School districts all over the state are suffering through some
of the worst financial fears in many years, and the Morgan Hill
School District is no different, as trustees will soon consider
slashing $2.8 million from next year
’s budget.
School districts all over the state are suffering through some of the worst financial fears in many years, and the Morgan Hill School District is no different, as trustees will soon consider slashing $2.8 million from next year’s budget.
The cuts will be deep and painful for a district already operating at bare-bones level.
The district has called a special meeting for today at 4 p.m. to vote to issue layoff notices to 2.5 nurses. Principals at all schools were issued layoff notices at the end of Monday’s meeting.
State law requires school districts to issue layoff notices for the following school year by March 15. Notices can be rescinded; last year, the district issued 111.5 notices and rescinded all of them.
Another controversial cut proposed is the elimination of extra-curricular activities and athletics in grades 7-12. After three days of lengthy meetings last week, the district sent out a memo from the budget process team to district employees with a draft of recommendations.
And with cuts throughout the district seemingly inevitable, some are querstioning plans to open in August the long-awaited second high school, Sobrato.
Many districts around the state are closing schools and shutting down programs in an effort to survive. On the list of considered cuts for MHSD is closing Burnett Elementary School. Another is to delay the re-opening of Machado Elementry.
Although the list wasn’t on Monday night’s School Board meeting agenda, concerned parents and teachers let trustees know they are worried. and concerned.
During most of the lengthy public comment section discussion centered around opening Sobrato and completing renovations at Live Oak. Trustees do not respond during the public comment section of the meeting, which allows the public to air their views on items not on the agenda.
Parent Mark Sparacino told trustees they need to consider carefully before going ahead with plans to open Sobrato with the start of the school year.
“Once again the district is facing massive budget cuts … bringing us to a total of approximately $9 million in three years,” he said. “Every time I come to a board meeting, it seems as if board members are allocating another $2 million for Sobrato … We are in a survival mode now. I suggest you look deep in your hearts and consider what is best.”
Live Oak High agricultural science teacher and future Sobrato High teacher Vera Gomes said trustees need to move ahead as planned, but also need to continue with renovations at Live Oak.
“I’ve been a teacher in this district for many years, and I’m happy to be a servant of the district,” she said. “You can never forget that we must remodel Live Oak. We need to spell out our plan, publicize it and act on it.
“As for Sobrato, the teachers have been meeting on and off, and we need to continue … We are not a two-high-school town anymore.”
Retired long-time teacher Anna Friebel, after giving trustees a bit of good news about the Britton jazz band’s superior-rated performance at the Monterey Jazz Festival, told trustees that Live Oak has been and will continue to be important to the community.
“You must not stop renovations at Live Oak,” she said. “Don’t forget your obligation to Live Oak.”
Parent Elizabeth Mandel said board members not only need to remember their obligation to Live Oak, but also to the community.
“The key selling point (for the passage of the bond in 1999 which provided funds for construction of Barrett Elementary and Sobrato High and the renovation of Live Oak High) was two comparable schools,” she said. “Not mold growing and overflowing gutters. (The situation) has certainly not created increased community confidence.”
Sobrato teachers Tracy Murphy, Fawn Meyers and Sandra Swan asked trustees to live up to their commitment to the Sobrato students who have already registered and to their commitment to the community.
Sobrato High, slated to open in August for 9th and 10th grade students with three classroom buildings and the administration building complete, and gym, library and theater projected to open in November or December, has been a controversial project from the start.
The construction bond that passed in 1999 passed on the third try. Some community members have said Morgan Hill is not big enough for two high schools; others have said the community can not continue in its nearly 25-year tradition of housing ninth graders at the two middle schools.
In December, next year’s ninth and 10th graders registered for classes at the two high schools. In January, during the open enrollment period, 107 students requested a transfer to Live Oak and 27 requested a transfer to Sobrato. Three more students requested a transfer to Live Oak after the open enrollment period ended.
The board voted in February to approve capacity at Live Oak at a level which would allow all transfer requests to that date to be granted.
There has been no action by the board to consider not opening Sobrato in August, although several trustees have expressed strong reservations about the district’s ability to support the operating costs of the school, which have been estimated to be more than $500,000 for the first year.
As the school will add a grade level the second year and the third year, costs could rise for those years.
Proposed cuts
Last year and the year before, when faced with the need to cut the district budget, a performance-based budget procedure was used. A committee made up of administrators, teachers, classified workers and Superintendent Carolyn McKennan’s cabinet met to review programs. Each department would report on its programs and make recommendations on whether the programs should be fully funded, 80 percent funded or 60 percent funded. Programs were then ranked by a the entire committee.
This year, the budget process committee, with five representatives of the teacher’s union, five representatives of the classified employees’ union and five representatives of the school administrators group, plus McKennan and her cabinet, met for three days to come up with a spreadsheet of possible cuts, ranking them “consensus,” “negotiable” or “optional.” Although the items were not ranked in order of priority, one item that the committee did agree was of paramount importance was ADA, or average daily attendance, funds recovery.
If the trend of student absences continues, the district stands to lose $600,000 in state funds.
Other possible cuts included increasing class size in grades 4-12, reducing administrator days by 10, freezing step and column increase for teachers, cutting technology by 5 percent, cutting elementary music and reducing administrative longevity bonuses by 20 percent.
The board will likely see the cuts under consideration on the agenda for the March 22 meeting.
