On Thursday evening, school board member Tim Taylor generated a debate over whether or not the current state of affairs for the district, in terms of facing another 3.5 million to 7 million dollar deficit, constitutes an emergency.
As the Vanguard reported the following morning, Tim Taylor argued that calling it a “B” tax, or emergency tax, is not a bad thing. He pointed out Bruce Colby’s disastrous numbers which, depending upon the scenario, show the district being another $3.5 million to $7 million in the hole, on top of what has already been cut.
He suggested that they need to call it what it is, sober people up, and if it is emergency tax, then call it that.
Richard Harris responded that he would be in complete agreement in calling it an emergency, if this were three years ago. But the community has already had to pull out their wallets and support an emergency in Measure W, along with DSF (Davis Schools Foundation) fundraising.
He is afraid that if they go to the voters saying that it is an emergency, it will be argued that the district is using the word to manipulate the voters.
For him this is not an emergency, but rather a statement about local control, and about a local district and community supporting local schools and showing what this community is about. It is time for the community to step up and determine for themselves, regardless of state funding, what we want this community to look like.
Some of the Vanguard commentators who weighed in argued that most of the definitions for emergency refer to something unexpected or unforeseen.
But I just cannot get over the fact that there is an emergency, and a definition that hinges on “unexpectedness” misses a point.
I looked it up and found actually two pretty common definitions on the web. The first does include the unexpected component, “A serious situation or occurrence that happens unexpectedly and demands immediate action.”
The second does not, “A condition of urgent need for action or assistance: a state of emergency.”
And there it is, what we are facing is a state of emergency, a condition in which we are in urgent need for action or assistance. I would argue we have been in that position since 2008.
The problem has been that we have not had that action or assistance. And the future does not look any brighter, at least in terms of external help.
I thought Senator Mark Leno was very candid in our phone conversation last Wednesday.
Senator Leno warned the Vanguard, “Fifty percent of the budget is education, so education is always at risk without new revenue. Californians, I hope, will begin to focus on that fact.”
Governor-elect Jerry Brown has already made it very clear that he would not be raising taxes, at least not without voter approval.
“We ostensibly have an inability to raise any revenue with the legislature, regardless of whether there is a majority or supermajority threshold,” said Senator Mark Leno referring to the passage of Proposition 25 which will allow the legislature to pass a budget with a majority vote but not raise taxes.
The fact is that Californians have not focused on that fact. While they voted pretty much straight down the line Democratic, they even gave the legislature the ability to pass budgets with a majority vote, provided they not raise tax.
On the other hand, they voted for Prop 22, which prevents the state from raiding money from local government. Obviously the League of Cities, the principal sponsor, was ecstatic. However, teachers and educators have opposed the measure.
Why? There are not many pots of money in California, and one of them was redevelopment money which generally goes to developers. The fact is that local government is in trouble, but a lot of that trouble is of their own doing – municipal employees were given steady increases in salaries, benefits, and retirement over the last decade to the point that now cities are now in trouble.
Now local government has been given protection from the state raiding its funds, but guess what, schools do not have similar protection because the state has violated Prop 98 on a repeated basis.
State options then are out. The state has no money. The state has little or no means to raise revenue. Jerry Brown has said he will not raise taxes without voter approval and that means no taxes will be raised since the voters would never approve such a measure.
That leaves the local district with but one option – go to the local voters, hand outstretched, and beg for more money. In 2007 and 2008 the voters approved first a renewal and then an increase in the parcel tax.
But what they will ask for in 2011 is beyond anything that would be imagined – if they choose to do it, of course. We are talking about $600 per home. That is a lot of money.
The numbers were not there during their first round of polling. My guess is they won’t be there in the next round of polling, expected to occur in December.
But what choice do they have?
Already what we are talking about is mind-boggling. A few years ago, we had a 20-1 student to teacher ratio for K-3, now we are looking at about a 30 to 1 next year. Think about that. 50% more pupils per classroom.
But what choice do you have? The district has fought hard to preserve its core programs, but something has to give.
Despite perceptions to the contrary, the district has cut about as much administration as a district with its size and needs can cut. They eliminated, early on, an associate superintendent position, the one that does curriculum. They kept Bruce Colby who is on the finance side of the aisle, but they eliminated his finance director and several assistants, meaning he is basically doing the budgets himself.
We can nit and pick about what programs should be cut, but the next $3.5 to $7 million is coming right out of teachers, because that is pretty much all that is left to cut.
And the district is starting to buckle at the seams. Try sending an email to the district and see if your message gets through. Right now it’s a crapshoot, as the district is working on obsolete servers right now because they cannot afford to buy new ones.
The worst part is that as bad as things are here – and they are much worse than most people believe – they are much better here than elsewhere. We have a public that has stepped up with two approvals for parcel taxes and a private organization that has raised millions during a time of deep economic downturn to help keep us afloat, somehow.
