SchoolsDTA Stakes Out Position Against Salary Cuts
For the first time, DJUSD last night began working with real budget numbers rather than rough approximations. The bottom line is that California education took a pretty hard hit and unfortunately, they did not get the kind of full categorical flexibility that they were hoping for. In the coming days and weeks, we will examine some of these numbers more thoroughly. Right now, we will just offer a brief summary of the district’s budget picture and focus on some interesting responses from DTA and the community regarding the issue of the Davis High School Football Field and Track Renovation as well DTA’s believed preference to take the 20 RFK’s rather than a salary reduction.
But first a brief look at the budget climate at least right now. The state decided not to cut the number of school days. So the 180 day school remains in effect. The school district could have saved $250,000 for each day that was cut from the schedule, but that did not make it to the final budget.
Nor for all effective purposes was flexibility in the text books categorical funding. That would have been a way to save over $800,000 by forgoing updated English and Math text books. But again, that is not to be.
Finally, the speculation is that the state is going to soak up all of the federal stimulus money in order to balance their own budget. There was at one point speculation that DJUSD could get one to two million from that pot, but that is believed to be off the table as well.
There is some categorical flexibility, but that flexibility is off-set by nearly one million in categorical fund reductions. Moreover, there are decreased penalties for going over the 20:1 ratio for class size, but it is not a full flexibility either.
In short, the district is going to have to find a way to reduce its deficit and the most likely to occur either through salary cuts to employees or through pink slips.
STADIUM ISSUE
What is becoming interesting at this point is where the teachers and DTA stand in terms of what the district ought to be doing. Several came up and spoke during public comment expressing displeasure at the district’s decision to fund the construction of the new DHS football stadium.
This has become a source of great criticism within the community. Indeed in the Davis Enterprise yesterday appeared two letters criticizing the building of the new stadium.
The most pointed read:
“‘Teachers asked to take 2.5% pay cut’ along with a higher headline citing the school board’s decision to proceed with a $4 million plan to upgrade the football stadium. What a travesty!
Obviously, a stadium is more important than classrooms and teachers and student learning.”
Coupled with the criticism during public comment, Superintendent James Hammond responded in perhaps his most heated manner yet attempting to explain once again the funding issue.
What the district needs to understand on this point is that they are not only losing this public relations battle, they are getting killed by it. In terms of the facts, the district is right, the funding sources are different, funds that are available for construction cannot be used for instruction.
Guess what? The public is not going to understand that. They see multimillion dollar upgrades to a football stadium and at the same time the district is contemplating about cutting teacher positions or asking them to take salary cuts, and the public is going to be suspicious of the school district.
The district now puts itself into a bad position. They either have to try to explain this to the public, which will be difficult and perhaps not fruitful. Or they can allow these beliefs to fester. There is no election at this point in time, but people do not forget these kinds of things.
From the teachers standpoint, DTA President Ingrim Salim laid it on the line last night.
“I want to address the stadium question because it is out there. I think what you should all be aware of is that certainly there is different pots of money and many of us can grasp that, but not all of us does. That’s just confusing. It’s going to be really hard to mitigate the effects of the confusion.
The second piece from the DTA standpoint is that while probably from the community standpoint they supported the stadium, certainly within the teaching community, they really wanted to see Emerson renovated. There’s not a way to fix that perception either.”
The teacher issue thus is somewhat different. They understand the funding differences, at least in theory, but they believe that the priority should have been Emerson rather than the high school.
The district has a difficult position here because they are correct on two essential points. As mentioned before the funding. And the second problem is that the current situation is untenable. You have a serious safety risk, and that is a liability to the district.
However, the timing of this could not have been worse.
DTA WOULD RATHER TAKE PINK SLIPS THAN A SALARY CUT
Ingrid Salim’s follow up comments were just as interesting. As she laid out for the district the likely but not official DTA position on salary cuts. Basically they would rather take the 20 position cuts rather than a reduction of salary.
Here is her lengthy statement from last night:
“Last year we did have reserves and yet we RFK’d 114 people. So people are just suspicious even though I can look at the budget numbers and see what happened as a result of last year and now we’re not being quite so conservative. But last year there was money in reserves that weren’t applied immediate to personnel. So we RFK’d people, we didn’t end up laying off, and we backfilled. We filled back in with DSF money… But we didn’t use those reserves right away. So that might give some understand about why people keep questioning about are there reserves and are suspicious that there might be. I personally don’t question that, I think we’re using them differently than we did before. That’s just the background of where that suspicion comes from.
