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In a special meeting at the school district office, the school board will conduct a budget hearing at 5:30 p.m. this afternoon and possibly decide to approve items to be supported by a community fundraising effort.
While the Pleasanton Unified School District’s budget forecast is brighter with the recent concessions from the Association of Pleasanton Teachers, the teachers’ union, another several million dollars still needs to be cut.
The final budget figure from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to be released sometime in May. Before then, the school board is required by law to send out notices of possible layoffs to affected employees by March 15.
Tonight’s meeting will not be televised live, but will be webcast on the school district website and a videotape of the meeting will be broadcast on TV30’s Channel 28 at a later time.
If you want fundraising to succeed, you must freeze step and column.
And also, be prepared to explain why the assistant superintendents’ contracts were renewed with the same pay, and for three years.
You also need to explain why concessions were asked of the upper grades to finance elementary programs (CSR, music, PE). We have 9 elementary schools, and if the hundreds of elementary parents really value the programs, they will give money. As we saw last year with the failed ILPS campaign, the elementary parents were vocal but not willing to give money to fund the programs the cried about.
Did you know that California high school-only districts average higher amounts of revenue limit than both unified and elementary-only districts (elementary average the lowest)? Apparently it is more expensive to school high school students than elementary children.
You could always ask the district if it costs them more to run the high schools.
Of course, at the same time, I’m not meaning to deny that CSR is expensive.
Get ready for the “we would love to freeze step and column, but they have a contract” argument. The recent “negotiation” was a sham.
I don’t get it. The concessions the teachers made brought in more revenue for the district than freezing S & C would’ve. And yet the people on this ridiculous blog…
“Of course, at the same time, I’m not meaning to deny that CSR is expensive.”
Especially when certain board member insists on CSR in 9th grade, which is not needed.
Think about it: students have been in big classes (30+) since 4th grade, and in 8th grade they are still in big classes and they do fine. Then they move to 9th grade for a smaller class size and then back up to bigger classes in 10th grade! That makes no sense and is expensive.
College degrees and being able to make sound financial decisions at a personal level should be minimum qualifications for being on the board.
<<<I don’t get it. The concessions the teachers made brought in more revenue for the district than freezing S & C would’ve. >>>
You’re right. You don’t get it. The furloughs are more than offset by the raises. At best it is a slowdown of the automatic raise schedule. The party rages on while Rome burns.
“I don’t get it. The concessions the teachers made brought in more revenue for the district than freezing S & C would’ve”
The so called concessions save about 1 million and step and column costs 1.6 million. Where are the savings again? The teachers “gave up” pay to fund their raises! Do board members know how to add and do math?
“The so called concessions save about 1 million”
I am talking about the three furlough days here, the “pay cut” the teachers talk about. That does not even pay for step and column
The concessions mean nothing….the teachers and administration put up another smoke screen to make it look like they did something to justify a parcel tax. Kids do not attend school on the furlough days so it’s just more time off for teachers and possibly more homework to be taught by parents. If the schools were operational and teachers were teaching while giving up 3 days of pay – different story. That’s what happens in the non-union private sector. A pay freeze, a pay reduction – but you continue to work and produce. Also, what happens with the per pupil payment from the state when furlough days happen this year? Does this mean we lose money based on pupil absence? If no, why is it different? Also, if a teacher is a good teacher, has control over discipline, lectures, reviews homework, – what difference does it make how many kids are in the class – especially at the high school level. I know of high schools that have 40 -50 kids in each class. When these high school kids are at Las Positas or go off to college they can be in a class of 300 students. Why is class size of such importance? An organized, well prepared teacher can teach to a room of 5 or 50! It’s been proven that a good instructor can teach over the internet to hundreds of students through online courses. Let’s get more creative.
