Local elementary schools face major fiscal shortfalls, possible closures
With two pending lawsuits against the state, area administrators are hoping for changes in the ways public schools are funded
By Shane Cohn 07/22/2010
Enough is enough, and the levee holding California’s public education frustration and discord has finally burst.
A coalition of civil rights advocacy groups, parents and students filed a lawsuit Monday, July 12, against the state of California. The lawsuit, Californians for Quality Education v. State of California (CQE), is seeking billions annually and says the state “is failing to provide all children with an equal opportunity to obtain a meaningful education. It is failing to appropriately and adequately fund the public school system. And it is failing to prepare children to meaningfully participate in our democracy, succeed economically, or live in our diverse society.”
In May, a similar lawsuit, Robles-Wong v. California, was filed, requesting that the current education finance system be ruled unconstitutional. With both lawsuits being filed in Alameda County, it is likely the two cases will be combined.
The pending lawsuits against the state now include more than 80 plaintiffs, three advocacy organizations and the support of more than 100 school districts in the state all claiming the public education finance system is depriving children of their constitutional right to an adequate education.
“We are involved on a couple different fronts,” said Dr. Jerry Dannenberg, superintendent of Hueneme Elementary School District.
Dannenberg said that since the California School Board Association and the Association of California School Board Administrators are involved in the CQE suit, his district and many other local school districts are indirectly linked to the suit.
“We’re not involved directly but we’re happy to be a part of it,” said Dannenberg.
The lawsuit is encouraging news for at least three county school districts that were recently identified as possibly being unable to meet future financial obligations. Hueneme, Rio and Santa Paula Elementary School Districts were given qualified certifications in the latest Interim Status Reports of the 2009-10 school year prepared by the California Department of Education, which means the districts are currently at risk of being turned over to the state if they cannot meet their financial obligations for the current and two subsequent fiscal years.
“These schools are going to have to make additional reductions on the expenditure side, or find additional revenue,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell.
For the 2010-11 school year, Hueneme, Rio and Santa Paula Elementary School Districts implemented teacher and staff layoffs, consolidated jobs, increased class sizes, and decreased the days in a school year. Cuts and consolidations will continue to increase in the next two years if public education does not receive adequate support from the state.
While lawmakers in Sacramento still clash over the governor’s proposed cuts to public education for the 2010-11 budget and now have to deal with two potentially crippling lawsuits, school administrators are systematically eliminating or curtailing library and health services, music, art and sports programs.
For the 2011-12 school year, Hueneme will have to reduce expenditures by $2.3 million, Rio by $2.3 million as well, and Santa Paula by $624,000.
“Short of the state giving us more money, there is not much else we can do besides cut,” said Kathy Bojorquez, assistant superintendent of business services for Santa Paula Elementary School District.
According to state reports, public education in California received $17 billion less in state funding over the last two budget years. With 6 million public students, California ranks near the bottom of the 50 states for its per-pupil funding.
Even an influx of federal funds from programs like the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which allocated more than $3.5 million to Hueneme, almost $1.7 million to Rio and $1.8 million to Santa Paula, was only able to provide a temporary fix to a much larger problem.
“I have grave concerns that more and more school districts will face financial crisis unless state lawmakers find solutions to the state budget crisis and provide adequate funding for our schools,” said O’Connell, in a recent press statement.
The strategy going forward, regardless of the lawsuit, said Dannenberg, is to “sit down with the union, lay out problems and get their input to see how we can meet our obligation.”
Jeanne Foster, a labor relations representative for California School Employees Association, said that recent negotiations included more furlough days and a restructuring of services provided as a temporary aid to the financial crisis regarding troubled districts. Most importantly, negotiations have centered on avoiding further economic deterioration. The worse the economy becomes, the more unlikely becomes the chances of public education receiving funds.
“The district is working with us to save jobs and to not have a negative impact on the economy,” said Foster. “The budget crisis is real. It is truly a recession we are recovering from, but jobs being lost only prolong that.”
DIGG | del.icio.us | REDDIT