of Education – every year.  This means that the District is in constant forecast mode, regardless of their level of visibility into the State budget.   The State, on the other hand, only budgets for the next fiscal year.

 

And here’s the problem we’re facing right now. Apparently, some of the LAUSD Board of Education members seem to be under the impression that the District can either not submit a budget because the cuts are just too hard to make, or submit a totally unrealistic, out of balance budget. Neither is an option. The Board members need to somehow find the political courage to make the necessary cuts so that the District can protect as much of their instructional core program as possible.  I’m not criticizing the Board members.  They are tasked with a near impossible job. And I know that each one of them struggles with this every day. But, it’s a job that MUST be done.

 

If you’ve been following MOMS UNITE’s progress through the labyrinth of public education reform, you know that we absolutely do not support cuts that affect the classroom.  Unfortunately, the District is pretty much beyond that now. Superintendent Cortines himself showed us the reports.  

 

We’d be the first people in the Superintendant’s office calling him to task and even organizing protests if we thought that there was a way that it would make a difference.  The truth of the matter is that THERE IS NO MONEY. Right now, everyone needs to focus on protecting the framework of the educational system.  We can build back from there.

 

I truly believe that the whole contraption needs to be dismantled and put back together in a way that makes sense in today’s world. Have I said this before? Probably.  Much of what LAUSD is operating around today was put into effect years ago.  Class action suits, ballot initiatives, bond measures and well meaning (but not terribly well thought out) programs etc. have created a minefield of issues to navigate around. Again I say, be angry but channel that anger to become part of the solution.

 

Use this link to email and call your District representative.  Ask them to pass a budget that makes sense, even if it’s hard. http://laschoolboard.org/  Only when we know what we have to work with can we work to get ourselves out of this mess.

 

Victoria

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MOMS UNITE is a grassroots parent advocacy group devoted to improving public education in California.

To join, please send your contact information to momsunitela@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter @MOMSUNITE.

 

 

A Victory Parade While Our Schools Fail.....Are You Kidding Me?

Today the LA Times wrote a piece about how the City of Los Angeles is planning on throwing a parade to congratulate the Lakers on their 15^th NBA Championship.  This is a time honored tradition and even though the City and, in fact, the entire State is on the verge of financial collapse, apparently some things just can’t be sacrificed.  Don’t get me wrong. I love the Lakers as much as the next Angelino. What I don’t love is seeing our schools spiral down the drain because we can’t afford to fund them – yet $1,000,000 is somehow found so that the City can throw a parade.

 

Mayor Villaraigosa is quoted as saying that not having a parade would be “untenable.” Untenable. Funny, it’s not untenable to be Mayor of a city with a less than 50% high school graduation rate.  It doesn’t seem to be untenable to be looking at millions in municipal budget cuts which will leave hundreds, if not thousands, unemployed.

 

According to the LA Times, the team and the City will split the hefty $2,000,000 bill.  Apparently the team has worked to keep costs down by planning a somewhat shorter parade and deciding against a weekend celebration. But let’s be clear, The Los Angeles Lakers are a for-profit organization.  And it seems that those profits are pretty big. As much as I admire their cost cutting efforts, I really can’t feel good about this.

 

I am the first to admit that perhaps I don’t understand the full picture and maybe this money is coming from somewhere else. I truly hope it is because the idea of spending a million bucks to hold a parade for a for-profit sports team when our schools are failing and teachers are losing their jobs seems irresponsible. And that’s the nicest thing I can think of to say about it.

 

I’m struggling to figure out how the need of sports fans to celebrate their team’s victory outweighs the needs of children getting a decent education. One million dollars pays for 10 to 15 teachers.  It pays for classroom supplies for the entire district.  It pays for elementary schools to provide science for the students.  How can it be that a parade is more important than this?

 

If Mayor Villaraigossa finds the very idea of not spending $1,000,000 of taxpayer money on a parade untenable, I think that the school district should change priorities make each school a basketball league.  That way there might be some hope of getting some support for them.

 

Victoria

 

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MOMS UNITE is a grassroots parent advocacy group devoted to improving public education in California.

