It’s said that in every storm cloud, one can find a silver lining. Perhaps that’s true.
A storm cloud is how one might describe what has settled over school finances this year. On Tuesday night, the school board approved layoff notices to more than 20 teachers for next year; some may be hired back, depending on enrollment projections, but certainly not all. The new state budget calls for funding cuts of about 15 percent this year and another 5 percent next. Now, those cuts are not to the entire district budget, but just to those chosen programs that the state legislature has added, and funded, over the years.
We here in Sonoma Valley are in better shape than many areas around the state, due in large part to the acumen of Assistant Superintendent for Business, Justin Frese. The man has demonstrated a mastery of “the numbers,” saving the district money by refinancing wisely and designing the earlier cuts that are letting us weather the present state cuts in relative calm.
Next to this editorial is a table listing those “Tier III” programs to be cut, along with their funding levels, afterward. The total, at almost $1.8 million, is some 5 percent of the district’s budget.
So what about that silver lining? Well, to soften the blow of the cuts, the state has given school districts the flexibility to spend the money in any way they wish. Heretofore, the money was truly “restricted” to just those costs that fell under each individual program. So while the district would, for example, spend $117,000 to hire more credentialed teachers for K-8 PE, since the state was paying for that specific program, that’s all changed now. Now, the money comes without those proverbial strings attached.
This flexibility is the silver lining. The school district can take some or all of this $1.8 million and spend it on any program, whether on one or some combination of the existing programs or on something entirely different.
What a chance it is for this school board to make a real difference in public education in Sonoma Valley.
The five trustees have the opportunity to lead a frank discussion about the evident failure of our school system to engage and graduate all our students as competent, confident, civic-minded young men and women. The data (cde.ca.gov) says we don’t: less than 80 percent of our entering high school freshmen graduate, and less than half of our students at virtually any grade are “advanced” or “proficient” in grade-level English or math.
With money to spend on curative action, the time for the trustees to act is now.
Readers know the emphasis we place on reading. We don’t presume to be education professionals – we don’t even know what all those Tier III programs actually are – but it stands to reason that reading is the key for students to succeed in their academic careers and beyond. If students are not proficient readers, how can they be expected to perform well in history, science or writing, or on the job market?
And as the demographics continue to shift in Sonoma Valley, with over half of the students in lower grades now being native Spanish speakers, ensuring English language proficiency is more important than ever. One approach to consider is to reduce class size even further in, say, grades 2 and 3. How about classes of 10 students? And focus on bringing every student up to proficient grade-level status in English. Maybe the additional teachers work a shifted schedule, so the students have a longer day, with additional emphasis on reading and writing.
This is just one idea. The point is that the trustees have an historic opportunity for a transformative legacy in local education. In our view, that’s not to be squandered.
