MOMS UNITE by Victoria Rierdan Hurley

A New Rumor About Teacher Layoffs

Today I heard a rumor that just started floating around the schoolyards in town. A parent told me that all teachers with less than five years seniority will be laid off. She had heard this from a teacher who had heard it from someone else, etc. Before everyone panics unnecessarily, I think it’s important to understand the truth.

The timing was good because I was at LAUSD headquarters this afternoon to work on a project and was able to ask one of the top decision makers in the Superintendent’s office. I got a completely blank look from him. He then told me that the District hasn’t even done those calculations yet and absolutely no decisions have been made. What it will come down to is what kind of agreement can be made with UTLA. Cuts will have to be made somewhere, but exactly where and how deep will depend on the union. Ironically, traced back, the rumor may actually have come from UTLA.

The genesis could be that LAUSD is required by law to send out preliminary notices advising of possible layoffs. In these days of uncertain and dwindling education budgets, we shouldn’t be surprised. You may recall that last year, 8,846 notices went out and only 337 people were actually laid off. Yes, teachers will probably receive notices (and many may actually lose their jobs) but in the vast majority of cases, it’s only a formality mandated by law.

It’s easy to be freaked out by rumors like this but it pays to remember that there are a lot of players here and they all have different agendas. Sadly, providing a top-notch education for every child in Los Angeles is not necessarily part of everyone’s agenda. As a parent group we need to remember that our priority is our children and not allow ourselves to be manipulated by propaganda – regardless of where it comes from.

I also heard some good news while I was there (as opposed to not bad news). Current thinking at Beaudry is that no secondary teachers will be cut. This means that no one who teaches middle school or high school will be laid off. Now, what does that mean for elementary schools? I’m not entirely sure, but I was specifically told that the Superintendent absolutely does not want to go to 29:1 in the lower grades and will do whatever he can to prevent it. Again, a lot of this comes down to what UTLA and the District can agree to. As this point no one knows. I think that’s worth repeating - no one knows.

Victoria

***** 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 and follow us on Twitter @MOMSUNITE.

CA Takes More Money from Schools - More Bad News for LAUSD

You have probably heard talk of more layoffs, pay cuts and furlough days for LAUSD staff.  I wish I could say that it’s not true, but I can’t. Over the summer, the State government took an additional $225 million dollars out of the budget for education throughout California. The money that was originally designated for next school year now must be used to cover this year, which leaves us with a serious shortfall for next year and the year after.  Frankly, it’s probably for the foreseeable future unless something pretty amazing happens.

Keep in mind that nothing has been decided yet. The LAUSD proposal to the unions asks for four furlough days between now and the end of the school year to avoid layoffs.  These days are designed to be taken when the students are not at school so that they don’t miss any instruction.  For example, the staff gets three weeks paid time off for winter break and a week in the spring.  The proposal suggests that some of those days be without pay.  The proposal for next year includes a 12% pay cut. The unions can opt to take some of these as furlough days and some as salary reduction. It’s horrible. And no matter how you slice it, students will suffer and so will teachers. And at the end of the day, California will suffer.

There is a tiny spark of good news.  The arts programs will not be cut.  Some of the instructors may be laid off, but the programs will somehow survive and all talk of cutting them has been taken off the table.  For now at least.

Here’s the thing. The District cannot impose furlough days but they can issue layoffs.  It’s really up to the unions to decide what they will accept. SEIU, which represents much of the support staff on campuses, has already agreed to vote on a compromise to save jobs.  UTLA, which represents the teachers, has not. That particular union has historically been adverse to compromise – even to the detriment of its members. It is not yet clear what will happen.  According to a spokesperson for LAUSD, if UTLA will not accept some sort of compromise made up of furlough days and pay cuts, over 7,000 jobs could be lost.

And as long as I’m giving bad news, I may as well add that class size for grades K – 3 will also be going up next year.  We’ve gone from 20:1 to 24:1 and next year it is scheduled to be 29:1. Grades 4 -5 will not be increased.

It’s an untenable situation – for the teachers and for us as parents.  The bottom line is that decisions are being made regarding the education of our children and the employment of our beloved teachers that we are not a part of.  There are two culprits here. One is our state legislature and the other is UTLA. Sure, we have options. We can consider private education, we can move out of state or we can try to make our voices heard.

I urge you to make calls and send email to not just your state representative, but to all of them. Insist that education be made a priority. Explain that if they think we have economic problems in California now, just wait until we have a whole population of under-educated people and unemployed teachers. 

Victoria

*****

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 and follow us on Twitter @MOMSUNITE.

