Santa Rosa schools lose students, and funding

<p>An unexpected enrollment drop in Santa Rosa Schools has officials more urgently considering shortening the academic year by five days and closing campuses.</p><p>When 216 fewer students than expected walked through the doors during the first week of school, the district immediately faced a $1.1 million loss in per-pupil state funding. That is in addition to $5.6 million in cuts the district has anticipated will be necessary this school year.</p><p>“It's either closing a school or two or cut the five days,” said board member Wally Lowry. “It could conceivably mean both.”</p><p>School closures were most recently discussed in the spring of 2008, when board members considered a long list of potential money-saving options that also included slashing athletics and library funding.</p><p>A new option was made available this spring when the state, faced with a $26.3 billion deficit, gave districts the green light to cut up to five days from their school calendars.</p><p>Any such cuts would require negotiations with employee unions.</p><p>Districts such as Windsor and Petaluma's Liberty already have made deals with their unions to slice days from the current school year, but Santa Rosa has not acted although board members have discussed the possibility.</p><p>That possibility took a stride toward reality last week after enrollment numbers came up lower than expected when school started Aug. 17, board members said.</p><p>“We definitely have to look at the five days,” said board president Donna Jeye. “Then we do have to start getting creative. I don't know if the five days will cover it.”</p><p>Acknowledging the public anxiety that surrounds the issue, board members were wary of naming particular campuses that could be discussed for closure, but longtime trustee Frank Pugh said enrollment will be a key indicator.</p><p>“Schools that are particularly small really have to be looked at really closely to see what we can do to increase the size of the school, to reduce the overall cost to the district or look at programs to re-energize schools,” he said.</p><p>According to current enrollment figures, Doyle Park remains the smallest elementary school, with 233 students. The next smallest is Luther Burbank at 326 pupils, and the largest is Hidden Valley with 556 students, not including the 119 who attend the satellite campus on Parker Hill Road.</p><p>The smallest middle school is Comstock, with 369 students, compared with next smallest, Cook at 543 pupils. Rincon Valley is the largest, with 824 students.</p><p>The smallest of the district's five high school campuses, which previously haven't been included in closure discussions, is Elsie Allen, with 1,129 students. The largest is Santa Rosa, with 1,929 students.</p><p>The board in May approved a budget that cut $8.5 million over two years and was preparing to cut an additional $5.6 million from the 2009-10 budget.</p><p>Remaining options apart from shortening the school year and closing campuses are limited, Lowry said.</p><p>“We were sort of considering that all along, but that enrollment adjustment made it an even stronger consideration,” Lowry said. “You don't just find a couple million dollars in one year very easily. We just can't reduce janitorial services and that stuff anymore.”</p><p>Board member Larry Haenel and other board members acknowledged the unease that talk of school closure ignites, calling it a “ripple of fear.”</p><p>“Everything is on the table. It's horrible,” he said.</p><p>The school board meets Sept. 9.</p><p>Staff Writer Kerry Benefield writes an education blog at extracredit.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. She can be reached at 526-8671 or kerry.benefield@</p><p>pressdemocrat.com.</p>