Opinion: Years ago, The New York Times drew parallels between Enron and the City of San Diego because both cooked the books to paint an overly rosy, if not outright misleading, financial picture to lure investors…is this still the case?
Opinion: If the goal is nothing more than a bipartisan solution to health care reform, I am not encouraged as it could just turn into health insurance reform.
Opinion: The question going forward for both parties is whether recovery will bring with it a return to the labor market demand of the boom years, or whether a more fundamental economic realignment will emerge that generates less immigration demand.
The San Diego City School District is facing still another huge budget shortfall for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years, and there are even more potential cuts on the horizon. District staff estimates the best case shortfall to be $63 million, with a higher deficit of $83 million possible.
John de Beck is a board of education member for the San Diego Unified School District.
The school district has prepared a report by a superintendent appointed BRACE (Budget Reduction Alternatives to Conserve Education) Committee that is studying the effects of these shortfalls and making recommendations to solve them.
For the most part, district shortfall estimates are just estimates, and I have seen them change daily in past months. These estimates are usually low, and serve to help inform the community and the media about how the financial situation has degraded over the past few years. While I would like to see the low range (best case) scenario become a fact, there is not much sign of improved revenues from the state income tax, or projected sales tax revenues, to feel confident! The $63 million district share of the blossoming state deficit could climb considerably and perhaps pass the $83 million (worst case) district staff estimates.
As noted in the report, the BRACE Committee is looking for “new ideas” for savings and the district is planning to hold five budget town hall meetings for public information and input in the coming months.
When I asked, I found that the members of the BRACE Committee are district managers. While the acronym sounds like the federal government’ Base Closing Committee (BRAC) it doesn’t seem to model itself in the make up of that group, which included civilians.
I was not surprised to find the BRACE list includes statements about departments that are “unable to sustain additional personnel cuts.”
The group of these (unwilling or unable) departments includes custodial and landscaping, financial services, school improvement offices, instructional facilities, technology, enrollment options and nursing. Nearly all of these departments have been used by previous boards for budget reduction solutions. Taking them off the table in advance probably won’t protect them because none of these protected groups directly serve students.
The BRACE Committee’s list of cuts includes many familiar categories. Recommended for major reduction or elimination are the following departments and areas: Gate, adult education, beginning teacher support, dropout prevention, race & human relations, community-based English tutoring, professional development, instructional materials evaluation, community relations, school police, ombudsperson, Tuberculosis testing, fraud hotline, classified human resources.
The BRACE reports cuts total only $33 million, which is about one-half of the district’s lowest estimated $63 million shortfall. In their comprehensive list of programs, they do show a cost for each program but leave the rest of the decisions to the board. Notably absent are any layoffs or items negatively affecting district organized labor.
More than a year ago, I suggested a shortened school year that would have saved $50 million. If it had been implemented, the savings could have been double that amount in two years. Tweaking the different budget categories, as the BRACE Committee seems inclined, will not result in the massive savings required to balance our budget…now or in the coming year. While it is painful to cut anything, I feel it is better to make cuts based on the assumption that most programs now in place are important. If one were forced to cut programs, a logical approach would be to cut them based on the number of children served and by the cost per pupil. These data are not a part of the BRACE information.
If the school board is unwilling to apply the pupil participation and cost per pupil decision making concept, then the next best idea (in my opinion) would be to furlough the entire district. This would mean that all employees would not work nor would children attend classes for a period. I would exempt programs that are self-funded, such as Title I; if the site Title I teams wanted to fund an extended year with these categorical funds.
Cutting the school year would mean a considerable reduction in teaching time, and no doubt quality would suffer, but the plan would retain the talented district staff now providing services, and would permit changes should more money show up.
Furlough savings for this year are likely gone, but the concept of a reduced work year can save a bundle and the plan represents more savings than the entire recommendations of our staff BRACE process so far.
We all need to “brace” ourselves for more school budget bad news …it will be coming to your neighborhoods soon. For a schedule see www.sandi.net.com.
