[img]332|left|Dr. Myrna Rivera Cote||no_popup[/img] The Culver City Unified School District has earned a well-deserved reputation for academic excellence and outstanding student programs.
I am confident that our outstanding employees, community support and sheer determination will be the fuel that propels our 6,600 students to even greater heights in the years ahead.
With the unpredictable nature of state funding a constant reality, our School Board and our staff will continue to strive to make every penny count. At the same time, the School District relies on the benevolence of its friends and supporters, particularly the Culver City Education Foundation.
Our Education Foundation has started an Empower our Schools donation fund in an effort to replenish a partial amount of our schools’ depleted funds for 2009-2010.
Management employees have joined me in pledging to donate at least 1 percent of our salaries to this fund. It is my hope that the other two unions will do the same. The money collected will go directly back to our schools, with expenditures to be decided by School Site Councils. Please join us in our fundraising efforts. Additional information is available on the home page of our website, www.ccusd.org
The reality of the situation is that the School Board and administrative staff continue to struggle with the latest round of difficult and challenging cuts to our School District budget.
Nothing could have prepared us for the considerable mid-year budget cuts we have just received; the significant additional cuts to our 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 budgets; and the promise that future funding for education will continue to be a low priority in the state of California. State Supt.of Public Instruction,Jack O’Connell labeled the most recent budget cuts as “…nothing short of breathtaking.”
On March 10, the School Board approved budget cuts totaling $3,775,940. Every attempt was made to keep the cuts as far away from the classroom as possible; however, with 93.3 percent of our unrestricted funds paying for personnel, every cut inevitably affected people we know well — people who work at the next desk, in the adjacent classroom or office, or on the playground.
And cuts to personnel hurt everyone, especially in a small, close-knit school district like ours. Sixteen of the cuts came from the Administrative Offices, but a number of other cuts are from the schools themselves.
The members of the School Board asked many questions, pushed for additional information, and struggled with each and every budget cut.
Below, please find an accurate list of the cuts made at the March 10 Board meeting.
• Freeze of all non-essential purchases; travel/conferences; new hires; vacancy replacements
• Renegotiate all contracts (copy machines, website, Galileo, Public Relations, etc.)
• Increase District-wide energy savings
• Accounting Technician
• Duplicating and Mail Clerk
• Clerk Typist II
• Account Clerk III
• Personnel Office Clerk
• Budget Analyst/Advisor
• Eliminate administrative interim replacements
• 11 Teachers on Special Assignment
• Car Driver
• Maintenance Glazier
• Custodian
• Elementary Library Clerk
• AP Minimum Class Size of 20
• Middle School Assistant Principal
• Secretary I
• In-School Suspension program
• Security Officer
• Board members’ travel allowance
• 9th Grade Class-Size Reduction
• K-3 average class size increased to 22:1
• Secretary I
• Consultant I
• Consultant II
• Assistant Director, Child Welfare and Attendance
• ROP Coordinator
• Additional classroom set of textbooks for Middle School students
• 3 Counselors
• Return Computer Lab Instructional Assistants to original hours
• Reduce summer school to state reimbursement level
• Special Day Class Teacher (based on student numbers)
• 5 Instructional Assistants (non-mandated Special Education)
• ½ funding for Secretary II
Unfortunately, our budget-cutting process is not complete.
We face Education Code mandates and negotiated agreements that will force us to make additional cuts before we receive critical fiscal information from the state and federal governments.
There are many challenges ahead. California’s recently adopted spending plan also calls for a direct reduction to specific categorical programs that impact our schools. And despite the final adoption of a state budget, our state’s finances remain quite tenuous,
Myrna Rivera Cote is Superintendent of the School District.