The last piece of that is that it’s just real hard to correct misinformation that gets out. Whenever people are defensive and afraid for jobs and for money or whatever they certainly spin things. We can do our best job to try to correct misinformation but it’s just a battle. So just to know that. We can civilly disagree but the battle of misinformation will still be there. And perceptions are very hard to fight.
The other dicey piece is that you asked both unions to consider salary cuts and where w are is a combination of all of these perceptions. The reality is that we would have to have all of our membership voting or over half of them… Our union will be doing a survey to see where people are in terms of what they want to do.
But the undercurrent that we’re getting if we’re really talking about 20 jobs, and last year it was 114 and we weren’t talking about a salary cut, that probably the majority of the people say that’s okay. It’s okay to cut 20 jobs. Basically that’s programs that probably need to be tightened anyway if we’re going to have sustainable education with a smaller budget. The bulk of people that we’re hearing and getting information from, and like I said we don’t have a formal hearing to say that for sure, but that’s sort of the sense we’re getting…
We’re certainly going to ask, we’re certainly going to push forward with this concept, and there are people who say no, let’s take a cut for everyone. But that’s kind of what’s out there right now.
The final part is that there are places where we’d say it would be okay to increase class size, for instance at the 9/ 10. I’m not speaking for DTA, I’m just saying things that we might say. The 9/10 English and Math to [a class size of] 24 instead of 22. That’s not a huge impact on class size reduction. That would be preferable to something like considering a salary cut.
We do worry about the logistics of putting into place something like a salary cut or anything like that, because of the exit strategy—when do you change it? What happens to retirees? And all those little tiny things that just seem huge and overwhelming.
We will start that process next Tuesday [petitioning our members]. We’re pretty comfortable about where things are right now in terms of going forward. We’re going to be going over the budget pretty closely ourselves, finetooth combing, trying to find other ways to meet this deficit.”
From my standpoint, the position laid out by Ms. Salim makes a good deal of sense from the teacher’s standpoint. Salary cuts are problematic for a number of reasons including the difficulty of making ends meet during tough economic times.
Furthermore two other essential points were raise. First, the sheer number, if it is indeed 20, one would think the likelihood of anyone losing their job was pretty small. For one thing you have attrition through retirements and through people moving.
Second, she makes the point, a point that was made on this blog at times, that if we want to have a sustainable education on a smaller budget, and a smaller budget is the reality right now, then tightening up the programs is probably a way to do it.
The part that somewhat surprised me is that the teachers support a slight increase of class size at the 9/ 10 level, a level given full flexibility by the state, from 22 to 24. She argued that was not a huge impact on class size reduction but was preferable to taking a salary cut.
The bottom line here is that a salary cut would have to be negotiated with the DTA through the collective bargaining process. This was a strong and public signal that DTA is not there right now.
The school district has an ongoing perception problem in dealing with the DHS stadium repair. They had better get on top of that issue or it could backfire on them in the future.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
The Blue and White Foundation needs to step up and help to explain this to the public. They advocating very prominently for the stadium project and got the results they wanted. The benefit of picking the stadium retrofit over Emerson is that there is additional matching funds available for the stadium through the Blue and White Foundation. I doubt they would find donors as willing to step up to the plate for retrofitting Emerson.If the Blue and White Foundation does nothing to explain their position, they will be better known as the Black and Blue Foundation.
So I was reading that the May revise could revise downward, meaning further cuts. So what happens to the district if that happens? Cut more teachers in May? And presumably by then it will be too late to go back and reconsider a salary cut?Personally I see the attitude of the teachers akin to Shirly Jackson's story, …The Lottery…. I won't lose my job, so let me keep my salary. Next year there will be a few more teacher cuts, but it won't be enough to convince anyone to take a pay cut. And so forth. In the end, you could go back and look at the total number of laid off teachers and the cumulative degradation in services and working conditions and have seen that a pay cut would have been the better option.This is an example of panic and greed overcoming charity and clear thinking.
Here's my best guess WTF. Given the number is 20, by the time you talk about retirements and transfers, you may not be talking about any actual layoffs. That's what they are thinking. if the number were say 100 like last year, I think you'd see them take the paycut rather than deal with the layoffs. I think makes a lot more sense than you are giving it credit for.What happens with the May revise? That we will have to see. The other potential unpleasantness is what happens if the voters don't approve the five ballot measures in May and the May revise is bad?Sometimes it is best not to think about things.
