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Tuesday, December 8, 2009

A Time of Great Sadness

Last night was horrible, as the Board and the District set about trying to resolve its $37 million deficit. NO one enjoyed or was supportive of any of the reductions that we had to take. This is horrible!! And it affects our kids and community -- and will continue to do so for a very Loo...ong time. After the actions we had a total of about $9 million in budget reductions for the coming 10-11 school year. BUT this is less than a 1/3 of the way we have to go to close the budget gap. While we hope for a miracle from Sacramento (and certainly have not been receiving those of late), the 3 actions taken that have HUGE impact on our schools and classrooms included:
  1. We took another $2.6 million in Tier III flexibility -- that means $2.6 million in program reductions at schools. These were reductions that were recommended last year by our Budget Advisory Committee -- but did not implement at the time.
  2. We eliminated the class size reduction (CSR) program from the 3rd grade. That means class sizes will be at 30:1 in our 3rd grade classrooms. This action is based on the fact that Sacramento removed that code section and funding that allowed our 3rd grade CSR.
  3. We essentially eliminated K-2 CSR, which will take our primary classrooms from 24 to 1 to 30:1.
Please, please call your/our representatives in Sacramento and let them know of the horrific reductions that we are undergoing -- and then KEEP calling them until something changes. We cannot make sense of this anymore.
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2 comments:

  1. Sandra RamirezDecember 8, 2009 at 1:10 PM

    The cuts to education that have to be made are horrific! That being said, I do appreciate the board taking immediate action on the items brought before them last night. Although each one was devastating, the sooner plans are made for next year, the better off our kids will be. Really, it is no longer relevant to talk about keeping cuts from the classroom. That is impossible! Instead, each of us should be asking "What is my personal (or that of my organization) responsibility in this whole devastating mess?". Thank you to the cabinet for asking and answering that tough question. Even if others do not follow the example of 7 unpaid days next year, parents and the education community will know we have leaders willing to look to the good of those they serve - students.

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  2. clariseDecember 10, 2009 at 5:57 AM

    Poor kids! You just took their future away. I can tell you that those schools in RUSD that are on Program Improvement will not get out of it because of the class increases and teacher eliminations (WHO ARE THE ONES THAT WORK DIRECTLY WITH THE STUDENTS). Wow. Amazing. RUSD will be in big trouble with their scores now. Good luck!

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