Those Cuts Were Never Seriously to be Considered

In response to my last post in the Patch, Claire made the following comment on the Patch:

What ever happened to the cuts they were going to make to the other areas of the budget. I remember a school board meeting where they looked at cuts but were told by the superintendent that they could not vote on them and they would be brought back to vote on at another meeting. Was that a farce? When will they be looking at those cuts?

This was my response:

Claire,

Those cuts were never seriously to be considered. Those were recommendations from Dr. Kayrell's advisory Budget Review Committee (BRC). For a couple years, I was the parent representative on the BRC until I realized  the purpose of the BRC was to provide cover for the Superintendent. The BRC is chaired by the Asst Sup. of Business Services, the district's CFO (Chief Financial Officer). The BRC is asked for input on the budget cuts process but they are never provided the information to provide useful input. The CFO spends most of the BRC meetings presenting the cuts Dr. Kayrell wants and then allows the last 15 minutes for the BRC to brainstorm while he actively discourages anything not in his plan.

In the school board's workshop, the CFO focused on two areas for cuts, busing and staff, and then allowed the board to brainstorm about the BRC's recommendations. Click here for my summary of the workshop.

Dr. Kayrell and the collective will of the board never intended voting on the BRC's recommendations. This was all done to appease Mr. Orozco and Mrs. Poulter's desire for transparency. The district will be transferring the busing to the city and the cuts to the staff have been exchanged for cuts to our kids' class time. This was the plan from the start and something I have been predicting. One thing I can say for the administration, they are predictable. This is why no public forums were held; the public just gets in the way.

I Believe Beaumont Unified School Board Will Honor Their Word

Last week, we learned from Beaumont Teachers Association (BTA) President, Jody Behrens-Blaul, that the teachers have reached an agreement with Beaumont Unified School District's administration to save 20 teachers' jobs and keep class sizes smaller. The BTA has agreed to 14 furlough days over the next two years. Link to the Patch article

I learned from a commenter on my Facebook Page, that this would result in 5 fewer school days each year for our kids. I have talked to a number of parents who favored larger class sizes over fewer instructional days. I have also heard from a few who believe the smaller class sizes are more important. One thing we all agreed on is someone - the administration, the school board or teachers - should have asked parents for our opinion. 

There is no report that the board or the administration has confirmed the agreement and we should wait until all the details are available. However, parents are already asking about what sacrifices the administrators, board trustees and superintendents will be making. Based on the promises made in the past by our administration and our school board President, Mrs. Lara, I believe they will honor their word and accept a comparable number of furlough days.

In the June 9th board meeting in 2009, the trustees authorized the reduction of compensation to board trustees and administrators. The reduction in their compensation was promised to be "comparable" to how much the teachers and classified employees agreed to. This move was part of the district's strategy to convince the teachers and classified employees to accept furlough days.

In April 2010, I told the board I believed the board and administration's promise that they would match the furlough days was an empty promise. Mrs. Lara, the current Board President, responded "We don't make any empty promises." Click here to read more

And in the April 29th board meeting this year, once again, we heard the administration touting their promise to match furlough days. Here's the link for this board meeting summary

I believe, and hope, the school board will require the administration to live up to their promise and share in the sacrifice they are asking the rest of us to make. 

CTA and CSBA Please Don't Accept Anymore Unfunded Mandates

In this week's board meeting, we heard School Board Member and State Assembly Candidate Mark Orozco talk about the CSBA's (California School Boards Association) decision to support both tax increase initiatives on the ballot in November. He went on to recommend the Beaumont Unified School Board follow the CSBA's example; I am sure we will be seeing a resolution in the near future. We also heard from the BTA (Beaumont Teachers Association) President, about how important it is to support the November tax initiatives.

During this same board meeting we heard from the site administrators' (principals) representative about how Federal and State mandates burdened the district to provide unfunded programs and services, programs such as transitional kindergarten and Common Core Standards. We often hear teachers and their union representatives complain about these same mandates. These Federal and State mandates, especially unfunded ones, are placing an undue burden on our school district budgets. This burden is magnified during the difficult economic environment.