But make no mistake, education in Davis and indeed all of California is in a state of emergency, and if we do not act quickly and decisively, a generation of students will be lost.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
[quote]A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend some normal functions of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, alert citizens to change their normal behaviors, or order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. It can also be used as a rationale for suspending rights and freedoms, even if guaranteed under the constitution. Such declarations usually come during a time of natural or man made disaster, during periods of civil unrest, or following a declaration of war or situation of international or internal armed conflict[/quote]
David:
I made the comment. I don’t want to get into hair-spliting, but I think you missed my point, perhaps it was too nuanced for a blog.
This is a permanent state of affairs. I am concerned that people will become tired of continuous declarations of emergency.
I don’t know anyone who would disagree that K-12 education in California needs help, though many would disagree on how to change the system.
Personally I don’t think calling it an emergency helps at all–you will get voter fatigue quickly.
I understand your point, I agree, the problem is that in order for the voters to approve the kind of funding that is needed, we have to understand that this is an urgent crisis. It may continue for some time. I don’t think it will be a permanent state of affairs, because at somepoint the funding will be stabilized, perhaps at a lower level before, but at least with stability you can adjust.
For a hint of where we may be going, here’s Governor Brown’s education plan, released as a candidate:
[url]http://toped.svefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/govrace-brownplan0728101.pdf[/url]
I agree w Dr. Wu’s sentiments, that to call this a “state of emergency” will be counterproductive.
I read the link provided by wdf1 on Gov Brown’s educational plan, got halfway through, and stopped. Most of it is just not going to happen, ever. Create lots of charter schools? Significantly decrease the money spent on our prison systems? You catch my drift. Circumstances have vastly altered.
Times have changed drastically from an economic standpoint. Some real changes have got to happen in the way we budget. Too much money is paid by taxpayers that goes unaccounted for, and does not trickle down to the local level to places where it needs to go, but gets caught up in the national/state/local bureaucracies.
Schools can no longer afford to provide some of the goodies it has in the past, unless the people at the local level want to pony up separate dollars to do so. I also find it ironic that the school chose to first fund a new stadium, rather than address the leaky roof in the MPR where kids are supposed to eat every day, that now has mold and is closed bc of health and safety considerations. Others may disagree, but sometimes I don’t think our school board/district always has their priorities in order…
RE: MPR
From what I understood of the last school board meeting, and Jeff Hudson’s article on Sunday —
[url]http://www.davisenterprise.com/story.php?id=101.12[/url]
the district has money set aside for maintenance that could cover the cost of a new roof.
Building a new stadium wasn’t my personal preference, but I can see how there would never have been a solid consensus in the community in settling on any project.
[quote]I don’t think it will be a permanent state of affairs, because at somepoint the funding will be stabilized, perhaps at a lower level before, but at least with stability you can adjust.[/quote]
David–you are more optimistic than I am. I’d love to get a hold of Meredith Whiney’s (banking analyst who predicted Lehman and other collapses–so she has a good track record) report on state finances but it is only available to her clients. She forecasts many city bankruptcies–and I think she is spot on once again.
When cities go bankrupt–and maybe some school districts–then you have an emergency.
Trust me–it will get worse. I’m not saying that Davis will get that bad, but we may get caught up in it.
Its not a crisis… its not even close.
The day they agree to fire the bad teachers is the day they acknowledge there is a real crisis. Until then, this is just posturing.
Sorry but the Board is sounding like they are crying wolf. So much time is spent wringing hands and blaming state rather than coming ip with ways to deal with situation. Seems like things we’re ‘so dire’ a few wks ago and now we are back in emergency mode.
And mold in MPR and ?new roof when we spent so much facility funds for lavish stadium? Come on.
Think parcel tax might have bumps this time.
wdf1: “the district has money set aside for maintenance that could cover the cost of a new roof.”
Only enough to patch it as in putting a bandaid on a festering wound. The building was erected in 1963, has had repeated problems in the past few years, to the point where they were constantly in repair mode for the last 3 years. Now, w the mold and water leakage, it is unusable bc unsafe from a health and danger standpoint. But somehow the stadium was so much more important? I think not (just my opinion)…
Sorry but the Board is sounding like they are crying wolf. So much time is spent wringing hands and blaming state rather than coming ip with ways to deal with situation. Seems like things we’re ‘so dire’ a few wks ago and now we are back in emergency mode.
Your crying wolf comment is a really cheap criticism when about 1000 other school districts in California are dealing with roughly the same situation. If DJUSD were unique among school districts in having a bad situation while others were running smoothly, then I’d say you were definitely on to something.
