February 25, 2005

Budget Task Force meeting begins stakeholder presentations

Next meetings are Feb. 28, March 2

By Stephanie Foo
Times Intern

About 40 people attended East Side Union High School District’s (ESUHSD) last budget task force meeting Feb. 8 to participate in the second step of the task force process: listening to presentations from district stakeholders.

Members of the panel prepare for the task force meeting.

The presentations are intended to illustrate the importance of various programs and aid the decision of what to trim from the district’s budget burdened with a $5.5 million deficit this school year and even greater deficits on the horizon.

A committee comprised of parents, students, board members and representatives from each school presides over these budget-focused community forums, open to anyone interested in better understanding the challenges the district faces.

“The goal of the task force process is to have extraordinary conversations to reflect the opinions of key stakeholders, constituents and individuals,” said J. Manuel Hererra, president of the board of trustees. “It’s an open process for any individual to participate in.”

“How do we decide when all programs are of value and are critically needed?” Hererra asked. “We need every bit of what we have. There is no part of a program’s framework that is not needed. The dilemma that faces our district is how do you approach this challenge to downsize or cut back?”

Representatives for the district librarians, the district counselors, the Andrew Hill High School medical magnet program and the Metropolitan Education District each presented their case at the task force meeting.

The counselors
The district counselors were led by counseling coordinator Martha Taylor. She emphasized that counselors bring revenue to the district rather than incur large costs.

Counseling Coordinator Martha Taylor presents her case before the panel.

The district receives $43.57 per student a day from the state, according to Taylor. If 40 counselors can get 10 more children to come to school for 10 more days in the school year, the total revenue is $174,280 a year.

If a counselor keeps one child from dropping out and gets him to come to school 160 days out of the school year, that comes to $6,971 a year—multiplied by four students, the amount grows to $27,000. If 40 counselors each bring in four students, the total revenues are $1,115,392.00.

“Counseling is not looked at as a revenue generator, as it is a softer, kinder field,” Taylor said. “But it is a tremendous source of revenue.”

But counselors are not just a source of income.

“Counselors may not be in a classroom that has four walls, but we’re responsible for hundreds of hundreds of students in those classrooms. We’re helping them with decisions they need to make as far as graduating from high school and going on with their plans, be it college or jobs or whatever. And, [we’re helping them] navigate the whole process of growing up and dealing with systems and trying to get an idea of what they want in life and how to get there,” Taylor said.

Librarians
“Students need to know how to locate, analyze and process information,” Leigh Ann McGrady, Ever-green High School librarian said. “Most curriculums have a research component, but teachers are not necessarily trained for it … while librarians are.”

McGrady, along with Mt. Pleasant librarian Chris Evans, countered the district’s decision to cut library hours and its suggestion to employ library technicians instead of fully credentialed librarians.

“That’s like asking, ‘What’s the difference between someone who is really darn good at math and a math teacher?” Evans said.

“We are research and reading teachers, not just librarians. Would you send your son or daughter to a university without librarians?” asked Pat Hedstrom, librarian from Piedmont Hills.

School libraries are not only for checking out books, McGrady said. They are often used for students to spend time before and after school and during free periods, and librarians are the only ones qualified to supervise these children.

Students also attend library practice courses as classes.

“We give kids elective credits,” Evans said. “They can receive a letter grade.”

The extensive collections of books in the libraries would also be difficult to maintain without librarians.
“Our book selection needs to grow and evolve to meet the curriculum,” McGrady explained.

“Without librarians, there is no-one to make that selection.”

Health professions magnet
Andrew Hill’s Medical Magnet program was started in 1989 and currently serves about 500 students. The classes prepare students for careers in the biotechnology, nursing and pharmaceutical industries.

“When we had more money we were able to have sports medicine and veterinarian classes, which attracts students and helps them grab on to something and stay with it through high school,” said Marilyn Bliss, coordinator of the program.

Bliss explained the purpose of the program and its contribution to the school. She said that the program encourages many students to graduate from high school and keeps them from dropping out.

“We had a number of students who wanted to be doctors…95 percent of our [medical magnet] students graduate from high school, while 75 percent from Andrew Hill graduate … and 95 percent go off to college,” she said. “The students are connected with the program, so they go on to college and are able to be successful.”

Since students in the program do not drop out of school, Bliss said that the program generates revenue for the district. The cost of the magnet program is partially funded by many companies that support it.

Johnson and Johnson gave $110,000 to the program, The Growth Foundation donated $5,000 per student and others have also donated money. The cost of the magnet program to the district comes out to $67,000.

Bliss presented information that the program will bring in a projected $304,000. It will achieve a net gain of $237,300 or $475 per student.

Metropolitan Education District
The Metropolitan Education District runs the Central County Occupational Center (CCOC.) Students attend occupational training at CCOC for half the day, and spend the other half of the day at school.

The Metropolitan Education District’s presentation was not focused on protecting their program. Since the Metropolitan Education District is not part of ESUHSD, the CCOC program is not threatened and budget cuts would not directly affect it. Instead, Tim Hallet the district’s superintendent and Paul Hay, chief business director suggested a means of generating revenue using CCOC.

By creating 20 more high school occupational courses and adding 400 ESUHSD students to CCOC, the district can generate a profit, Hallet said.

“When you take those students out of your classes, you are able to hire fewer teachers to teach those students,” said Hay. “And you still get paid for those students because they’ll attend your school.”

At best, Hay said, the district could generate a total of $955,256 in savings and income per year by helping create the new courses. Even if the courses are not completely successful, he said a conservative estimate would still generate $570,634.

“There are accounting classes—two each at Oak Grove and Independence—that are easily converted to [Regional Occupational Program] classes. The course outlines are approved … all we need for you to do is say yes tonight and we can make you $68,000,” Hay said. “We want to make you our largest client, like ESUHSD once was.”

But enacting the plan is not as simple as it may appear. Many do not approve of taking courses outside the district.

“This has been proposed before … the challenge is that teachers are not as enthusiastic about the change in curriculum,” said ESUHSD Superintendent Esperanza Zendejas. “We have seen that at Mt. Pleasant. Our staff would rather keep their curriculum. East Side has many students participating in CCOC—400 plus—so I don’t want to sound like we’re not participating. But we’ve got some resistance from faculty and teachers. The district is considering utilizing this, but there has to be a willingness from schools.”

There are also time constraints for the decision.

“The March open house is critical. You have to start making a decision because we have to get the kids down there to take a look,” said Hallet.

However, Herrera seemed doubtful of the deadline, “we won’t even have a decision in March.”

The decision
In the end, neither the superintendent nor the board of trustees will solely decide what the cuts will be. The committee will have a large say in the matter.

“This committee is going to go through a series of scenarios. Once the scenarios are discussed, then probably from there, recommendations will surface,” Zendejas explained. “I bring the expert witness information with some of the issues the district has, but overall the people in this committee are the experts in the jobs and the roles of the district.”

The next two budget task force meetings will be held on Monday, Feb. 28 and Wednesday, March 2 at 6 p.m. at Evergreen Valley High School. The presentations by the stakeholders will continue at these meetings. Concerned citizens are encouraged to attend.

“The process gives everybody an opportunity to hear and see the same thing and to understand,” Zendejas said.