I see the attitude of the teachers akin to Shirly Jackson's story, …The Lottery…. That story was about people so set in their ways they couldn't even contemplate the idea of changing the paradigm of life into which they'd descended. Even if it meant stoning a person to death. What was it Jesus said in the Bible? …Let he who is without sin cast the first stone….Instead of drawing lots from the box to determine who is to die, per Shirley Jackson's story, it is perhaps time to think outside the box. Let the supporters of a new football stadium stop supporting it and the pressure on the teachers to conform to an outmoded paradigm will subside.
…In these days it's very prudent to think about these things. …You're correct, that was my exhaustion and frustration speaking.
Your subheadline reads: …DTA WOULD RATHER TAKE PINK SLIPS THAN A SALARY CUT…In another Vanguard thread 10 days ago, I had posted this: …Given the choice between cutting salaries and cutting employees (including the most junior teachers), it's clear that the teachers' union still prefers the latter option….You replied: …I disagree. I think they have an ordered ranking of preferences: Option 1: No layoffs and no salary cuts (i.e. find the money from elsewhere) Option 2: Salary cuts no layoffsSALIM: …But the undercurrent that we
The teachers need to stop using the all sports stadium as a scapegoat. ANYONE who has listened to one school board meeting about facilities funds realizes they are different pots. Also anyone who has looked at the stadium facility knows that it is a HUGE SAFETY AND LIABILITY. Scape Goaters?: What happens when the district gets sued because someone is hurt using the stadium and we have to pay millions of dollars in a settlement out of the general fund?
You guys need to explain all this on the op-ed page of the Enterprise. There is far more misinformation in that rag on this issue from those letters to the editor. Not withstanding the derisive comments from the poster who likes to call David, …blogboy….
Some numbers to consider: The ADA (07/08) is 8,484. The district has 417 FTE teachers. Average class size is 20.3. All else held equal, the loss of 20 teachers increases average class size to 21.4.From my empirical experience on the ground, I don't see an average class size of 20.3. If I were only walking around K-3 classrooms, I would agree with that number. But there are so many other classes that have 30+ students. I would say that something closer to 30 should be a true average.Does that calculation include just classroom teachers? Or does it also include librarians, counselors, and other certificated staff? Someone even told me that they include principals in that calculation.
okay. Rich used the pupil-teacher ratio, which is not the same as average class size. From ed-data.k12.ca.us:The Pupil-Teacher Ratio is enrollment divided by the number of full-time equivalent teachers. Because some teachers are not assigned to a classroom, the Pupil-Teacher Ratio is usually smaller than the average class size.
Here's part of what's going on with Woodland schools.
…Sometimes it is best not to think about things….In these days it's very prudent to think about these things. That's how we get into these pickles.Voter mood and the section of the electorate that show up in May will not be the same as the electorate that showed up in November to get behind Obama. It's likely you won't get the most desirable outcome, especially if the lottery issue is put on the ballot.Didn't Colby say last night that he already factored in an attrition of ~10 teachers into his assumptions?I think the teachers are waiting for Superman to come to the rescue and make an improved situation. These are times when it would be best to work with a worst case scenario. So if 20 teachers are expected to lose their jobs, then it probably will be 20 teachers plus a little more.I notice in today's Sacramento Bee that the Natomas school district has ~$10 million in excess reserves and will not lay off teachers this year. Good for them.
…I am sure that some relatively cheap fixes can take care of some of the liability issues with the stadium for now, and a the discussion of a new stadium would be better put off until we are in better financial times….Reasonable people can disagree on whether to build the stadium or to have renovated Emerson, but regardless, this is likely the very best time, financially, to build something like this.To put off building when the money and needs are there will invite higher interest rates and building costs into the equation.
If …the money is there… why would there be interest costs?
Last November the non-partisan Legislative Analysts Office (LAO) projected state budget shortfalls in the neighborhood of $22 billion for roughly the next 5 years.sourceWe are in the early part of a long term situation.
Here's what happened at Dixon's school board meeting last night.And Winters.
wdf – Maybe we need to start the "Books & Brains Foundation," or the "Enrich Emerson Foundation." It's frustrating that people are willing to fund sports but not brain, books, and safe schools for kids to learn.Black and blue and pink foundation is what the Blue and White foundation will be known as if they don't step up.
Why would you be disappointed with the Blue and White Foundation?They have raised Hundreds of thousand of Dollars, Backed Davis School Foundation last spring and were able to bring in a significant amount of the 1.77 million raised for our teachers through there donor base. Created the DHS HALL OF FAME, that includes people from arts, educators and Former DHS Teachers. An amazing event! And now are trying to raise money to fix the most dilapidated, underused teaching facility in Davis.I am glad we have a group of people willing to donate there time and energy to our community in so many inspiring ways.
