San Diego Unified School District officials wrap-up a series of difficult budget workshops today. They're trying to decide what programs and positions to cut if the Governor's proposed budget is approved. Parents and community members who have been attending the public meetings are worried about the future of their children’s education. KPBS Reporter Ana Tintocalis has the story.
San Diego Unified stands to lose $80 million in state education funding. School board member Luis Acle made it clear at one of the public workshops that figuring out whom to layoff and what programs to cut is something they're being forced to do.
Acle: We are not enjoying this. This is not a picnic, this is not something we like to do. But we don't have the solution of allocating more money and the only people who do are the legislature and the Governor.
So far district officials have outlined a $100 million cost-cutting strategy that would go into effect next year if the Governor's proposed budget cuts go through.
Programs and services that could get scrapped include the district's new truancy center for at-risk kids, remedial classes for struggling students, and a popular media library center for teachers.
Elementary schools with small numbers of students could also be shut down.
Tina Slawson is a mom who pulled her son out of private school and enrolled him in a public school for the first time this year. She came to the district's budget talks to hear first-hand what decisions the board is making.
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Some of the Proposed Budget Cuts at SDUSD $25 Million - Eliminating nearly 300 positions in the central office. $5.6 million - Cutting more than 50 vice principals positions. $2.9 million - All schools would follow a master schedule to consolidate school bus routes. $900,000 - Laying off nearly a dozen nurses.
$1.1 million
- Laying off some librarians.
(Source: San Diego Unified School District.) |
Tina says she already notices how a lack of resources is affecting her son in the classroom.
Slawson: He's not having fun anymore. He doesn't want to go to school. And that to me is a very serious sign. I would seriously not doubt if this is going to be the beginning of a very large home schooling movement.
San Diego district officials want parents like Tina to express their feelings and thoughts about the situtaion. That's why they're inviting the community to these public workshops. The only problem is these meetings take place when most people are at work.
As an alternative, the district is asking people to submit any cost-cutting or revenue-making ideas to the board for consideration.
For the most part school employees are calling for big cuts within the district's central administration.
So far school officials have talked about possibly eliminating support jobs like secretaries, counselors, school police and nurses.
France Fierro of the district's classified employees union worries schools will no longer have support network that is so important to learning.
Fierro: When you need to make a phone call to your parents because something is wrong. When you go the nurses office and there is no nurse -- guess who does the work? The classified employee has to be the one to take care of the child. We have a lot of different people that do a lot of difference jobs that matter to our kids directly.
Other community members are saddened by the possible cuts to long-running arts and culture programs. For example, district officials could drastically scale-back education programs at Balboa Park and Old Town.
Ann Marie Haney is distressed Californians aren't willing to pay for programs that breathe new life into a child's imagination and learning experience.
Haney: We have to be able to pay for what we value in this society and I'm afraid we're moving toward a very selfish perspective…in terms of what we don't use we don't pay for. That hasn't been the history of this country -- we've looked out for our children historically. This is a bad sign of a whole social illness not to put a high priority of the needs of our children.
San Diego Unified will hold another series of budget workshops next month to put finer point on the programs and positions that could be cut. It’s important to mention these are all proposed cuts. The real test comes in May and June when the Governor and the Legislature try to hammer out a final state budget.
Ana Tintocalis, KPBS News.
