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Links to More Information
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Las Lomitas School District
1011 Altschul Ave
Menlo Park, California 94025
650-854-2880
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Dear Parents and Staff,
Welcome to the first edition of our electronic "News and Views." Old-timers and some young-timers will remember that in years past the superintendent would publish a mailer of that title two or three times a year, and I even did one my first year in the district. Mainly, however, I have relied on individual articles in the school newsletters or on "email blasts" to parents and staff when I have important messages to convey. But with email being such a convenient and economical way of getting crucial information out quickly, I have decided to revive the "News and Views" format but in pixels instead of ink and paper.
My goal is to provide up-to-date information on topics that you wouldn't normally find in our two outstanding school newsletters which we respectfully refer to as "The Spot and Roar." So look here for information on larger District issues and know that the school newsletters are where you'll find calendars and announcements about school events.I imagine that this will be a monthly effort with some variation as warranted when "new" news occurs.
Sincerely, Eric Hartwig
Superintendent
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Town Hall Update
A Continuation of Our Discussions Last Week
I would like to say a huge "thank-you" to all the parents
who came out to my Town Hall meetings last week. Nearly 200 people attended and
we were able to delve into the causes and solutions to our current budget challenges. If you weren't able to attend, you can access the PowerPoint
presentation by clicking here and scrolling through by using the up and down arrows. There is a great deal
of information concerning financial and class size trends in this presentation. The meetings were very thought provoking and provided some
new ideas that I and our board of trustees will explore. Frequently raised
questions included:
- What is our exact need?
By the end of the 2011-12 school year, we need to make cuts of ongoing
expenses or find new ongoing revenue that total about $2,000,000 per year.
This number could be less or could be driven up by new developments.
- Why can't we use our reserves to tide
us over?
Actually, we've been doing just that: In the current year we will be
spending over $589,000 of reserves on operating expenses, and for next
year the figure is $1,109,000. But we can't do this forever, and we must
cease deficit spending by 2011-12. Meanwhile, we are looking closely at
our reserve policy to see whether there is any further flexibility.
- How are we saving money next year?
- Hiring
Freeze $660,000
- Improvements
in Special Education 250,000
- Administrative
Cutback 114,000
- Budget
Shifts 160,000
- Streamline
Summer School 22,000
Total
Savings, 2010-11
$1,206,000 - How much do we need to save money in
the following year?
- Current
projections show that we will need to find another $450,000 - $750,000 in
ongoing savings for 2011-12 in order to get out of deficit spending by
the end of that year. Of course this number could go up or down due to
changes in the state economic picture.
- How can we close the gap by the end of
2011-12?
- Develop
additional revenues, either through improving state finances or by
passing a local parcel tax. This is being explored by our board of
trustees.
- Employees
agreeing to modifications in pay structure or work year through the
collective bargaining process. Negotiations are currently in progress.
- Cutting
back specific programs at school sites or the district office. A process
will begin in September, 2010 to identify programs that could be cut and
decisions will be made in time to meet the March 15th deadline
for certificated staff to be notified of possible layoffs.
- What are class sizes projected to be
next year?
Average class size for K - 3rd grades will be 23
Average class size for 4th - 5th grades will be 26.3
Average class size for 6th - 8th grades will be 25.7
For more detailed information go to slides 28 - 36 of the Town Hall
presentation mentioned above.
- Why are class sizes going up even
though the Foundation had a successful year?
Each year the Foundation makes a very generous gift that includes money to
hire extra teachers, which helps lower class sizes. This year the District
paid for 8 teachers with money from the Foundation, but for the past two
years the recession has caused a drastic reduction in our basic operating
revenues while at the same time our enrollments have been moving upward. In
light of this reality, the new gift from the Foundation will still be used
to bring down class sizes, but it can't completely cover the $ 1.6 million
that we've lost over the past two years. Without the anticipated gift from
the Foundation for next year, class sizes next year would increase by an
additional 2 -4 students per class
at Las Lomitas, for example, and students would experience fewer
enrichment opportunities.
- How can we help?
