Middle school hits funds obstacle

<p>The push to establish a new middle school in west Sonoma County has stalled after the state rejected the funding level that local backers say is needed.</p><p>The plan would pull seventh and eighth graders from Forestville Academy Charter School and Guerneville School to a new middle school run by the West Sonoma County High School District.</p><p>All three districts were committed to launching the school this fall. But state education officials say they will only authorize a lower funding level that Sonoma County officials say would mean local districts would lose money on the deal.</p><p>Supporters say forming a separate middle school, likely on the Forestville Academy campus, would allow the West Sonoma County District to offer a career counselor, expanded elective offering and a stronger bridge to high school.</p><p>"The whole idea is to offer a stronger and enhanced middle school program that is richer in opportunities than either Forestville or Guerneville could offer alone," said Keller McDonald, superintendent of West Sonoma County District.</p><p>The Sonoma County Office of Education has complained to the state Attorney General's office about the lower funding level, citing other districts in California that get a higher level of payment for similar configurations.</p><p>"They (state officials) don't want to pay the extra $200,000 some dollars it's going to cost," Sonoma County Superintendent Steve Herrington said. "The state bureaucracy stopped them from implementing it."</p><p>California allocates less per pupil for elementary students than it does for those in secondary grades. State officials have said that West County would only receive a lower dollar amount that blends the elementary and high school rates and that the district would receive that amount not only for the new middle schoolers but all West Sonoma County students in grades nine through 12.</p><p>"The program would have to operate at a loss if it was to operate at that level," McDonald said. He has worked with officials from both Forestville and Guerneville to establish the new program.</p><p>Under the state's current ruling, the high school district could lose between $200,000 and $300,000 a year, according to Dickson Schwarzbach, an education consultant hired by the county education office to help establish the school.</p><p>Backers of the program say the state already has granted non-blended funding structures to at least 10 other districts in the state and that it's the current budget crisis that is stopping the move, not fiscal precedent.</p><p>"It may be a matter of, 'How can we save money in any way possible?' " Schwarzbach said. "In terms of precedent, it doesn't make sense."</p><p>McDonald was more blunt.</p><p>"It's so inconsistent with current practice," he said. "It's unfair."</p><p>The fight over funding has pushed the launch date back from this fall, but has not killed the plan.</p><p>"It's still out there, on our minds," said Elaine Carlson, superintendent of Guerneville School District and principal of Guerneville School. "Bottom line is, we have to wait for that money."</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>