Jim Negri Talks School Budget Cuts

For many students, summer vacation is a distant memory as they embark on the fifth week of school in the Castro Valley Unified School District. For the 2010-2011 school year, district staff projected an enrollment of about 8,900 students. However, we were pleasantly surprised to open the year with slightly more than 9,000 students with enough space to accommodate all of them.

The increased enrollment—along with retirements, resignations and leaves of absence—allowed the district to rehire permanent and probationary teachers who had been laid off last spring, including multiple subject teachers at the elementary school level, and all but one single subject teacher at the middle or high school level.

The district, however, has not been able to rehire or reinstate all the classified (non-teaching) employees who were laid off. Some classified employees found other jobs outside the district and many are in different positions that may be lower paying.

The $5.1 million in budget reductions included: increasing K-3 class size from 20 to 25 students; eliminating all funding for K-12 athletics; reducing the number of counselors and campus security personnel; certificated staff taking two furlough days (one student day and one staff development day); reducing hours and/or shortening the work year from 12 to 11 months for classified employees (e.g. clerical, custodial); not filling vacant positions; shifting formerly restricted categorical funding (e.g., Adult and Career Education, Deferred Maintenance, School and Library Improvement Program) into the General Fund; and spending the district's reserved funds and other one-time funds (e.g. donations).

The $5.1 million in budget reductions also includes $2.6 million in one-time funding, which means the district will need to identify that amount in further reductions or new revenue when it begins the 2011-2012 budgeting process in January. 

In the coming weeks, the board and staff will be prioritizing the use of the federal Education Jobs Fund Program, which will provide the district with $1.6 million in one-time funding that can be spent over two years.

Generous donations from foundations and parent organizations helped save programs from budget reductions, including:  $65,000 from Save Our Schools Castro Valley! to retain K-5 library aides; $26,500 from the Castro Valley Sports Foundation for the high school athletic program; and $20,000 from the Music Parents Society to retain sections of the music program.

The Castro Valley Arts Foundation and the Castro Valley Educational Foundation provide funding and resources throughout the year. The Castro Valley High School Athletic Boosters have held fundraising activities to fund the athletic program, which costs a yearly total of $230,000 to operate. The middle school Athletic Boosters are also fundraising to provide a school sports program.

On Sept. 13, the California Department of Education released the 2010 Academic Performance Index (API), showing that the Castro Valley Unified School District has continued its steady improvement with a six-point increase to post an API of 851. 

All of the schools except Redwood High School, the continuation high school, exceeded the state target of 800 and five of the elementary schools—including Independent, Jensen Ranch, Palomares, Stanton and Vannoy—exceeded 900.

Specifically, Stanton posted an outstanding 51-point increase. Staff members attribute this increase to its dedicated implementation of Response to Intervention, an instructional approach combining high-quality classroom instruction, parent involvement and special education techniques, among other core components.

To help parents and the greater Castro Valley community stay up to date on the latest district news, the Castro Valley Unified School District publishes three online newsletters: Superintendent's Newsletter, Budget Update and Board Meeting Agendas and Highlights.  Subscribe to the newsletters at the Castro Valley Unified School District web page, or read them in the archives.

This column is part of a nationwide Patch series probing the economy's effect on local schools.