Hello, parents
Below is an email originally sent out yesterday by Sandi Levin regarding the special School Board meeting on budget cuts tonight at 7 o’clock at Lin Howe School, next to School District headquarters.
I agree with Sandi's take on things, and I also want to make sure everyone knows about that School Board meeting.
I know this meeting is being called on very short notice, but I encourage you to attend if at all possible.
Parent participation does make a difference.
Class size issues are included in the cuts being proposed tonight.
From my point of view, I don't want to see the School Board agree to increase class sizes at our secondary schools even for one moment, and I don't accept the argument that they can revisit this later if they find more money.
Other class-size issues are also extremely important. We must make sure that they are handled in such a way as to maintain the quality of education our kids receive.
Protecting the classroom needs to be a top priority.
Hopefully I'll see some of you tonight?
Sandi Levin’s email:
You have all heard (too much) from me already about the budget, so I’ll start with my MAIN POINT:
There is a special School Board meeting – yes, that’s right, just one day’s notice.
And although the agenda has not yet been posted, we are told the Board will be asked to approve a proposed list of severe budget cuts.
In my view, they need to hear 3 messages from us as soon as possible:
1) We still have precious little information, so don’t finalize anything that you don’t have to (and please promise to revisit anything that can be revisited once the real numbers are in).
2) Don’t increase class sizes at the Middle School and High School; parent experience, research studies and our own teachers and administrators agree that such large class sizes are devastating to learning.
3) Ask management to take a cut, too (perhaps a mandatory unpaid leave…); it’s symbolic as much as anything, but we should all be in this together, especially if we are going to ask the community to vote for a parcel tax!
Parents, please email the board (boardmembers@ccusd.org) or attend the meeting and give your input. The School Board specifically did NOT take input on class-size issues at the last meeting, so this is a new opportunity.
Note also that although the numbers are changing, the District does know ballpark numbers.
The proposed list of cuts exceeds the amount that needs to be cut, so the Board will need to pick and choose. The Community Budget Advisory Committee has given input as to its recommended cuts (and, thankfully, class- size increases at Culver City Middle School and Culver City High School were not recommended by them, either).
In addition, there are no management cuts or “negotiable items” on the list – these are things that require negotiations with the unions to change, such as teacher and classified employee salaries, benefits and working hours, so they cannot be accomplished in time for the state mandated deadline.
However, the deadline is only to give notices and submit a budget on PAPER; if the District can negotiate other reductions in the meantime, some of the harsher cuts and layoffs might be avoided.
Mr. Gray may be contacted at grayusa@sbcglobal.net
