Capistrano Unified School District To Discuss Class Size At Tonights Board Meeting

Source: http://capousd.ca.schoolloop.com/file/1229223560406/1381823404810/1846641852458756580.pdf Agenda Item #8 entitled: “Second Reading - Revisions to Board Policy 6151, Class Size” At Page 25 Exhibit #8.

The following changes are being proposed by District Staff. If you do not agree with these changes, it is your obligation to represent the interest of your child at tonights Board meeting. If you choose not to attend and voice your opinion then the Board will vote as staff directs.

The New Language Will Read As Follows:

“The Board of Trustees recognizes that teachers must meet the needs of students whose experiences and preparation for school are increasingly diverse, and that the number of students in a class affects the extent to which teachers can identify and respond to individual student needs.

The Board of Trustees may adjust class size and teacher to student ratios in accordance with availability of funds, facilities, and educational requirements.

It shall be the aim of the District to establish class sizes which are appropriate given the enrollment at the school site, the capability of students grade levels, and course content. Sites will be given discretion to meet specific needs of their schools.

In accordance with negotiated employee agreements, state law, and upon the recommendation of the Superintendent or designee, the Board may establish upper and desired lower class size limits appropriate for the subject or grade level and conducive to the effective use of teaching staff.”

Trustees are elected by the people to represent students and taxpayers in all matters before the Board. Trustees have a legal fiduciary duty to represent students and taxpayers at the Collective Bargaining table.

Changing the word “shall” to the word “may” is in effect allowing the District and District staff to determine class size and staffing without requiring the oversight of Trustees. This will reduce the power and authority that Trustees should have to ensure that class size will be based on what is in the best interest of the student and not on what is in the economic interest of the Teacher’s Union. For ten years CUSD has made the decision to maintain maximum employee compensation. Teachers have voted to increase class size rather than take a reduction in their salary schedule.

CUSD is currently facing $1.8 million in fines from the State of California because it has classrooms that are over the size allowed by law.

Source: http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/pa/cefcsp.aspCapistrano Unified School District: “AVERAGE” Class Size can be found on the current contract between CUSD and CUEA (the Teachers Union)

Source: http://www.cuea.org/information_v2/ContractToJun2013.pdf

At Page 19 it states:

These are “average” class sizes. In reality some academic classrooms have over 40 kids per an individual teacher- hence the State Penalties.

To avoid the penalties, the District is now hiring additional teachers for 6 schools in the District.

On Tuesday January 13, 2014 I attended a meeting where over 100 Rancho Santa Margarita Parents Attended A Parent Initiated Meeting To Seek Answers To Why Students At Las Flores Middle School Were Being Moved To Different Classrooms Mid Year.

Julie Hatchel, Assistant Superintendent, Elementary Schools, represented the District at the meeting. After a brief presentation about why the changes were necessary the meeting was opened to questions from the public.

“Small School Growing Pains” were sited by the District. Smaller schools have larger numbers of combination classes.

Combination classes are formed when there are too many children at a particular grade level. Unfortunately, students do not always come to the District in nice little packages of 20-30 at a time. For example, if there are 45 fourth graders and 45 fifth graders, the District would need to form one fourth grade class of 30, one fifth grade class of 30, and one 4/5 combination class with a 15/15 split for a total of 30 students.

The Capistrano Unified School District attempts to avoid overcrowded classrooms. It is a local policy to maintain a reasonable enrollment figure in each elementary classroom. State legislation limits classroom size in grades K, 1, 2 and 3. Available funds also affect the number of teachers the District can employ. These factors inevitably make it necessary to establish combination rooms in order to implement the state law, provide reasonable-size classes, and stay within the District’s financial budget.

“Available funds also affect the number of teachers the District can employ.”

Many parents may not understand that class size is a negotiated item. When budgets are tight a District must decide where to make cuts. Money can be spent to hire enough teachers to keep class size at reasonable levels, or the teachers can vote to accept larger class sizes in an effort to maintain maximum compensation levels.

CUSD has cut $152.9 million dollars from its budget since 2006 (30% of it’s total budget). For the past ten years, CUSD has maintained maximum employee compensation balancing its budget with increased class sizes and cuts to student programs.

• 2006-2007 & 2007-2008 - $10.5 million

• 2008-2009 - $20.5 million

• 2009-2010 (April 2009) - $25.6 million

• 2009-2010 (September 2009) - $7.8 million

• 2010-2011 - $34.9 million less $

• 2011-2012 - $ 9.6 million

• 2012-2013 - $30 million

• 2013-2014 Reductions $14 million

The average total compensation for a Teacher in CUSD is $105,000 per year for 183 days of service.

Despite the fact that CUSD has cut $152 million from its budget since 2006- the CUSD teacher salary schedule has only decreased by 1.2%. That was in 2010 as a result of the 2010 Teachers Union strike mediation agreement.

*NOTE: The 1.2% Salary reduction was restored this summer using $5.62 million of the $8.24 million in new LCFF money. And after restoring salaries the District had to increase class size by 1.5 students across all grades and furlough students for 3 days to balance its budget. $5.622 million would have gone a long way towards restoring CUSD’s school year to 180 days or reducing class sizes to a reasonable number.

Source: Memorandum from Clark Hampton, Deputy Superintendent, Business and Support Services re: USE OF ADDITIONAL FUNDING FROM 2012- 2013 to 2013- 2014 AND PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT http://capousd.ca.schoolloop.com/file/1343191429797/5667737573387975994.pdf page 1 and Chart on Page 2

*NOTE: The salary schedule information can be verified at the following links - Orange County is #30

Sources:

• http://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/fd/cs/documents/j90summary1314.pdf
• http://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/fd/cs/documents/j90summary1213.pdf
• j90summary1011 (PDF; 1MB; 44pp.)
• j90summary0910 (PDF; 1MB; 46pp.)
• j90summary0809 (DOC; 464KB; 43pp.)
• j90summary0708 (DOC; 455KB; 45pp.)
• j90summary0607 (DOC; 459KB; 43pp.)
• j90summary0506 (DOC; 453KB; 43pp.)
• 90summary0405 (DOC; 455KB; 44pp.)
• j90summary0304 (DOC; 521KB; 44pp.)
• j90summary0203 (DOC; 536KB; 44pp.)
• j90total0102 (DOC; 494KB; 44pp.)
• j90total0001 (DOC; 522KB; 44pp.)
• j90total9900 (PDF; 4MB; 44pp.)

LOCAL CONTROL ACCOUNTABILITY PLAN

The “new” Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) legislation is designed to address funding inequities, and give school districts more “flexibility in spending decisions”. “Parent Involvement” and “Student Engagement” are among new priorities spelled out in the Law to ensure “accountability”.

While many Districts were reaching out to parents with informational meetings regarding LCFF and LCAP; without any public input, CUSD unilaterally negotiated behind closed doors to use $5.622 million of the $8.24 million in new LCFF funding to restore salaries from the 2010 Teachers Strike. This is an example of what the Local Control Accountability Plan is trying to prevent. The new law includes parents and the public in budget and policy decisions in order to prevent Districts from using money solely for increased salaries and benefits for Staff.

Allowing CUSD to take authority away from Trustees - our elected representative at the Collective Bargaining table is not good for taxpayers or students.

You can check out District Salaries at Transparent California-http://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/school-districts/orange/capistrano-unified/