March 25, 2005

Third step of ESUHSD Budget Task Force meetings continues

By Stephanie Foo
Times Intern

The East Side Union High School District’s Budget Task Force met March 14 to continue making suggestions on resolving the district’s staggering budget deficit totaling more than $15 million. This number includes a more than $6 million deficit for this school year and an estimated $9 million-plus deficit next year.

(From left) ESUHSD Superintendent Esperanza Zendejas, with her cabinet members at her side, addresses a question at the March 14 Budget Task Force meeting.

In addition to the committee—which is composed of teachers, members of the board, students, community members and representatives from many ESUHSD programs—about 40 people attended this meeting in the third step of the process, “exploring possible scenarios.”

In-depth analysis with questions or comments on any one suggestion was postponed until later meetings.

“We will talk about problems in the budget process and answer questions about it,” board president Manuel Herrera said. “There will be other opportunities for comments, but tonight, that’s not what we’re doing.”

Five period day?
Some concerned citizens brought up the proposal of the five-period day and other programs, but Herrera dismissed the discussion until after the district’s administration makes a presentation to the Budget Task Force on April 5.

BTF Project Manager Joel Herrera writes down committee suggestions.

“When we have the presentation we will have more information and pursue ideas further—right now the [five-period day] idea is not fully developed. It is in a preliminary, unofficial, not fully formed state. There is no bottom line proposal yet,” Herrera said.

“I had hoped the administration could make a presentation this week,” Herrera explained, “but they have been overwhelmed in regards to the March 15 notices. They will present during the next meeting on what possible ways the budget crisis could be amended from an administrative perspective.”

All participants received a list with 91 savings suggestions, many from the previous meeting, along with each suggestion’s impact, its cost, whether it represents a one-time saving or ongoing savings and other brief comments.

Some suggestions included increasing class size, using the Quimby land sale proceeds, cutting all employees’ salaries and reducing staff including teachers, librarians and advisors.

A teacher protests the March 15 layoff notices that were sent to almost 800 employees of the district.

The board went over the list briefly to ensure its accuracy for future review when the committee begins choosing which proposals to put into effect. They eliminated duplications and adjusted the impact of certain suggestions, such as closing alternative education schools, which could generate savings as high as $2.6 million and would have a major—not “minor” or “moderate”—impact on the budget.

“By the next meeting on April 5…we’ll have this list cleaned up and reformatted,” Herrera assured. He also promised “if things have legs, they will be decided on. We’ll have questions and further analysis. Other items, which don’t draw attention, will sit on the record until something pulls them forward.”

Brainstormed
The committee also brainstormed more ideas to add to the list, which were all recorded. Again, discussion was very brief, if at all. Some suggestions included pursuing corporate sponsorship, reassessing magnet programs, using in-house suspension to increase average daily attendance (ADA) and asking parents to reimburse the district for lost ADA due to unexcused absences.

Herrera also encouraged community and committee members to contribute as many ideas as they could.

“If there are any more ideas, please communicate them to Joel Herrera and he will communicate them to the district,” he said. Joel Herrera, the Budget Task Force project manager, can be reached at HerreraJ@esuhsd.org.

The meeting closed with Herrera gathering a small group of volunteer committee members to organize financial information and prepare for the next budget meeting.

“The purpose of the small group is to take more than 80 suggestions that have been made and put them into a framework that can be more easily discussed by a group by certain criteria…,” said Herrera.

“We’re going to use criteria to sort these suggestions into different ways; not only by potential savings, but by obstacle, or by whether it can be implemented immediately or not,” he explained. “There’s just a sorting, framing format job that needs to be done, and my concern is that if we just leave it all to the administration, which is overwhelmed by now, it may not even get done until right before the next meeting and it may not be done to our satisfaction.”

Members of the group included East Side Teacher’s Association (ESTA) President Don McKell, businesswoman Kathy Chavez-Napoli, Santa Theresa High parent Jon Reinke and Evergreen High parent Frank Biehl.

“The people who have volunteered—these are people with business experience, with school district program and finance experience, they’re very sophisticated people,” Herrera said. “So we’ll be able to do a lot of the work and help the administration prepare what we want for the next task force meeting.”

The next Budget Task Force meetings take place April 5 and 11 at 6 p.m. at Evergreen High School.