Even though students and parents are on vacation, your Board of Education and District administrators and staff are still hard at work. Please
click here to listen to the entire three-hour Board meeting on Tuesday, June 11, 2019, and
here to view the agenda and supporting documents.
The June 11 meeting was Loren Kleinrock's last meeting, and the Board thanked him for saying "yes" to returning as Interim Superintendent for the past nine months. Mr. Kleinrock brought stability, an open mind, an open door, and much knowledge and experience. The Board wishes Mr. Kleinrock well with his second try at retirement!
District Faces Budget Deficit in 2019-20 and Future Years
The Board received a comprehensive presentation of the various budgetary issues facing the District in the coming years from Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Julie Boucher. Mrs. Boucher explained that the District is facing a $2.5 million deficit for the coming school year 2019-20 and a potentially greater deficit in the following years. The reasons for the projected deficit are complicated and varied but include:
- Declining enrollment - Like many other school districts in the State of California and in the San Gabriel Valley, the SMUSD has fewer school-age children entering its schools than students graduating. Fewer families are moving into San Marino and more homes are vacant than ever before. Because the amount of funding that the District receives from the government is directly tied to the number of students enrolled (ADA - average daily attendance), the District is projected to receive less revenue. As there are certain fixed costs involved in running a school district and each school site, declining enrollment hits San Marino particularly hard.
- Less funding than other school districts - Because San Marino has a small percentage of students who are low income, foster children, and/or English Learners, it receives far fewer supplementary grant dollars and NO concentration monies provided to neighboring districts with those populations. This means that SMUSD may receive 50% less money per student than many other school districts. For example, the SMUSD receives approximately $9,053 per student, whereas Los Angeles Unified School District receives approximately $14,631, almost 60% more than our students as of the State's latest comparisons (2017-18).
- Declining donations - Many community members noted a decrease in the number of San Marino Schools Foundation lawn signs this year, which reflected a decrease in the participation and amount of donations to support SMUSD schools. The District greatly appreciates and depends on the community's support of 21 teaching positions that would not otherwise exist without Foundation donations.
- Increased Special Education expenditures - Every child deserves an appropriate education, and that education is not fully funded by either the state or federal government. The federal government committed to reimburse the District 40% of its Special Education costs, but the District only received 7.68% this year. The District currently spends nearly 18% of its budget on Special Education services and the demands for services are only increasing.
- Increased pension obligations - An important and fair component of an educator's salary is their pension, as public employers do not contribute to other retirement programs. The State, not the District, determines the amount that the District must pay into the pension, and it is well known that public agencies throughout the State are saddled with large pension obligations. It is projected the District must pay $4.6 million in pension obligations out of its general fund in 2019-20, and over $5 million in 2020-21.
- Increased health benefits costs - Like other public and private employers, the District's health benefits costs are increasing, despite having District employees pay more toward their health care. It is projected that the District's health benefits will go up $157,000 in 2019-20 alone.
The District is working hard to make budget cuts as far away from the classroom as possible during 2019-20. It is seeking other sources of revenue to bridge the gap between what the government provides for a "free" education and what the San Marino community expects for a quality education. Incoming Superintendent Dr. Jeff Wilson will be working with the Board of Education and District administrators in the coming months to help identify possible solutions to the impending budgetary shortfall.
2019-20 Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) is Proposed to Board
Based on work performed and feedback provided by the school sites' Single Plans for Student Achievement (SPSA), the District's LCAP Stakeholder Committee, the District's English Learner Advisory Committee, and community and school surveys, Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction Jason Kurtenbach presented a proposed 2019-20 LCAP. It is clear that the District's students consistently do well and continue to make progress (for example, math students scored 92 "points above standard" and increased 3.8% from the prior year), but as always, there are areas for improvement that are the focus of the LCAP.
The LCAP identifies four goals and actions and services for specific attention and/or improvement for each goal. In preparation for the June 25th meeting, Mr. Kurtenbach will provide Board members with the entire LCAP.
