MDUSD Budget Disaster—COLA to Blame

I couldn't believe what I was hearing at last night's School Board meeting. The $17 million in cuts was horrifying enough. We (teachers and parents) were up in arms about the proposed class size minimum of 28 students, believing that it would kill some AP and Honors classes at some sites. We (parents) were distressed that we would not be able to pay to have our child bused to school. Librarians, music, special education, textbook adoption, custodial services, and the list goes on and on. All of these proposed budget reductions were proposed to meet a $17 million deficit by the 2011-2012 school year.

And then there was the news that $17 million was not enough. Actually, the number was more like $35.5 million.

I'll pause while you try to digest that number.

Pause.

Pause.

I was all the more shocked to hear the horrible news because our, um, esteemed Gubinator had released a revised budget on Friday, January 8^th, assuring the public there were no cuts to education. So what happened? If there were no cuts, why did the MDUSD budget shortfall leap from $17 to $35.5 million?

Turns out that there is a negative COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment). School districts get paid per student based on the COLA rate. If I understand this correctly, since the COLA has gone down, funding has also gone down. Can't you just see the Governor's budget and media people, jumping with glee when it was discovered that the COLA was down? What a spin! Now they could honestly tell the public that there were not additional cuts to education, the subtext being that they were compassionate individuals. Of course, there didn't have to be cuts because districts would already be receiving less.

I've never been great at math, but isn't that kind of the same thing as a cut?

So what exactly is there left to cut? How can school sites possibly be reorganized, heck, even redone, in order to weather this economic catastrophe?

Last night the Board voted to have school sites come up with possible solutions around the issue of minimum class size. I appreciate the Board making an effort to work with teachers and parents, instead of just making a cold decision that could adversely affect some sites and not others. It is important to receive input so that everyone is heard. Unfortunately, there has already been an unintended, negative consequence. I was floored to hear the conversations in the hall today—teachers suggesting which classes should be cut (not their own, of course), office staff adding in their two cents. The issue of summer school came up and the merits of providing this last opportunity for students who essentially 'choose' to fail. Inevitably the challenges of servicing the immigrant population in our community was raised. And it was not raised in a flattering manner.

We are all experts on what works and does not work at our school site. The community seems to know best when it comes to what teachers should and should not sacrifice (try telling a 2^nd grade teacher who had a 50% increase in class size that teachers have not given their share in during this budget crisis!). But this expertise and this 'knowing what's best' for a site, does not make us the best decision makers. Really, what we experience for 90% of the school day is what goes on only in our classroom or only in the office. Everything else is hearsay.

Bottom line is that people are scared. People are overwhelmed. And asking school sites to make these recommendations is unfair as it has the potential to put us at each other's throats. Given all the added stress resulting from last year's cuts and the uncertainty of the future, we need to be one another's strongest support.

What can we do to salvage our students' education and still be a sane, safe community at the end of day?