WDF, thanks for the clarification. You know this far better that I do. I think, though, the salient point, is that on average, the class sizes would increase by no more than 2 students per classroom, though …average… itself can be misleading, if many classrooms don't increase at all.
Here's part of what's going on with Woodland schools.
It was my understanding that Emerson's condition posed some liabilities as well, and that was one reason for either renovating it or closing it (if the money was not there). It makes far more sense to me to renovate one of our junior high schools, and the only one in west Davis, than it does to build a new stadium. I am sure that some relatively cheap fixes can take care of some of the liability issues with the stadium for now, and a the discussion of a new stadium would be better put off until we are in better financial times. I believe it is more important to maintain Emerson for education than to build a new stadium at the high school.
FYI–Old school board meetings are digitally archived here.The stadium financing was discussed extensively during the first hour or so of the Feb. 5 meeting. If you have doubts or questions, then you would probably want to check it out.
Last November the non-partisan Legislative Analysts Office (LAO) projected state budget shortfalls in the neighborhood of $22 billion for roughly the next 5 years.sourceWe are in the early part of a long term situation.
Here's what happened at Dixon's school board meeting last night.And Winters.
David — I didn't understand the point about there being flexibility to increase 9/10 English and math classes from 22 to 24. Can you clarify? Do you mean that the state will continue to fund class size reduction for those classes even if they increase to 24 students per class?
wdf – Maybe we need to start the "Books & Brains Foundation," or the "Enrich Emerson Foundation." It's frustrating that people are willing to fund sports but not brain, books, and safe schools for kids to learn.Black and blue and pink foundation is what the Blue and White foundation will be known as if they don't step up.
I am disappointed with the blue & white foundation too.
…The closing of Grafton and Willow Spring elementary schools was one of many difficult cuts facing Woodland trustees, but after some discussion board members gave direction to avoid shutting down the sites last night.Parents and students from both schools came to the meeting once again and spoke against closing down the schools.Several trustees said the school district should keep the schools open until at least the opening of the new school in Russell Ranch….At least Woodland decided not to close two elementary schools before they open a new one!!! Geeeeeze!!! I don't believe this!!!
How much do teachers/school administrators in Davis get paid? Are their salaries online somewhere like the state worker database?
How much do teachers/school administrators in Davis get paid? Are their salaries online somewhere like the state worker database?The teacher salary scale is online at the district website under employment. Administrators (at least the top staff, Superintendent and Assistant Superintendents) have salaries determined by individual contract. You can find their salaries if you search old Enterprise articles at the Newsbank website through the Davis public library (at www. yolocounty.org).
If you read today's (Sunday's) Enterprise article by Jeff Hudson carefully, you will note that further cuts will be proposed for the March 3 meeting. This may certainly mean further cuts to teachers.This is because the school board wants to know what it would look like to make all the cuts for next year's budget instead of spreading them out for 3 years, which is what the district staff originally presented as a possibility.
…Sometimes it is best not to think about things….In these days it’s very prudent to think about these things. That’s how we get into these pickles.Voter mood and the section of the electorate that show up in May will not be the same as the electorate that showed up in November to get behind Obama. It’s likely you won’t get the most desirable outcome, especially if the lottery issue is put on the ballot.Didn’t Colby say last night that he already factored in an attrition of ~10 teachers into his assumptions?I think the teachers are waiting for Superman to come to the rescue and make an improved situation. These are times when it would be best to work with a worst case scenario. So if 20 teachers are expected to lose their jobs, then it probably will be 20 teachers plus a little more.I notice in today’s Sacramento Bee that the Natomas school district has ~$10 million in excess reserves and will not lay off teachers this year. Good for them.
Rich:I think it’s a reasonable guess for teacher positions.I was a bit surprised to hear that given what she said on the radio two weeks ago, but once you break down the numbers, it makes sense. Bottom line is if the number is twenty, it might as well be at or near zero. If that’s true, why take a pay cut?
