A message to all five members of the School Board in advance of tonight’s 7 o’clock meeting at School District headquarters to review potential budget cuts.
Dear School Board Member:
As a recent addition to your Community Budget Advisory Committee, it is clear to me that no one yet fully understands what our admittedly very painful budget situation is (the state budget and federal stimulus just passed a few days ago).
Nor does anyone understand what the ramifications of many of the proposed budget cuts will actually be to our students, teachers and staff.
We just don't have enough information yet.
Neither will you by tonight’s vote on budget cuts.
Furthermore, the public needs a chance to be informed and give comment before cuts as severe as many of those under consideration are voted on.
I'm on CBAC, and I don't yet know what some of the cuts will actually mean.
I do know that some cuts will not be detailed until tonight when you'll be asked to vote on them.
So how can the public at-large be informed and weigh in?
These are very important decisions that could severely damage our schools. They shouldn't be rushed, in my opinion.
None of this is a criticism of staff, who can't possibly be expected to analyze the ramifications of budget and stimulus deals that are just coming to light.
Staff had to tell CBAC that they hadn't yet had a chance to analyze the effects of the state budget deal (because it had just passed).
I certainly feel I'm trying to protect the kids and classrooms as much as possible, but I don't feel I, or other CBAC members, are making recommendations that are as informed as they should be.
I feel the same about School Board members trying to make decisions and vote tonight on issues that are not fully understood.
My plea is not to rush decisions without all the facts.
In my opinion, the Board needs to ask many tough questions and take the time to seek public input before making informed decisions.
Above all else, the students and the classrooms must be protected.
In terms of how we should deal with this severe budget situation and our school finances in general, I feel it's time to be pro-active.
A small group of parents already is moving forward to work as a team on various projects. (There is some amazing talent in our community.) Not that any us have much free time, but we love our schools and realize we can help.
Supt. Dr. Myrna Cote has already offered to work cooperatively with us, and (Asst. Supt.) David El Fattal has been providing valuable information.
We will enlist others who can help us get things done.
We are trying to respect staff's limited time and flush things out as much as possible before asking staff to consider them (as opposed to just throwing suggestions at staff).
We also want to make sure that before we bring something to the School Board, it has been properly vetted. Of course, there are things only staff and upper management can do. We will advocate to make sure these issues are looked at as well.
The School District should not even consider detrimental budget cuts affecting the classroom until every option has been explored to raise revenues and decrease expenses that won't hurt our kids and our schools.
This hasn't been done, but now we (parents with School District assistance) are moving forward and doing it.
No more talk. It is time for action.
The School District has $6.5 million in restricted capital funds (and another $300,000 or so of Redevelopment Agency money that flows into these funds every year) that can be used to lower expenses and generate revenue, some in ways that may even be beneficial on their own.
But no one has had the opportunity to explore how to use this money productively.
One such promising idea is solar, and this is something we are now actively researching.
Another is better utilization of our real estate assets. It certainly appears we can realize greater income from our non-classroom real estate assets.
We are beginning to look into this as well.
(How about fixing up the Robert Frost Auditorium and renting it out once in a while? Or, what about renting our warehouse?)
Looking at ways to creatively use our restricted capital funds is a must, in my opinion.
Furthermore, we should have some "shovel-ready" or "wrench- ready" projects lined up in case we can use stimulus money instead of just relying on our restricted capital funds for projects that require capital.
There are also some great ideas that cost relatively little or nothing. They need to be explored and acted upon.
We are exploring a few such ideas, which have great potential.
The list is long of projects that need to be researched and actions that need to be taken in this regard.
But we also need a parcel tax to support our schools.
How can we consider putting 40 plus kids in classrooms when our teachers and principals say they can't do it and still teach our kids effectively? (Crowd control is how one teacher described it.)
As you know, increasing our average class size at Culver City Middle School and ulver City High School to 35 or 36 students will translate into most regular core-subject classes running at over 40 students per class because of the various special distinction classes that run at lower sizes.
We must first give parents, the District and Culver City residents a chance to fill the financial hole before we consider destroying the quality of our schools.
Once teachers can't teach our kids effectively, what's the point?
I know some have said that because the economy is so bad, some parents will pull their kids out of private schools and put them back in public schools regardless of the quality.
I would argue that the School District can't just be the district that "educates" the kids who can't afford private school.
We must be the district that continues to provide a quality education for all our kids.
Will a parcel tax stand a chance in these difficult times?
Yes, but it is critical that everyone is doing everything that can be done first.
The community needs to see us doing this.
It can't appear we are just falling back to a tax without first doing everything else in our power to raise revenues and decrease expenses that don't hurt our kids.
Upper management should lead the way by taking a cut.
Upper management making some type of financial concession (and not just laying off some personnel at the District office), will go a long way toward showing the general public, teachers and staff that the District is doing everything it can.
While it won't amount to a huge amount of money, every dollar counts in a time like this.
Upper management leads our District.
So it should lead the way in feeling a little pain, not just the students or teachers.
It would be very helpful for the public, parents, and teachers to see District upper management taking the first hit by making some type of financial concession.
It would make a huge statement, and in a time when a lot of people are out of work and/or hurting financially, the School Board should seek this in my opinion.
Please don't rush a decision tonigt.
When you do have to vote on cuts, please don't make drastic cuts affecting the classroom until every other avenue has been explored.
We need to buy time to explore our financial options and to also determine what the actual facts really are.
It would be preferable, in my opinion, to simply not balance the budget for three years (as we are attempting to do), to destroying the quality of our schools before we have explored every other option.
Being creative in balancing the budget or simply going "qualified" and not balancing our budget for all three years is preferable to devastating our schools.
It would buy us time and give us a chance to try to plug our financial hole.
If I were in your shoes, no one could convince me the right thing to do was to take actions such as putting more kids in a classroom than a teacher can reasonably teach.
It would just make pointless the whole reason that School Board members serve.
Thank you.
Mr. Gray, a Culver City parent, may be contacted at grayusa@sbcglobal.net