To join, please send your contact information to momsunitela@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter @MOMSUNITE.

LAUSD Rescinds 505 More Pink Slips - Non-tenured Teachers Get to Stay

 In the kaleidoscope pictures of budget cuts from Sacramento, talk of stimulus money from Washington and the continual shuffling of resources at the District, it’s hard to keep track of what’s happening with teacher layoffs.  And this is a huge issue because it affects class size and, ultimately, the quality of education that our children are receiving. I’m happy to report that 505 additional pink slips are being rescinded.

 

Rescission letters are scheduled to be mailed to 271 non-permanent, secondary English teachers; 114 non-permanent, secondary Social Studies teachers; and 120 non-permanent, secondary counselors. The non-permanent teachers and counselors are those without tenure, relatively new teachers with one or two years of experience. 

 

Superintendent Cortines has recognized the need for a certain amount of decentralization.  It only makes sense to allow individual schools to decide what their priorities are and how to use their money to fund them.  In some ways, the number of teachers taking early retirement is making room for a new generation of teachers to stay in the profession.  This combination is what’s allowing so many teachers to keep their jobs.

 

The Superintendent is trying to save as many jobs as he can and encourages teachers who still have pink slips at the end of June to be processed as day-to-day substitutes until we can work our way out of this mess.

 

LAUSD released this table today.  Keep in mind that the numbers are subject to change, most likely for the better….but in this climate, you never know.  These numbers represent a 5.7% reduction in workforce. This is where we are at the moment.

 

March 15 Notices Sent to Certificated Employees		Notices Rescinded or Positions Reassigned	Reduction in Force Notices Still in Effect
Administrators	2,875	2,874 *	1
Permanent Elementary	1,996	1,996	0
Non-permanent, Elementary	1,605	0	1,605
Non-permanent, Secondary English	599	271	328
Non-permanent, Secondary Math	675	675	0
Non-permanent, Secondary Science	276	276	0
Non-permanent, Secondary Social Studies	322	114	208
Support Service Personnel	498	120	378
TOTAL	8,846	6,326	2,520

 

The wheels move slowly, but it seems like we’re heading in the right direction.  At least today.

 

Victoria

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MOMS UNITE is a grassroots parent advocacy group devoted to improving public education in California. To join, please send your contact information to momsunitela@gmail.comand follow us on Twitter @MOMSUNITE.

 

Great News - LAUSD School Board Passes Teacher Quality Motion

It’s so nice to have good news to write about!  Yesterday a Teacher Quality motion was passed by the LAUSD School Board to reform the expensive and largely ineffective process of firing unfit teachers. 

 

It seems that pressure from a series of recent LA Times articles by Jason Song (an excellent reporter and very nice guy) galvanized Marlene Cantor, along with fellow Boardmembers Flores-Aguilar, Galatzan and Garcia to finally take the firing of unfit teachers seriously and take action to deal with it.  To be clear, this will only be relevant for teachers being fired for cause.  The good , hard working, inspirational teachers whom we all value will be able to work in schools with other great teachers.

 

For a number of reasons, including the UTLA strangle hold on the Districts, the California public school system has a history of taking the Catholic Church’s approach to dealing with teachers who range from simply being poor educators, to out and out pedophiles. According to Song’s articles, the Districts have been moving problem teachers from one school to another. Sometimes the Principals have no knowledge of a teacher’s history when he or she arrives at a school to take on a class. 

 

Other teachers are “housed” wherein they are paid full salaries to essentially stay home as they appeal misconduct charges or other offenses that could lead to firing.  Granted, accusations can be false and everything needs investigation, however possibly not to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Needless to say, the articles provoked outrage among parents and teachers.  And rightfully so.

 

There has not been an efficient and effective way of firing teachers – no matter how egregious their conduct.  And the teachers union seems to be behind this. This, my friends, is a significant part of the problem with the schools.  The Teacher Quality motion promises to reform this process by taking the first step on the road to changing State law.  It is everyone’s hope that the Legislature will support this with meaningful action. 

