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.

LAUSD Re-Hires Almost All Certificated Employees

Here’s a little good news – just in time for school.  LAUSD has managed to re-hire almost all of the 8,846 certificated teachers, administrators and support staff that received layoff notices in March.  The vast majority of people will go back into the classroom or to their former positions, while some are being processed as day-to-day substitutes.  Most of these substitutes, however, have retained their full benefits and will have priority for assignments.  

Only 337 have not been hired back.  Granted, 337 people is still a lot of people out of jobs, but since District was forced to cut $869 million from the 2009-2010 budget, the news is better than we expected – and certainly better than things looked in March.  

Victoria

 *****

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

 

The Flores-Aguilar Proposal for School Reform - Vote is Aug 25th - You Can Make a Difference

As you may know, this summer a proposal was submitted by LAUSD Board Member Yolie Flores-Aguilar to allow charter operators, teachers & administrators, and/or parents to bid for the operation all newly constructed schools and schools on academic probation for 3+ years (considered failing). At this point, the wording hasn’t been finalized, but the idea is that the community would be able to vote on which proposal they feel would be best for the school in their neighborhood.  It is being heralded as the first real step towards education reform by creating competition with the District and providing an alternative for schools that are not making it.

The Teacher’s Union (UTLA) is fighting this tooth and nail.  They are calling it the “school giveaway” proposal.  The reality is that charter and other types of school operators aren’t beholden to the 350+ page teacher contract that does not allow for the firing of bad and unsuitable teachers,  the reasonable evaluation of a teacher’s effectiveness in the classroom or merit based pay.  UTLA’s mission has nothing to do with the quality of education or what is best for students.  It has only to do with protecting its members – which on its face is a noble and important mission.  But, not at the expense of our children. Incompetent teachers, teachers who don’t care, accused pedophiles….it’s almost impossible to get rid of them.  Maybe it’s time for a contract that demands excellence, that allows good teachers to be rewarded and poor teachers to be fired.  Maybe it’s time for the emphasis to be on providing the best education we can for the children of this city.

To be clear, we are NOT against teachers, or even unions! We are against the UTLA leadership policies that stand in the way of what’s in the best interest of schools, students and education.  

The School Board will be voting on the proposal on August 25^th.  If you agree that it makes sense to allow there to be a choice of school operators, and for parents and community members to be a part of the decision making process,  you can affect the vote by making a quick call (or dropping an email) to your School Board member to encourage him/her to vote yes next week.  Contact information and a sample script are listed below.  If you are unsure which Board Member is in charge of your district, you can look it up at http://laschoolboard.org/,

District 1 – Marguerite LaMotte marguerite.lamotte@lausd.net­ or 213-241-6382.

District 2 – Monica Garcia   monica.garcia@lausd.net or 213- 241-6108

District 3 – Tamar Galatzan  tamaar.galatzan@lausd.net or 213-241-6386

District 4 – Steve Zimmer steve.zimmer@lausd.net or 213-241-6387

District 5 – Yolie Flores-Aguilar  yolie.flores.aguilar@lausd.net or 213-241-6383

District 6 – Nury Martinez  nury.martinez@lausd.net or 213-241-6388

District 7 – Richard Vladovic Richard.vladovic@lausd.net or 213-241-6385

Sample Script:

Hello, I live in District X and I am calling to express my support of Ms. Flores-Aguilar’s proposal for school choice. I believe that this proposal could be the beginning of real reform in public education.  Parents and community members should be able to be a part of the conversation when deciding what makes sense for their schools. I urge you to support the proposal with a vote of yes on the 25^th.

Victoria

 *****

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

Superintendent Cortines on Prop. 98 - Stop the Governor

I usually like to write a few paragraphs of commentary based on what I see going on at LAUSD headquarters and in Sacramento and how decisions made affect our schools. In my last post I talked about the Governor's plan to "suspend" Prop 98 and the devastation that would ensue if he's successful. Although he's getting fierce opposition from citizens, it clearly means nothing to him. So much for the People's Governor.  I guess that went the way of the Education Governor.

Yesterday I received a statement from LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines on the subject. I'm reprinting it below because I believe that, regardless of how you might feel about LAUSD, or the job the Superintendent is doing, we, as parents, need to stand together with him and with the Teacher's Union on this one. Please continue calling and writing to your reps in Sacramento. Get together with other parents and send petitions, organize calling parties and do whatever you can think of to get the Legislature's attention on this. Fortunately, there are a number of parent groups across the State mobilizing to make their voices heard, but the Governor needs to hear it from all sides.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposal to suspend Proposition 98 education funding is violating a promise California voters made to the children of this state.

 While LAUSD already has made deep cuts based on the Governor’s May revision guidance, the suspension of minimum funding under Prop. 98 would open a door to additional, and continued, cuts throughout the year as the state’s deficit grows. 

 LAUSD has already laid off teachers, library aides, office workers, building and grounds workers and reduced staff throughout the central office. We have had to make cuts that violate my educational principles such as increasing class size.

 If Prop. 98 is suspended, the California Legislature could make even deeper cuts throughout the year. The future of our state is at risk. If we think this current economic recession is bad, I shudder to think what education will look like after additional cuts. There won’t be any education. Enough is enough.  

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

*****

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.

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

 

*****

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.

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