School district administrators have repeatedly said they’ve
attempted to keep cuts as far from the classroom as possible. A
Times analysis shows that most of the cuts have a direct impact on
students.
Morgan Hill
School district administrators have repeatedly said they’ve attempted to keep cuts as far from the classroom as possible.
A Times analysis shows that most of the cuts have a direct impact on students. But, given the swaths cut from the district’s budget – about a 10 percent chunk of its general fund – could impacting students have been avoided? Some district officials say yes; some say no.
Superintendent Alan Nishino says administrators have taken the biggest hit in this round of cuts, but he has also increased the number of administrators each year since he was hired in June 2005, leaving plenty to cut from.
Nishino said the district has made cuts that will have the smallest effect on students’ progress.
“We’re already affecting them, but we have to be in survival mode,” he said.
SEIU President Pam Torrisi said it’s true that many district office positions were eliminated. But, so far, no district administrator has actually been laid off.
“They trimmed the budget here and there, but as far as bodies, no,” Torrisi said. “If you’re losing your custodian, or the person bringing you your food, or someone’s losing their instructional aide – that’s not far from the classroom or the school site.”
These cuts also worried Federation of Teachers Union Vice President Theresa Sage.
“We’re cutting (special education resource) teachers, aides, speech therapists,” Sage said. “The reality is, everybody is making tough cuts and having to go to ratio, when administration is not at ratio. Yet we’re cutting in the classroom.”
Over the past 24 months, the Morgan Hill Unified School District Board of Trustees approved cuts totaling nearly $9 million. District administrators and the board of trustees bemoan the gash to their general fund, saying their hands are for the most part tied by union contracts and state and federal regulations. What’s left are hard decisions, some of which have huge implications for students.
1a. Teachers: $400,000. The cuts that have the most direct impact on students are teachers. Two secondary teachers and one elementary music teacher were laid off during the 2008/09 reductions. Eight teachers – from the remaining elementary music teacher to kindergarten teachers awaiting the class size reduction decision – could be laid off come May 14. District secondary students lost three counselors, and two secondary art teachers were laid off.
1b. Increasing kindergarten class size: $160,000. It’s generally accepted that the fewer students in a classroom the better; more individualized attention translates to better learning. Morgan Hill’s 500 to 600 kindergartners next year – and their teachers – are in for a rude awakening if this option, which would increase kindergarten class size to the contracted 30 students per teacher, is approved by the school board Monday.
This decision has the trustees split – some say it’s not as important as saving SEIU jobs and avoiding lawsuits by keeping up with mandated restroom cleaning; others say the community has made clear that low class sizes are important to them.
- Closing Burnett: $400,000. About 700 students will be directly affected by Burnett Elementary School’s closure. Burnett students will find themselves on a new campus next year, P.A. Walsh Elementary School. While the teacher-to-student ratio will stay the same, teachers will have fewer support staff to lean on: the closure will mean two fewer office workers, one fewer custodian and one principal.
“It’s a lovely school, with great traditions. Teachers worked there for huge amounts of years, there’s a community there, and they like to look out their window and see beautiful scenery and have space for children to run. That’s going to be a loss,” Trustee Kathy Sullivan said of Burnett. “But I happen to think students are more resilient than adults. I think they’ll weather it pretty well. There will be pain and heartache for them, I’d be naive to think it wouldn’t be hard. But it makes sense financially.”
- Special education: $252,000. District officials say these aren’t cuts, they’re just staffing to the state’s approved ratio and not renewing contracts. But the speech therapists who will see an increased workload disagree.
“Do I wish that we didn’t have to give speech therapists the extra amount of work? Yes of course, but everybody is taking on extra work,” Sullivan said. “Will it be stressful for them? Yes. But I count on them to be the professionals they are.”
- Elementary library clerks: $80,000. Library clerks assist teachers and students in keeping each school’s library organized, and help students find a book that matches their tastes and keep them interested in reading.