 

Victoria

 

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MOMS UNITE is a grassroots parent advocacy group devoted to improving public education in California.  To join, please send your contact information to momsunitela@gmail.com  and follow us on Twitter @MOMSUNITE.

The Federal Stimulus Money - Good News

Finally, there is some good news!  This afternoon Superintendent Ramon Cortines released a statement to the media regarding use of the Federal Stimulus Title I funds.  There has been a tremendous amount of contention, rumor and misinformation surrounding the amount of money coming to California, who gets to decide how it is spent and where, exactly, the dollars will go. 

Here is the official word from the Superintendent.  LAUSD added $113.5 million in Federal Stimulus Title I funds to 2009-2010 school budgets across the board to allow schools to determine what their priorities are and fund them accordingly. Individual School Site Councils, made up of teachers, parents, students, the principal and another school staff, have been given the opportunity to decide how their school’s money would be spent.  It really makes the most sense. 

The upshot is that between the money and the number of people accepting early retirement, 3,400 jobs, which were previously scheduled to be cut, have been saved.  Additionally, schools will be able to use the funds to affect class size, student achievement and graduation rates.

From what I understand however, the funds will only go to Title I schools.  This is not an LAUSD decision, it is written into the Federal Stimulus package. According to the Department of Education, Title I status is determined by the number of students from economically disadvantaged families attending a given school.  The number is typically around 40% of the student population. The funds given to Title I schools are regulated by Federal legislation and the No Child Left Behind Act.

What does this mean for non-Title I schools? I’m not sure (but I’ll find out). I do know that the Superintendent is committed to using every dollar to save jobs and improve the schools. 

You can do something to help.  It is critical that Sacramento understands the urgency of releasing the Stimulus funds immediately.  The Los Angeles Unified School District cannot wait.  Write, call and email your representative, the Governor and the California Board of Education.  Even if your child does not attend a Title I school, we’re only as good as our worst school.  Every child that has an opportunity to succeed is a credit to all of us.

 

UPDATE: For non-Title I Schools, the money remains the same. The reason that Title I schools seem to be getting the lion's share of the money is that the deepest cuts orginally came out of the funds for those schools.  It's not well worded, but what this means is that the lowest performing schools are getting most of their funding back. It still seems unfair, but the Federal Government set it up that way.

LAUSD's Misinformation Problem

Yesterday a parent at my younger son’s preschool told me, quite ferociously, that he doesn’t understand why LAUSD doesn’t return the brand new math textbooks they just purchased.  Apparently, they are the same - with the exception of one unit - as the current textbooks.  He postulated that they must have cost several hundred thousand dollars, which could pay for a few teachers.   I should mention that his wife is a teacher at a local elementary school. 

 

As I’ve said before, most things at LAUSD are much more complicated than they seem at first glance.  This guy was clearly angry and I wanted to get him some sort of explanation. Before I had even left the parking lot, I was on the phone with someone at the District.   As it turns out, all California school districts are required BY LAW to purchase new textbooks in core curriculum subjects at given intervals.  In the case of LAUSD, they put off purchasing the new books as long as they legally could.  Additionally, the cost is not several hundred thousand dollars, it’s in the millions.

 

In 2000, a class action lawsuit was filed in San Francisco against the California Board of Education – Williams v. State of California. Four years of contentious litigation later, the case was settled and heralded as landmark education reform.  And in fact it was.  It “established minimum thresholds regarding school facilities, teacher quality, and instructional materials and an accountability structure to enforce these thresholds.”  Most of the benefits went to underperforming schools, but all schools in California were to improve.

 

While researching the case, I came across this quote from the Governor’s press release in 2005.  It’s particularly rich when you consider that this same Governor is taking BILLIONS of dollars from our children just a few years later.  “Today is a landmark day for California’s students,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “No issue is more important to me than education and these reforms truly put our children first. California is the greatest state in the nation, and we will make sure that our children will have the greatest public schools to meet their full potential.”

 

So…yeah.  I’m not sure how this great state will provide the greatest public schools when this same guy has taken all the money he originally promised in order for us to do so.  I hate to think what issues that are less important to him are in for.