Let the supporters of a new football stadium stop supporting it and the pressure on the teachers to conform to an outmoded paradigm will subside.That would have to come from the school board itself. They voted for the stadium renovation. From this vantage point, it would have been more prudent to delay that decision and deal with the unrestricted budget issues first. Right now the stadium issue has become a distraction and a red herring.The money to fund the stadium renovation (or any other building/facilities project in the district) comes from the CFD assessments that you see on your parcel tax. Those tax assessments will be collected regardless of whether there is a project or not, and they can only be spent on facilities.Better that those taxes immediately go into the local economy rather than sit in a bank account and do nothing during these bad economic times. That point was made last night.Additionally (and this was also mentioned at last night’s meeting), better to initiate a building project now when costs are cheaper, anyway. If we wait for better times, then we will be second guessing the administration as to why they didn’t start this project earlier when costs were lower.
The Blue and White Foundation needs to step up and help to explain this to the public. They advocating very prominently for the stadium project and got the results they wanted. The benefit of picking the stadium retrofit over Emerson is that there is additional matching funds available for the stadium through the Blue and White Foundation. I doubt they would find donors as willing to step up to the plate for retrofitting Emerson.If the Blue and White Foundation does nothing to explain their position, they will be better known as the Black and Blue Foundation.
So I was reading that the May revise could revise downward, meaning further cuts. So what happens to the district if that happens? Cut more teachers in May? And presumably by then it will be too late to go back and reconsider a salary cut?Personally I see the attitude of the teachers akin to Shirly Jackson’s story, …The Lottery…. I won’t lose my job, so let me keep my salary. Next year there will be a few more teacher cuts, but it won’t be enough to convince anyone to take a pay cut. And so forth. In the end, you could go back and look at the total number of laid off teachers and the cumulative degradation in services and working conditions and have seen that a pay cut would have been the better option.This is an example of panic and greed overcoming charity and clear thinking.
WDF, thanks for the clarification. You know this far better that I do. I think, though, the salient point, is that on average, the class sizes would increase by no more than 2 students per classroom, though …average… itself can be misleading, if many classrooms don’t increase at all.
Here’s my best guess WTF. Given the number is 20, by the time you talk about retirements and transfers, you may not be talking about any actual layoffs. That’s what they are thinking. if the number were say 100 like last year, I think you’d see them take the paycut rather than deal with the layoffs. I think makes a lot more sense than you are giving it credit for.What happens with the May revise? That we will have to see. The other potential unpleasantness is what happens if the voters don’t approve the five ballot measures in May and the May revise is bad?Sometimes it is best not to think about things.
It was my understanding that Emerson’s condition posed some liabilities as well, and that was one reason for either renovating it or closing it (if the money was not there). It makes far more sense to me to renovate one of our junior high schools, and the only one in west Davis, than it does to build a new stadium. I am sure that some relatively cheap fixes can take care of some of the liability issues with the stadium for now, and a the discussion of a new stadium would be better put off until we are in better financial times. I believe it is more important to maintain Emerson for education than to build a new stadium at the high school.
I see the attitude of the teachers akin to Shirly Jackson’s story, …The Lottery…. That story was about people so set in their ways they couldn’t even contemplate the idea of changing the paradigm of life into which they’d descended. Even if it meant stoning a person to death. What was it Jesus said in the Bible? …Let he who is without sin cast the first stone….Instead of drawing lots from the box to determine who is to die, per Shirley Jackson’s story, it is perhaps time to think outside the box. Let the supporters of a new football stadium stop supporting it and the pressure on the teachers to conform to an outmoded paradigm will subside.
…In these days it’s very prudent to think about these things. …You’re correct, that was my exhaustion and frustration speaking.
Your subheadline reads: …DTA WOULD RATHER TAKE PINK SLIPS THAN A SALARY CUT…In another Vanguard thread 10 days ago, I had posted this: …Given the choice between cutting salaries and cutting employees (including the most junior teachers), it’s clear that the teachers’ union still prefers the latter option….You replied: …I disagree. I think they have an ordered ranking of preferences: Option 1: No layoffs and no salary cuts (i.e. find the money from elsewhere) Option 2: Salary cuts no layoffsSALIM: …But the undercurrent that we
FYI–Old school board meetings are digitally archived here.The stadium financing was discussed extensively during the first hour or so of the Feb. 5 meeting. If you have doubts or questions, then you would probably want to check it out.
Rich:I think it’s a reasonable guess for teacher positions.I was a bit surprised to hear that given what she said on the radio two weeks ago, but once you break down the numbers, it makes sense. Bottom line is if the number is twenty, it might as well be at or near zero. If that’s true, why take a pay cut?