- If
the district decides to mount a parcel tax campaign, support that effort
- Donate
to the Foundation
- Understand
that next year's class sizes are still quite low compared to surrounding
districts, thanks to the support of our Foundation
- Remember
that these adjustments are temporary and that we will do everything
possible to restore traditional class sizes as funding becomes available
While this didn't come up in the Town Hall meetings, I do
want to describe how we identified and prioritized budget cuts. - We surveyed teachers and staff to
identify potential areas to examine for cuts,
- We met with the PTAs and Foundation to
describe the magnitude of the cuts and the potential cuts we were
considering
- Staff and administration helped to prioritize
proposed cuts to keep the cuts as far away from the students as possible.
- The governing board discussed the
District budget and potential cuts at each monthly board meeting (these meetings
are open to the public), and ultimately approved $1,206,000 in budget cuts
for the coming year.
School board meetings are open to the public, and minutes
and agendas are available on the District website by clicking here.
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The Latest on the State Budget
How Does the May Revision Affect LLESD?
After the Governor released his May Revision of his proposed budget for next year, I joined about 60 other superintendents of basic aid distircts in a conference call,
getting the first pass analysis of the May Revise. You've seen it in the
paper last weekend, so here's the short version:
1.) No, or almost no, new cuts for K-12......which will make other
interest groups angry but we should remember the huge cuts that we've
been budgeting since January. But still, this is good, because we can
now plan on the numbers that I shared at last week's Town Hall meetings.
2.) The $300K (for us) "new" cut remains; we'd hoped that it would be rescinded, but at least it didn't go up!
3.) The big "if" of all this is that the Governor seems to be
washing his hands of all this; he's thrown a budget to the legislature that
has huge social services cuts, while "protecting" education. Now the
legislature is going to have at it, and the longer it goes, the more
likely it is that the underlying principles (i.e. "sparing" education further cuts)could be turned upside down.
The Democrats aren't likely to swallow the new cuts, and the Republicans
aren't likely to allow any new taxes,,,,,,,,,,, and in the process of
finding a balanced budget, education could end up taking some more major
hits.
Another thing I did late Friday was take a new look at local property
tax assessments. The growth number has been hovering at about +.8% but we normally apply a 1.0 to 1.5% cushion to that to account for the final
reassessments that trickle in. Now, property tax growth for our district appears to be +.2% and still declining, so our new forecast sheets will have a -.75% instead of the zero
percent that we've been using. This will add about $100K to our
structural deficit.
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Employee Negotiations
Classified Employees
Classified employees include secretaries, classroom aides (paraprofessionals), custodians, bus drivers, and maintenance and grounds staff. They are represented by the California School Employees Association (CSEA) and their collective bargaining agreement with the district runs through June 30, 2011 but provides for "re-openers" for salary and benefits and two additional items for the current and next school year. So far, neither side has requested to re-open negotiations and thus no active bargaining is going on. The contract with CSEA can be found by clicking here.
Certificated Employees
Certificated employees are teachers, counselors, and librarians, and they are represented by the Las Lomitas Education Association, an affiliate of the California Teachers' Association, which is an affiliate of the National Education Association. The District recently concluded negotiations with this group in January of this year for the 2008-09 school year. Key elements of this collective bargaining agreement (salary, work hours, evaluation procedures, etc.) remain in force even though the contract has expired. A copy of the current teachers' contract (or collective bargaining agreement) can be found by clicking here.
The District is currently bargaining with the LLEA on for the 2009-10 school year; these efforts could yield a one-year, two-year, or three-year contract. The process began when the district submitted its proposals last January and the LLEA responded with its proposals in April. Commonly called "sun-shining," this public exchange of ideas guarantees that all staff and members of the public will know what is being discussed at the bargaining table. For a look at these initial proposals, click here.
Non-Represented Employees
The district has about a dozen employees who are not represented by any union; these are mainly the school administrators and district office managers and administrators. They do not bargain for benefits or working conditions and do not have a collective bargaining agreement; rather they work under contract to the district on an individual basis at the pleasure of the board. Their salaries and benefits generally work in the same fashion as the teachers' but are not explicitly linked to them.
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Thank you for your interest in our district and for your support.
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