Eighty-two empty chairs. The site of row after row of plastic
seats below the stage at Ann Sobrato High School’s auditorium
perpetuated a few gasps from the audience Thursday night once the
reason for 82 was revealed.
Eighty-two empty chairs. The site of row after row of plastic seats below the stage at Ann Sobrato High School’s auditorium perpetuated a few gasps from the audience Thursday night once the reason for 82 was revealed.
“That’s how many have been laid off since 2008. Eighty-two employees,” Sobrato teacher Donna Ruebusch said.
The dramatic amount of layoffs at Morgan Hill Unified School District was the result of $11 million in cuts at the district over the last three years and it’s representative of how deep in debt the state of California is.
Jonathan Kaplan, an educational policy analyst from the nonprofit group California Budget Project, described the future of public education to an auditorium of more than 100 students (earning civic class credit), parents and teachers during a free presentation.
He described what most in the audience already knew – California is in trouble and with it public education, which now ranks as 47th in the United States based on per-pupil spending.
MHUSD spends about $4,800 per student each year, which shocked Kaplan, since the state average is around $7,000. He said a district in Napa is currently provided $17,000 per student each year. The discouraging difference is due to the complicated rules of Prop 98, which requires 40 percent of the state’s budget to go toward education and also fixed property values at the rate of Prop 13 – good for property tax-payers, but not beneficial for school districts like MHUSD because their rate of return is based on property values of the low-wealth farming community of 20 years ago.
“It’s shocking the real disparity in funding in Morgan Hill and the rest of the state. As the ride rises and falls for the state, it’s going to rise and fall relative to Morgan Hill,” Kaplan said. He encouraged the crowd to contact their state legislators and voice their concerns.
“It’s encouraging to know that people do care. But we need to translate that polling data into action,” Kaplan said.
Superintendent Wes Smith echoed Kaplan’s message and had his own advice.
“The only ray of light in this thing, at the local level we have people who care,” Smith said. He commented on the better relationship and cooperation among the district staff and its school sites, as well with the seven-member board of trustees; all of whom were in the audience Thursday night.
“Only three states care less about their students than California. That’s the bottom line. In the 1980s, we were in the top five in funding and achievement,” Smith said, who was hired in 2009. “It’s not just a coincidence.”
At the start of the PowerPoint presentation and relaxed question-and-answer session, Kaplan asked the audience, of four choices which did the state provide the most funding for: health and social services, higher education, K through 12 education or the prison system. Hands raised for all four choices, but the correct answer is kindergarten through 12th-grade education, which is given 42 percent of the state’s $84.6 billion budget for 2011-12.
“If we want to do something about our prison system, for goodness sakes, let’s make sure our kids are in school and learning. Let’s give a better education for our kids. Let’s get them hooked on education,” Smith said. His comments were met with an eruption of applause.
“Caring isn’t enough,” parent Mary Patterson said. Her two children attend Los Paseos Elementary and she suggested parents and students take a weekend drive to Sacramento to make their point to lawmakers. “People are sitting and caring too much and not acting,” she said. “Let’s talk parcel tax, too. We could each pay $20 on our property, that could do a lot.”
Smith also mentioned “parcel tax” during his time at the microphone, and said it would be a part of discussions more frequently in the future. The tax, of whatever amount the board of trustees vote upon, would go to a vote by district residents and would have to outline what it would fund. The first step is likely a dedicated board study session about the idea, as board President Peter Mandel has previously suggested.
Former councilwoman Marby Lee asked the panel on stage of Smith, Kaplan, deputy superintendent Bonnie Tognazzini, Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers’ president Theresa Sage and MHFT treasurer Terri Knudsen if parcel tax revenue would fund the Charter School of Morgan Hill.
Smith said that would be up to the board and what the public wants to do.
“It should go to every public school in the district,” Lee said.
If you missed it, the presentation can be viewed at www.mhu.k12.ca.us.