 

But the point of this post is not to discuss this particular lawsuit and settlement (there have been many), but to illustrate that misinformation spread on the school yard can create a lot of misplaced blame and anger.  Parents repeat this kind of thing to each other and everyone becomes angry and then someone stages a protest and they picket outside of the district headquarters and the television news is all over it and everyone is yelling – yet no one understands that they have no idea what they are really protesting. 

 

To close the loop on the story, I told the parent about the lawsuit and the law mandating the purchase of textbooks.  I thought he would be, if not happy for the information, at least understanding.  He wasn’t. He looked at me coldly and said, “Well, isn’t there a law mandating 20 students in a classroom?  They’re ignoring THAT.”  But no, in fact there is no such law.  Class size is determined by the budget, not by law.

 

I’m willing to extend an offer to every LAUSD parent. When you hear something about the District, the budget, the union, layoffs or anything else that makes you angry, ask me.  I’ll find out the truth for you.  Superintendent Cortines laughingly tells people that Ginger and I are “constructively critical” of the District.  We are.  We're the first people demanding answers. The district must be held accountable for the decisions that they make and they owe us, as parents, explanations.  We may not like the explanations, but at least when we’re dealing with the full picture and all of the facts, we can work to make positive changes.

 

Victoria

 

 

 

Some Real Budget Numbers from LAUSD

When I popped my head into the Superintendent’s office yesterday afternoon, after spending most of my time at LAUSD headquarters meeting with various department heads, he was being interviewed by a reporter from the Wall Street Journal.  My plan was to wave and move on.  But as is typical of him, he was overjoyed to give us a minute and immediately invited us in and made introductions. I think the reporter was a little surprised.  But that is how he is – extremely enthusiastic and excited to be doing what he’s doing.  And, trust me, he is doing something.

 

If you read the LA Times, you have no doubt been scared out or your mind over the state of public education.  And rightly so.  Mistakes, mismanagement and probably out and out incompetence has definitely been an issue at the District level over the years. Right now, however, we’re looking at cuts coming from Sacramento on pretty much a weekly basis. And they’re big cuts.  Superintendent Cortines is doing everything he can to try to make a silk purse out of the sow’s ear that he’s been handed.

 

One of the things that we heard is that the unions have formed a coalition in order to work together with the District for the greater good of all employees. UTLA is a member of the coalition, at least on paper, but as the largest and most contentious of the unions, my guess is that it will participate – until it doesn’t.

 

As parents, we are desperately concerned about the budget and the ramifications of the cuts in funding in the classroom.  Because of the rumors and misinformation floating around, I thought it might be useful to provide some numbers.

 

This is information fresh from LAUSD, but we were warned that the numbers for 2009-2010 change – a lot.  The anatomy of the cuts starting at the beginning of the current school year is as follows:

 

MASSIVE DEFICITS IN 2008-2009

·         $427 million initially cut

·         $140 million mid-year cut

·         $131 million in May – revise cut

 

Given that the May 19^th initiatives failed, this is what we’re looking at for 2009-2010 - a total deficit of $273 million.  That figure is calculated by combining the deficit figures from 2008-2009 with the new (current as of approximately now) deficit figures for 2009-2010.

 

2008-2009 deficit of $131 million

2009-2010 deficit of $142 million

 

The District is scrambling to figure out how to plug the giant holes.  There is some good news – or at least, not more bad news.  Due to the acceptance of early retirement offers, and repurchasing by School District Site Counsels, 3,717 jobs have been saved and pink slips rescinded.  The Superintendent made the decision to let the schools decide how to spend the Title 1 Stimulus money, believing that they know best where their school needs the most support. The other side of that, however, is that from what I can tell, 2,254 jobs are still going to be cut.

 

Other cuts are being made too.  Summer school was among the first to go.  District employees at Beaudry (the headquarters) are going to be working a 10 month year.  This comes in the form of approximately 45 furlough days, which amounts to a 15% pay cut.  Other cuts are on the table in terms of further cuts to central departments and possible cuts to after-school programs.  But let’s not panic about that yet.  We have enough to worry about with what’s in front of us.

 

Victoria