Without any galvanizing issues pressing our populace, the School Board meetings have returned to their historically sparse audience. However, these are the times when our administrators and the Board lay the foundations for the tremendous success our school district enjoys.
On the financial front:
We all know that last year the School District faced the daunting task of cutting its budget. As a member of the Community Budget Advisory Committee, CBAC, we wrestled with cuts from a budget that had no fat, and the Board adopted almost all of our recommendations.
Among those recommendations that give our district some strength to weather what portends to be another year of financial hardship was increasing our reserve fund to 4 percent of the budget. Already districts are required to maintain a 3 percent Reserve Fund, but with economic uncertainty and a few years of declining revenue from fewer students enrolled, we on CBAC recommended increasing the reserve.
Another action the School Board took on CBAC recommendation was to allocate $250,000, from a onetime windfall in Workers Compensation rebates, towards our Teacher/Employee retirement fund. These strong financial decisions will provide our Board more options once the state presents next year's budget.
We all pray the state does not implement a mid-year budget cut after the dramatic decreases and cutbacks of last year.
On the enrollment front:
More Culver City residents are attending our schools. After years of encouraging the District to promote our great schools, I like to think that word is finally getting out to more of our residents. But others suggest that financial stresses are causing more residents to return to public schools after years in other paid-for institutions. The better news is that our schools' consistently great and consistently improving test scores will provide the same or better educational challenges that high-priced private schools in the area advertise.
Still too many in the hallways:
The District has been making yeoman efforts to provide the community and the new board with information about our enrollment. Yet predicting how many students will show up on the first day of school remains an art, not a science. This Board does seem to be moving towards establishing a target enrollment number from which a more stable budget can be derived and a means of equitably leveling the student population above our resident students to lessen the impact of too many students at any of our campuses.
Charter schools:
Many articles, good and ill, abound about charter schools. An issue the District has yet to wrestle with is a request to establish a charter school on District property. If the School District were to have vacant classrooms, an underutilization, a petition can be made by a charter school organization to use that space.
This year the School Board adopted guidelines to address the criteria that have to be met for such a petition. No policy has ever been in place prior to this year. Whether one agrees with or opposes charter schools in our District, the Board and District should be commended for establishing great guidelines that would insure if a charter school successfully petitioned, the requirements in place would virtually insure a top notch result.
Parents, citizens: Don't stop paying attention.
Now is the time to be at meetings, give your input, and monitor our elected officials comments and votes. Inquire about various committees; find a way to have an impact that contributes to our great schools. I, for one, anxiously await the resumption of CBAC and tackling the new financial challenges we will face. Hope to see you at a meeting. Come and say "Hi."
Alan Elmont, possibly the most faithful attendee at School Board meetings during the past decade, is a parent and ran for the School Board one year ago. He may be contacted at AElmont@ca.rr.com