John de Beck is a board of education member for the San Diego Unified School District.
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on Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 10:23 am and is filed under A More Perfect Union, Education Commentary.
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BRACE yourself, the education cuts are coming
By John de Beck, Guest Contributor
Friday, November 20, 2009The San Diego City School District is facing still another huge budget shortfall for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years, and there are even more potential cuts on the horizon. District staff estimates the best case shortfall to be $63 million, with a higher deficit of $83 million possible.
John de Beck is a board of education member for the San Diego Unified School District.
For the most part, district shortfall estimates are just estimates, and I have seen them change daily in past months. These estimates are usually low, and serve to help inform the community and the media about how the financial situation has degraded over the past few years. While I would like to see the low range (best case) scenario become a fact, there is not much sign of improved revenues from the state income tax, or projected sales tax revenues, to feel confident! The $63 million district share of the blossoming state deficit could climb considerably and perhaps pass the $83 million (worst case) district staff estimates.
As noted in the report, the BRACE Committee is looking for “new ideas” for savings and the district is planning to hold five budget town hall meetings for public information and input in the coming months.
When I asked, I found that the members of the BRACE Committee are district managers. While the acronym sounds like the federal government’ Base Closing Committee (BRAC) it doesn’t seem to model itself in the make up of that group, which included civilians.
I was not surprised to find the BRACE list includes statements about departments that are “unable to sustain additional personnel cuts.”
The group of these (unwilling or unable) departments includes custodial and landscaping, financial services, school improvement offices, instructional facilities, technology, enrollment options and nursing. Nearly all of these departments have been used by previous boards for budget reduction solutions. Taking them off the table in advance probably won’t protect them because none of these protected groups directly serve students.
More by John: Special education and budget cuts | Just what is a free public education? | Why the revolving door for superintendent? | The funding problem with schools
The BRACE Committee’s list of cuts includes many familiar categories. Recommended for major reduction or elimination are the following departments and areas: Gate, adult education, beginning teacher support, dropout prevention, race & human relations, community-based English tutoring, professional development, instructional materials evaluation, community relations, school police, ombudsperson, Tuberculosis testing, fraud hotline, classified human resources.
The BRACE reports cuts total only $33 million, which is about one-half of the district’s lowest estimated $63 million shortfall. In their comprehensive list of programs, they do show a cost for each program but leave the rest of the decisions to the board. Notably absent are any layoffs or items negatively affecting district organized labor.
More than a year ago, I suggested a shortened school year that would have saved $50 million. If it had been implemented, the savings could have been double that amount in two years. Tweaking the different budget categories, as the BRACE Committee seems inclined, will not result in the massive savings required to balance our budget…now or in the coming year. While it is painful to cut anything, I feel it is better to make cuts based on the assumption that most programs now in place are important. If one were forced to cut programs, a logical approach would be to cut them based on the number of children served and by the cost per pupil. These data are not a part of the BRACE information.
If the school board is unwilling to apply the pupil participation and cost per pupil decision making concept, then the next best idea (in my opinion) would be to furlough the entire district. This would mean that all employees would not work nor would children attend classes for a period. I would exempt programs that are self-funded, such as Title I; if the site Title I teams wanted to fund an extended year with these categorical funds.
Cutting the school year would mean a considerable reduction in teaching time, and no doubt quality would suffer, but the plan would retain the talented district staff now providing services, and would permit changes should more money show up.
Furlough savings for this year are likely gone, but the concept of a reduced work year can save a bundle and the plan represents more savings than the entire recommendations of our staff BRACE process so far.
We all need to “brace” ourselves for more school budget bad news …it will be coming to your neighborhoods soon. For a schedule see www.sandi.net.com.
John de Beck is a board of education member for the San Diego Unified School District.
Tags: california education cuts, san diego board of education, san diego city school district, san diego education cuts, SDNN
This entry was posted on Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 10:23 am and is filed under A More Perfect Union, Education Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
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