“Their impact is so strong,” Torrisi said. “In elementary school, they bring the kids in, read them a story and teach them how to use the library.”
4b. Secondary clerks: $650,000. Who calls a student from class to give them their lunch? Who compiles attendance? Who greets parents and other visitors to the campus? The front office personnel are the “meet-and-greet” staff of the schools, Torrisi said.
- Remaining balance: $1,098,500. Deputy Superintendent Bonnie Tognazzini froze district spending early this year and last year, with the intent to catch bits and pieces of the general fund that will total a million dollars. This has and will affect school supplies and staffing for special projects, travel and conferences. District officials also expect to save $80,000 from reduced electricity costs this year.
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Textbooks: $650,000. The district is required to replace some textbooks every year; however, the state relaxed this rule and Morgan Hill Unified will join other districts in applying for a waiver to skip next year’s textbook purchase.
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Leaky roof fund: $1,614,000. The state mandates that each district have 3 percent of their general fund set aside for “routine repairs and maintenance;” for Morgan Hill, this means patching leaky roofs. Because of the budget fiasco, legislators made an exception and the district will only repair potentially hazardous building problems. The district dipped into this fund at mid-year, and will again use it next year.
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Custodians and buses: $683,000. District schools have been pampered in years past, compared to the treatment they’ll get with fewer custodians – again – next year. Two custodians were approved for layoffs for 2009/10, joining six who lost their jobs this year. During the mid-year cuts in December, the district saved $50,000 when they cut supplies and contracted services from transportation.
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Closing pools: $100,000. This yet-to-be approved option, which would close the pools for part of the year, has irked parents and students who participate in water polo and swimming.
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Walk-on coaches: $7,000.
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Grounds: $65,000. Officials saved through fewer tree trimmings and less lawn mowing.
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District office: $1,376,200. Restructuring will save most jobs in the district office next fiscal year. At the beginning of this fiscal year, district administrators took advantage of two openings left by Director of Student Services Bob Davis and Director of Migrant Education Ricardo Amador. Their positions were eliminated.
Fiscal services cut three positions. Two maintenance workers lost hours and an assistant principal was laid off last year. Next year, a tryout position, grant writer Dan Ehrler, will be eliminated unless a hefty grant comes Morgan Hill’s way. The vacant Director of Construction position was also eliminated.
“I think our district office is run very efficiently,” trustee Peter Mandel said. “You can focus on whether or not you can make one more cut or restore one more person, but spending a lot of time weighing that is not going to resolve the crisis we’re in.”
- Reserve: $1,184,000. This year, California’s districts can reduce the required minimum reserve from 3 percent of the general fund to 1.5 percent.
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Furlough?: $260,000. If both unions agree, the district could save $260,000 per day for one or two days off without pay for all district employees. This would be a non-school day, keeping the school year at 180 days. Federation of Teachers and SEIU representatives have said they’d like to have more cooperation from district administrators before they agree to a furlough.
Some trustees resented the phrase “cuts close to the classroom” in the first place.
“The problem is, every single thing we do affects the classroom,” Trustee Julia Hover-Smoot said. “That any particular job is ‘as far from the classroom as possible’ is not honest or truthful, because every single person is working towards the child in the classroom.”
Trustee Mike Hickey said phrases like “keep the cuts far from the classroom” are not practical.
“I never make statements like that. I don’t believe in statements like that. I believe in, ‘Make the cuts based on what is best for the district at large,” he said.
Trustees Bart Fisher said the cuts they’ve made already will affect Morgan Hill’s students; the question now is how to minimize those effects.
“Students will maybe notice that their teachers are more distracted, that the adults have a little more on their shoulders, and that can affect learning, but look, we’re looking at unprecedented amounts of money we have to cut,” Fisher said.
Trustee Shelle Thomas said she’d prefer to comment after all the cuts were made.
Board President Don Moody was unavailable for comment.