The CTA (California Teacher's Association) is one of the most politically powerful organizations in our country. According to Mr. Orozco, the CSBA represents the largest body of elected officials in California. I don't agree with their stance on increasing taxes but I understand why these organizations use their power and influence to convince the people of California to make more sacrifices.

I'd like to see these two groups use their clout to push back on the mandates. What do you think would happen if the CSBA and the CTA were to tell the Governor, the President and their educational departments that we've had enough and refuse to follow any more unfunded mandates? Would California Department of Education punish every school district in the state? Would President Obama cut off all Federal funds for education to the largest state in an election year? How do you think Governor Brown and President Obama would respond to one of their largest financial supporters standing up for our kids?

Elementary busing history in Beaumont? When was someone going to tell us?

I learned today that home to school busing for all students, except special education students, will be taken over by the city. This is the reason for the start time changes. Look for red curbs to show up in your neighborhoods this summer.

I understand cuts have to be made and maybe busing is the best place. I wish they had at least considered my suggestion to fully evaluate the program after taking steps to increase ridership. Last year I took a lot of heat for questioning the safety of elementary school kids on the city buses. I now know that the buses will be exclusively for students on their way to and from school. I know the city bus drivers have all been properly screened.

My problem is not that the district has decided transportation is expendable. I have a problem with how I learned of this, by word of mouth. Last week we received a flyer telling us the new start and end times were an effort to deal with the budget but nothing about the busing was mentioned. None of my sources are employed by the school district or the city but I believe they are credible. In the past our school district has kept us in the dark about things such as the superintendent's contract extension and details of the new district office; it isn't too much of a stretch to believe we're in the dark again. Parents have to stick together to stay informed. If anyone can confirm or deny any of this, please do.

Assuming my sources are correct, a move like this has to have been in the works for some time. Our superintendents, a majority of our school board members, city council members, city manager, city and school district transportation managers had to of all known about this. Numerous approvals and planning  for an operation like this would have been necessary. If any of them were unaware this was in the works, they weren't doing their jobs. Why do we find out about this by word of mouth? Don't any of our elected officials believe we should have known about this some time ago? When was someone going to tell us?

Here are some other questions I hope to find the answers to:

• How much is it going to cost per student?
• Are the low income families who were receiving help with transportation costs from the school district going to have help now?
• Who will be setting the rules of conduct and who will be enforcing these rules?
• If there are kids causing problems for other kids, who is going to step in and take care of discipline?
• Doesn't our school board have to approve the elimination of busing before start and end times are changed?
• Don't we have the right to comment on this before the school board approves this?
• Am I the only one who is concerned?

It's Time To Stop Using Mandates For Excuses

In the comments to my last post on the Patch, I was taken to task for name calling and negativity. I got the message. I will end the name calling and try to be more positive. One commenter said he/she hopes I am elected to the school board “for the education you sorely need about mandates and counterproductive state and federal laws”.  I am very familiar with the challenges that federal and state mandates present to our schools and how they make it difficult for our administrators.  

However, I don’t see how these mandates prevent our school district from involving parents more in the decisions and planning for our kids’ education. I don’t see where the mandates require $15 million of our property taxes, money we authorized for fixing and improving our schools, to be used for a sports complex. Many of our neighboring school districts who operate under the same mandates have built stadiums and athletic fields for much less. I don’t know of any mandates that force our school district to spend $12 million on a new district office. I don’t believe mandates excuse misusing our kids’ resources and placing obstacles in the way of parents who want more details about where money is being spent.

It is true our elementary schools are earning outstanding test scores but our middle schools and high school aren’t doing as well. Many parents are taking their kids out of our schools and going to private schools and charter schools in neighboring districts. I believe with more parent involvement and a more cooperative attitude by our district leaders towards parents and employees of BUSD, we can provide parents the choice and opportunities they are looking for elsewhere and turn around our middle and high schools.

I am tired of hearing how the mandates are holding us back. We need leadership in our schools that will stop making excuses and start including parents in finding solutions that will provide our kids the best chance to succeed.