Another Rumor About Class Size

This afternoon, a friend sent me Steve Lopez's great story on his meeting with UTLA leader AJ Duffy. It ran in Sunday's Los Angeles Times. http://ow.ly/jDu7 For those who have never had the pleasure, Mr. Duffy is exactly as described. If you haven't read it, I recommend that you do. It sheds a little light on why things are like they are and the Union's position on reform. 

My friend also mentioned that she had heard a very disturbing rumor. Apparently, it's going around that Superintendent Cortines' plan calls for kindergarten through third grade class sizes to jump to 36:1 next year. The reason, she'd heard, is lack of stimulus money. Part of what MOMS UNITE is about is ensuring that parents know the real story so that they can make decisions based in fact and not rumor and speculation. I hadn't heard this particular rumor, but I also haven't spoken with the Superintendent in a few weeks. Anything could have happened.

The first thing you need to know is that it's not true. Its actually not legally possible for grades K-3 class sizes to be that large. I was assured by Mr. Cortines' second in command that in fact, at the elementary level, it is totally unlikely that the class sizes would ever be over 30:1. Granted, this isn't the greatest ratio in the world, but it's certainly better than 36:1. 

Based on the budget numbers approved by the Board, the class size will break down as such:

• For grades K-3, the norms went up to 24:1. Given the money there is, it will most likely come out to 22:1 in the average classroom.
• For grades 4-5, the norms went to 27:1. It is very likely that this too will go down. 

Again, I urge you to email me at victoria@moms-unite.org if you've  heard a rumor that doesn't make sense and I'll do my best to find out the real story. The news might not always be good, but at least you'll understand why.

ANNOUNCEMENT

If you have a chance, please try to make one of the District's town hall meetings to learn about the motion that Board member Yolie Flores and Board President Monica Garcia have put forward regarding school choices.  The meeting schedule is:

Monday, August 10 @ 6:00-7:00 p.m. – Roosevelt HS 

Tuesday, August 11 @ 6:00-7:00 p.m. – Maywood Academy

Wednesday, August 12 @ 6:00-7:00 p.m. – Sepulveda MS

Thursday, August 13 @ 6:00-7:00 p.m. – Central City Neighborhood Partners

Monday, August 17 @ 6:00-7:00 p.m. – Hamilton HS

Tuesday, August 18 @ 6:007-00 p.m. Gardena HS

Thursday, August 20 @ 6:00-7:00 p.m. – Jordan HS

The motion is set for vote on August 25 and it's in everyone's best interest to understand exactly what it is about and how your school would be affected if it passes.

Stay tuned for more developments.

 Victoria

*****

MOMS UNITE is a grassroots parent advocacy group devoted to improving public education in California. www.moms-unite.org

To join, please send your contact information to join@moms-unite.org.  Join our Facebook group and follow us on Twitter @MOMSUNITE.

 

 

Stop the CA Legislature from Suspending Proposition 98!

It shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone that things may be about to get a whole lot worse.  In their inability to pass a budget that makes sense, the California Legislature is about to vote on what educators and education advocates consider to be the unthinkable.  Our “education” Governor is proposing that Proposition 98 be suspended (most likely indefinitely).  The California Teacher’s Union is mounting an offensive against the proposal and I’m with them on this one.

For those who may not remember, Proposition 98 was a ballot initiative passed in 1988 which commits the State to spending 40% of the general fund on education.   Also known as the Classroom Instructional and Improvement Accountability Act, it was passed as a reaction to Proposition 13, which limits California property tax to 1% of a home’s value – and forever limits the amount of revenue the State can collect to pay for schools, roads, and other services.  This, on top of massive tax cuts to the horse-racing industry, oil companies, the Gallo family and many, many others.

To suspend Prop 98 would mean another devastating blow to public schools in California. In LAUSD, it would reduce funding to as little as $500 per student.  This comes on top of the other deep cuts that have caused massive layoffs of teachers and staff, increased class size, shared principals and no assistant principals for smaller schools and other heartbreaking reductions.

Many of the politicians involved in the budget discussions are blaming Prop 98 for “handcuffing” California with respect to budgeting because they’re forced to spend so much on education.  That, in itself, makes me want to scream.  Even more infuriating is that is that thanks to the HUNDREDS of tax cuts they’ve approved over the years, the Legislature has effectively reduced the State’s revenues to the point that it can no longer even function.  And, although it takes a 2/3 majority to raise taxes, tax cuts get voted by a simple majority.  This, my friends, explains a lot about the mess we’re in and at the end of the day, they don’t care if our children pay for it.

CALL TO ACTION

This information comes courtesy of the California Teacher’s Union website, www.cta.org.