The teachers need to stop using the all sports stadium as a scapegoat. ANYONE who has listened to one school board meeting about facilities funds realizes they are different pots. Also anyone who has looked at the stadium facility knows that it is a HUGE SAFETY AND LIABILITY. Scape Goaters?: What happens when the district gets sued because someone is hurt using the stadium and we have to pay millions of dollars in a settlement out of the general fund?
Let the supporters of a new football stadium stop supporting it and the pressure on the teachers to conform to an outmoded paradigm will subside.That would have to come from the school board itself. They voted for the stadium renovation. From this vantage point, it would have been more prudent to delay that decision and deal with the unrestricted budget issues first. Right now the stadium issue has become a distraction and a red herring.The money to fund the stadium renovation (or any other building/facilities project in the district) comes from the CFD assessments that you see on your parcel tax. Those tax assessments will be collected regardless of whether there is a project or not, and they can only be spent on facilities.Better that those taxes immediately go into the local economy rather than sit in a bank account and do nothing during these bad economic times. That point was made last night.Additionally (and this was also mentioned at last night’s meeting), better to initiate a building project now when costs are cheaper, anyway. If we wait for better times, then we will be second guessing the administration as to why they didn’t start this project earlier when costs were lower.
David — I didn’t understand the point about there being flexibility to increase 9/10 English and math classes from 22 to 24. Can you clarify? Do you mean that the state will continue to fund class size reduction for those classes even if they increase to 24 students per class?
You guys need to explain all this on the op-ed page of the Enterprise. There is far more misinformation in that rag on this issue from those letters to the editor. Not withstanding the derisive comments from the poster who likes to call David, …blogboy….
I am disappointed with the blue & white foundation too.
Some numbers to consider: The ADA (07/08) is 8,484. The district has 417 FTE teachers. Average class size is 20.3. All else held equal, the loss of 20 teachers increases average class size to 21.4.From my empirical experience on the ground, I don’t see an average class size of 20.3. If I were only walking around K-3 classrooms, I would agree with that number. But there are so many other classes that have 30+ students. I would say that something closer to 30 should be a true average.Does that calculation include just classroom teachers? Or does it also include librarians, counselors, and other certificated staff? Someone even told me that they include principals in that calculation.
okay. Rich used the pupil-teacher ratio, which is not the same as average class size. From ed-data.k12.ca.us:The Pupil-Teacher Ratio is enrollment divided by the number of full-time equivalent teachers. Because some teachers are not assigned to a classroom, the Pupil-Teacher Ratio is usually smaller than the average class size.
…I am sure that some relatively cheap fixes can take care of some of the liability issues with the stadium for now, and a the discussion of a new stadium would be better put off until we are in better financial times….Reasonable people can disagree on whether to build the stadium or to have renovated Emerson, but regardless, this is likely the very best time, financially, to build something like this.To put off building when the money and needs are there will invite higher interest rates and building costs into the equation.
If …the money is there… why would there be interest costs?
Why would you be disappointed with the Blue and White Foundation?They have raised Hundreds of thousand of Dollars, Backed Davis School Foundation last spring and were able to bring in a significant amount of the 1.77 million raised for our teachers through there donor base. Created the DHS HALL OF FAME, that includes people from arts, educators and Former DHS Teachers. An amazing event! And now are trying to raise money to fix the most dilapidated, underused teaching facility in Davis.I am glad we have a group of people willing to donate there time and energy to our community in so many inspiring ways.
…The closing of Grafton and Willow Spring elementary schools was one of many difficult cuts facing Woodland trustees, but after some discussion board members gave direction to avoid shutting down the sites last night.Parents and students from both schools came to the meeting once again and spoke against closing down the schools.Several trustees said the school district should keep the schools open until at least the opening of the new school in Russell Ranch….At least Woodland decided not to close two elementary schools before they open a new one!!! Geeeeeze!!! I don’t believe this!!!
How much do teachers/school administrators in Davis get paid? Are their salaries online somewhere like the state worker database?
How much do teachers/school administrators in Davis get paid? Are their salaries online somewhere like the state worker database?The teacher salary scale is online at the district website under employment. Administrators (at least the top staff, Superintendent and Assistant Superintendents) have salaries determined by individual contract. You can find their salaries if you search old Enterprise articles at the Newsbank website through the Davis public library (at www. yolocounty.org).
If you read today’s (Sunday’s) Enterprise article by Jeff Hudson carefully, you will note that further cuts will be proposed for the March 3 meeting. This may certainly mean further cuts to teachers.This is because the school board wants to know what it would look like to make all the cuts for next year’s budget instead of spreading them out for 3 years, which is what the district staff originally presented as a possibility.