One thing I failed to mention in my previous posting is the concept of mandated parent donation versus parcel tax. Parents in this community pay for sports, SAT prep, private tutors, new cars, Starbucks every day, the latest fashion apparel, fancy vacations,……! What is wrong with foregoing some of that for the sake of the children’s education. They do it in other states and other countries. I know I’m willing to pay a mandated stipend but am not willing to add a parcel tax that’s a forever commitment to my tax base. I am willing to pay for my own children if everyone else does the same. I know it may not be apparent, but there are many in this community that can afford to contribute to the schools but simply won’t. They figure it’s public and they’re entitled. They will pay huge dollars for extra tutoring and educational extra-curricular to give their kids an edge but will not voluntarily contribute a dollar to the benefit of all. You also have scenarios where multiple families co-exist in one parcel or one apartment but have multiple children in school. A parcel tax will not capture that. You have elderly who will vote for a parcel tax under pressure from the community but they don’t have to pay for it. You have folks who have inherited their parent’s property tax base who are contributing less already….will they pay a parcel tax? You have folks who pay tens of thousands of dollars living right next door to someone who pays much less but uses the same infrastructure. Is that fair?? I say have parents contribute for their own children and we could solve this issue.
Online instructors usually don’t have to grade essays; they hire others for that. A teacher can be organized and well-prepared, but grading 50+ essays per class in a timely manner becomes impossible.
ALL OF YOU ABOVE…..GO TO THE BOARD MEETING TONIGHT AND IDENTIFY YOURSELVES BY YOUR BLOGGER NAME…THEN YOUR REAL NAME. RESUBMIT IN PERSON YOUR CONCERNS OR ACCUSATIONS. IF YOU CAN’T DO THIS, YOU ARE AN EMBARASSMENT TO YOURSELVES. HIDING BOLD STATEMENTS UNDER COWARDLY SKIN IS SO UNBECOMING.
WHO KNOWS? YOU MIGHT EVEN GET EDUCATED BY SITTING THERE AND LISTENING.
A bit angry there Marcia?
Marcia wants everyone to identify themselves by their blogger name and then their real name so she can go look you up in the phone book and drop poop off at your front door, or perhaps worse. Marcia actually has no business knowing who you are. She just wants to know who she can look down upon and scowl at. Cholo would have choice words…
Marcia, Marcia, Marcia,
Why waste time at those bonehead meetings?
The board is bought and payed for by the teachers union.
I just refer to them as union reps now after that last board meeting.
We will demonstrate our discontent at the ballot box when measure
G-2 crashes and burns.
Marcia:
Please ask each board member to tell the community why they are qualified to make these decisions, and to say where they went to college.
Why get so upset at these blogs? I have heard over and over how we are the minority, those anonymouse bloggers that don’t know anything.
Yet we can analyze things and figure out that oh yeah, the pay cut the teachers took (3 days off without pay) does not even pay for their step and column. Is this the kind of education you want us to get? Maybe they can explain the funny math to us?
“The board is bought and payed for by the teachers union.”
When the teachers bought the board I hope they taught them how
to spell: paid
Hey Castlewood,
That was really groovy of you to point out my spelling error.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go throw the football around with Peter in the backyard. Can you spell check this one too?
Folks, I believe Marcia is Marcia Kernan, wife of Trustee Pat Kernan and resident of another community as in not Pleasanton. We still haven’t heard definitively whether or not her husband is going to seek another term on the school board.
Don’t know, doesn’t matter who Marcia is. Just seems odd to use only a first name and then “insist” that everyone identify both online name and real name at a board meeting.
“I’m gonna go throw the football around with Peter in the backyard. Can you spell check this one too?”
This is an absurd blog. Throw the football? No one in his right mind could make sense of what is being said here.
I do not think you people see what is coming. We have a economic disaster in this state and all we are talking about is class sizes and the amount of money for teachers raises. We have no prospects for revenue generation in this state as business continues to leave and the rich with them. NO MONEY FOLKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Resident, you worry that different houses pay different taxes saying all students pay the same fees like SATprep. Well, that is not true. Minorities and students with unusual names…do not pay the same for SATprep, and other school programs. Academia violates prop 209 DAILY !! They think they were put here to use their ‘discrimination’ to pick and choose WHO gets what…playing equal and fair is hard for some of our hired educators. There is nothing fair about parcel taxes…some townhouses have 3 children…some large homes have none.
So the education dollars consumed have no bearing on dollars contributed.
Notice how this thread is not posted up on the main page bulletin even though there are far more and recent comments on it than others on the bulletin board. That’s cause somebody doesn’t want the community seeing this thread, because it has a lot of telling stuff