A group of parents this week protested in front of the Morgan
Hill Unified School District offices, angry that five temporary
teachers were let go. The reason? About 228 fewer students this
year than anticipated are enrolled, forcing the district to let the
teachers go.
A group of parents this week protested in front of the Morgan Hill Unified School District offices, angry that five temporary teachers were let go. The reason? About 228 fewer students this year than anticipated are enrolled, forcing the district to let the teachers go.
Now, the parents – who have every right to protest when they see something they believe is wrong – say they understand the financial constraints the district is under, and that their beef is that the teacher replacing the one let go is not prepared.
And that brings us to the dilemma we face as a community.
Since 2008, the district has cut more than $16 million, leaving very little fat left to cut. Sure, you can quibble about the superintendent’s salary and that of his administrators, but the bottom line is with fewer students, the district needed to cut another $1.4 million, forcing officials to let the teachers go.
“Times like these do not allow us to take budgetary risks,” Superintendent Wes Smith said in a statement released Monday.
Up until this point, taxpayers have felt very little pain from the cuts. Class sizes have been increased slightly, some administrative jobs have been consolidated or cut, one school was closed, but no real pain.
That’s coming to an end, and soon, and it’s time to get serious about what we want as a community.
The district is floating ideas about a parcel tax, issuing bonds, or a local sales tax to raise revenues just to keep the district operating at its current level. Is it time to do what other communities have done and put a revenue-generating measure on the ballot? That’s the question we, as a community need to answer. In 2010, Los Altos, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, and Los Gatos-Saratoga all passed measures that help fund their schools.
The tipping point is coming and unless we do something soon, the cuts parents are now protesting will get progressively worse.
So, here’s our choice. Feel the pain that is surely coming, or start paying more locally to fund our schools and hire the best teachers.
