Santa Rosa may close schools, end programs, shorten year
Published: Friday, October 23, 2009 at 8:26 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, October 23, 2009 at 8:26 p.m.
Shutting schools. Canceling elementary school music, art and computer classes. Closing three alternative high schools. Cutting the school year by up to five days.
These are options the Santa Rosa City School Board is expected to consider as it aims to chop $5.6 million from its budget next school year.
“I don’t think there is anything on that list that anybody believes is fat,” said board member Bill Carle.
The list is an updated version of document that has been used for months to plan the future of Sonoma County’s largest school district. The board will hold at least five public sessions in coming months to get public input on the proposals
Other options?
-- Cut spending on textbooks and materials to save more than $770,000.
-- Cut the number of school bus routes by 20 percent to save $200,000.
-- Increase class size in kindergarten through third grades from 22 students per teacher to nearly 30 students per teacher to save $665,000.
Trustee Wally Lowry said he is willing to see class sizes in some grades climb to between 30 and 40. He is less enthusiastic about seeing that happen in the lower elementary grades.
“There seems to be a generalized feeling among parents, teachers and faculty that they really need that closer attention,” he said.
Carle said in addition being a bad move academically, increasing class sizes in kindergarten through third grade does not make financial sense.
By boosting the number of students to nearly 30 per classroom, the district would eliminate about 41 teaching positions, but it would also forfeit nearly $2 million in state funding dedicated to keeping class sizes small.
“It seems a no-brainer to me,” he said. “In my opinion, there is a false savings in there.”
Board members are willing to consider shortening the school year next year, both in student days and in teacher and administrative work days. The nearly 16,000 students currently attend class 180 days a year and teachers work 183 days a year.
The district could save more than $2.1 million if it drops five days, but the issue is dependent on negotiations with employee unions. Average teacher pay would drop 2.5 percent with a five-day cut.
Trustee Larry Haenel, a former teachers union president, said he is willing to consider a shorter calendar next year.
“Absolutely, because it will save $2 million,” he said. “If we don’t save the $2 million, then we have to cut more. We have to look at it in its perspective.”
The district last spring slashed $8.5 million from its two-year budget, a move that pushed class sizes in kindergarten through third grade from 20 students to 22 and increased ninth-grade math and English classes from 20 to 24 pupils.
The district also closed Lewis Adult School, reduced its busing program and used more than $10 million in federal stimulus dollars to stave off deeper program cuts and extensive layoffs
The board has scheduled two town hall meetings in addition to regular board meetings. Town hall meetings will be held Nov. 30 and Dec. 7. Regular board meetings are scheduled for Oct. 28, Nov. 18 and Dec. 9.
The board is expected to have a budget plan in place by December. Layoff notices must be issued in March and changes in the school calendar will take time to implement.
“I have to hear from the teachers, from the classified staff. I have to hear from the public, that is why we have set it up,” Haenel said. “I have never, in the 40 years I have been in education, I have never seen it this bad.”
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