In the past year the school board has come up with ways to deal with the situation, including cutting back on staff, getting lots of senior employees to retire, using up reserve funds, and cutting site funds, among other things. If you’re unhappy with the things the district has come up with given the current situation, then it’s time to offer suggestions.
A couple of interesting articles today:
Sac Bee, 11/8/2010:
Many California school board incumbents decided not to run
[url]http://www.sacbee.com/2010/11/08/3167300/many-california-school-board-incumbents.html[/url]
Companies like BP, Chevron, Visa, American Express, and others spend billions to sell a good message about themselves, and it’s their right to do so. Public schools can’t do that without creating a serious scandal; DJUSD and other school districts almost never have any full-time public relations specialist on staff. But there is at least one person who is articulate in the face of the “Schools Suck Industry” — John Mockler:
[url]http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/?q=node/8363[/url]
Seems like things we’re ‘so dire’ a few wks ago and now we are back in emergency mode.
The reason that all of this news comes right now is that the state budget has finally passed (as weak and unstable as it is) and the November election has settled so that now we know what new propositions are now in force, and we can see roughly what the new governor is looking at in the way of preparing a new budget.
it will be fascinating to see whether the growing retiree community in davis finally breaks with the half century-old tradition of local school boosterism and starts to turn against basic tax support for local schools. for as long as i’ve been alive, paying for schools has been the common rgound in davis, what defines you as a reasonable, responsible adult and not some fringe nutcase. i hope davis seniors don’t turn their back on the people who will take become their doctors and nurses and pay the payroll taxes to fund their social security, but it wouldn’t be the first time that dynamic had emerged in the state of california.
it has been a long emergency for some time now, and will continue until we have a majority vote on taxes, and an end to special property tax levels for people lucky enough to have been born at the right time. until then, we’ll be stuck in this fire drill perpetually.
$600 a year is peanuts compared to the social good of a functioning educational system. given the kind of incomes people sport in this town, to claim that we cannot afford to fund our own school system is utterly reprehensible, in my opinion.
I practically spend 600/month on day care!
it will be fascinating to see whether the growing retiree community in davis finally breaks with the half century-old tradition of local school boosterism and starts to turn against basic tax support for local schools. for as long as i’ve been alive, paying for schools has been the common rgound in davis, what defines you as a reasonable, responsible adult and not some fringe nutcase.
Davis seniors really don’t have any financial reason to vote against it. There has long been a regular exemption for seniors, 65 & older.
Ok… Davis “seniors” can vote to impose the tax, but will not be taxed unless they want to? Representation w/o taxation? Interesting concept…
wu ming: “$600 a year is peanuts compared to the social good of a functioning educational system. given the kind of incomes people sport in this town, to claim that we cannot afford to fund our own school system is utterly reprehensible, in my opinion.”
Not everyone in this town can afford a $600 per year parcel tax. As wdf1 notes, there is an exemption for seniors.
We can start saving money by cutting the bells and whistles: GAIT, Montessori and Language Immersion. This will allow the schools to actually be able to offer the basic instruction that ALL kids need……Math, Science, Computer Lab, History, PE, music, theater, etc.. It seems a shame to have to choose between a science and a math teacher. Let’s not continue to funnel money to those programs that are really the cherry on top of a broken system.
We can start saving money by cutting the bells and whistles: GAIT, Montessori and Language Immersion.
These programs are cost neutral. For for example, if you wanted to shut down the Spanish Immersion program (Cesar Chavez Elementary, here), then you would have to go out and hire 25+ teachers to teach the 550+ Spanish Immersion kids that you threw out of the program. Spanish Immersion teachers don’t get paid any differently than regular teachers. The same is true for the Montessori or GATE programs. If it’s cost neutral, then why not allow parents some choice in choosing programs that might be a good fit for their kid?
Interesting NPR piece on Joe Klein, Chancellor of NYC public schools, who is stepping down after 8 years. A review of how his administration did on closing the achievement gap:
Transcript: [url]http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=131223278[/url]
Audio: [url]http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=131223278&m=131223427[/url]
To wdf1: “But if takes 40 questions to pass the test instead of 30, obviously fewer people are going to get a failing grade.”
This statement was said by Klein. Am I missing something here or does he get an F in logic?
This statement was said by Klein. Am I missing something here or does he get an F in logic?
Maybe suggesting that students, here, have a shorter attention span, so that if a test is longer, it’s likelier that a student will lose focus and start missing a greater percentage. That’s my take. If I were talking to him, I’d ask him to clarify that statement.
Free access online at Enterprise today:
Latino kids now majority in state’s public schools
[url]http://www.davisenterprise.com/story.php?id=101.1[/url]
This article presents a provocative idea that will likely bring on visceral reaction — if the majority student population (latino) is becoming bilingual, then why shouldn’t the minority white student population also become bilingual?