Call Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at 916-445-2841.  Call Your State Senator at Her/His Capitol office number listed below or by using this toll-free number: 1-888-268-4334.  

• Ask to speak to the Senator. If he/she is not available, leave a message with the Senator’s staff or record a message on the answering machine.
• Be sure to identify yourself as a constituent living in the district as well as a classroom teacher/education support professional/ or college instructor.
• Leave your contact information so the Senator or Senate staff can get back to you. 

Make These Important Points!

• Do not suspend Proposition 98!
• The proposed cuts would have a devastating impact on our students and public schools (give local examples).
• The Governor’s call to suspend the state’s minimum school funding guarantee is unacceptable.
• California public schools have already been cut by a record $12 billion!
• Any approach to solving the state budget crisis must include increased revenues.
• It is time to rescind the corporate tax breaks handed out earlier this year!
• Big Oil and Big Tobacco need to pay, too!
• Stop the political games! The partisan politics and gridlock are destroying our state.

State Senate Members:

Elaine Alquist SD13 (916) 651-4013

Ron Calderon SD30 (916) 651-4030

Gilbert Cedillo SD22 (916) 651-4022

Ellen Corbett SD10 (916) 651-4010

Lou Correa SD34 (916) 651-4034

Mark DeSaulnier SD7 (916) 651-4007

Denise Moreno Ducheny SD 40 (916) 651-4040

Dean Florez SD16 (916) 651-4016

Loni Hancock SD9 (916) 651-4009

Christine Kehoe SD39 (916) 651-4039

Mark Leno SD3 (916) 651-4003

Carol Liu SD21 (916) 651-4021

Alan Lowenthal SD27 (916) 651-4027

Gloria Negrete McLeod SD32 (916) 651-4032

Jenny Oropeza SD28 (916) 651-4028

Alex Padilla SD20 (916) 651-4020

Fran Pavley SD23 (916) 651-4023

Curren D. Price, Jr. SD26 (916) 651-4026

Gloria Romero SD24 (916) 651-4024

S. Joseph Simitian SD11 (916) 651-4011

Darrell Steinberg SD6 (916) 651-4006

Patricia Wiggins SD2 (916) 651-4002

Lois Wolk SD5 (916) 651-4005

Rod Wright SD25 (916) 651-4025

Leland Yee SD8 (916) 651-4008

Stay tuned for more developments.

Victoria

*****

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

To join, please visit www.moms-unite.org. Join our Facebook group 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

 

*****

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

*****

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

 

*****

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.

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

 

 

LAUSD Cancels Summer School

Today LAUSD (and possibly other districts) announced that summer school sessions are cancelled for this year because of the budget crisis.  Last week the Governor demanded another huge hack to the education budget and the Superintendent, along with the School Board, are quickly running out of places to cut.  Summer school, though crucial, apparently seems like a “nice to have” at this point – especially when you consider the massive deficit we’re up against just to fund the next school year.  I’m not excusing LAUSD, or trying to minimize the impact of this, but things have reached a pretty dire point and until our State government puts education on the top of the priority list, instead of at the bottom, things are not going to get measurably better for our kids.

 

For many families across the district, cancelling summer school is a catastrophe.  They rely on summer school to help their struggling children prepare for the next school year.  Others rely on it to keep their kids out of trouble during the long summer months.  Hell, my mother sent my sister and me to summer school just to get us out of the house. Parents who work fulltime and can’t afford camp or other summer childcare programs are in a real bind now. I believe that the free education gravy train is grinding to a halt thanks to a history of bad, self-serving decisions at the district level and in our Legislature.

 

MOMS UNITE has always been about fighting to make sure that budget cuts don’t impact the classroom and we’ll continue that fight, but you have to know that the battle is getting tougher. The reality is that there is NO MONEY.  And our “education” Governor keeps taking more away from education.  For some reason he seems to think that the school system is the State’s ATM.

 

If you’re angry about the state of public education, and we all should be, contact your State representative. Contact the Governor’s office.  Write, call, and email your concerns.  Insist that education be made a priority in this State. It’s an embarrassment California has been allowed to come to this.  Nothing is going to change if we don’t force it. And now is the time.

 

If you’re not angry, you should be.  If you think that because your kids go to private school, or they’re grown and out of school, or you don’t have kids, and this doesn’t affect you – think again.  If you own property, this affects you. If you want to live in a State that attracts cutting edge industry and development, this affects you.  And if you don’t want to live in a city filled with angry, functionally illiterate people who would love good jobs, but can’t get them, then this affects you.  If we can’t educate our children, we’re not only doing them a horrible, inexcusable disservice, we’re doing ourselves a disservice.

 

Victoria