The Board thanks the following 42 members of the LCAP Stakeholder Committee who represent various stakeholder groups, including parents, teachers and administrators from all four sites, students, District administrators, counselors and staff. The following members met seven times during the past year and reviewed data and goals in order to make recommendations for future actions and services: Karen Wicke, Yvonne Chen, Ann Eittinger, Miranda Liu, Jane Chon, Sean Gill, Paige Bharne, Brett Canon, Jocelyn Young, Joyce Lin, Katherine Oliveros, Peggy Shen, Ken Wang, Steve Sommers, Zeina Daoud, Jennifer Kang, Linda Luong, Mike Killackey, Elizabeth Klusman (student), Alyssa Escamilla (student), Jessica Bulgin, David Irie, Keiko Hiranaka, Penny Roberts, Izumi Suzuki, Kelly Duncan, Marguerite Lindsay, Laura MacDonald, Eve Estrada, Laura Ives, June Gonzalez, Linda Kuchmecki, Stacy Beavers, Issaic Gates, Richard Barclay, Mike Lin, Colleen Shields, Julie Boucher, Stephen Choi, Abby Cabrera, Leticia Aranda, and Jason Kurtenbach.
Academics Advisory Committee (AAC) Reports on 2018-2019 Progress
Dr. Michiko Lee, Chair of the AAC, and Mr. Kurtenbach announced the results of the AAC's AP and Honors Access subcommittee and progress made over the past year. The subcommittee confirmed substantial progress had been made toward increased access to AP and Honors courses as requested by the Board in 2011, and it worked on a flow chart that will show the progression of courses from prerequisite courses to AP/Honors courses. The Board thanks the subcommittee consisting of Dr. Allan Abbott, Dr. Tom Armbruster, Dr. Michiko Lee, Matt Morris, Theresa Murphy, Jessica Peak, Dr. Rafael Ventura and Emily Vitan.
Dr. Lee also identified numerous new topics/issues or areas for further study by the AAC during 2019-2020. She will provide the Board with a list and more detailed information at its June 25th meeting.
Board Approves Homework/Makeup Work Policy and Directs Further Study on Homework Guidelines
By way of background, the Board of Education only creates and approves Board Policy (BP); it is up to District administrators, with the approval of the Superintendent, to develop Administrative Regulations (AR) to set procedures and guidelines that implement the policy set by the Board. In 2017-18, the Board requested that the Academics Advisory Committee (AAC) study the issue of homework to determine the latest research regarding effective homework practices, how similarly situated school districts addressed homework, and changes that might be made to improve the District's practices. After hearing the AAC's recommendation regarding homework, the Board asked that District teachers be included in determining effective homework practices.
In 2018-19, the District created Homework Focus Groups at each school level (elementary, middle, and high), which included teachers and parents at each level, as well as the AAC members who had previously served on the AAC Homework Subcommittee. At the May 28 Board meeting, Mr. Kurtenbach presented the recommendations of the Homework Focus Groups through revised BP 6154 and new AR 6154.
At the June 11 meeting, the Board approved
BP 6154, which contains general provisions to guide administrators to develop an effective plan for homework and makeup work for District students. After receiving community input regarding AR 6154 and hearing of confusion and differing opinions pertaining to that AR, the Board directed District administrators to develop guidelines consistent with the BP under the direction of Superintendent Wilson.
District Will be Increasing Facilities Fees
Director of Maintenance and Operations Jim Fahey informed the Board that the District is losing money by allowing for-profit and non-profit organizations to use its facilities at a nominal cost or at no cost. Depending on the facility and use, the District may incur custodial costs or other actual costs that it would not have otherwise incurred but for the outside use. While the District wants to be a good neighbor and serve the extracurricular needs of its community and students, in difficult financial times it cannot continue to spend its general fund monies to support outside groups' extracurricular use of its facilities.
Mr. Fahey and Mrs. Boucher reported that they conducted a survey of surrounding school districts to determine the fees they charge. They have been meeting with various user groups to discuss increased fees and will continue to do so, as well as work with groups to determine appropriate fees and options.
The Barth Athletics Complex is Over 90% Complete
Mrs. Boucher and Project Manager Gerald Schober reported on the progress of the Barth Athletics Complex (BAC). Despite a very wet winter, the project is scheduled for an on-time completion. The BAC is still under budget by $1.1 million and has a very low change order percentage.
The community is invited to the Grand Opening on Saturday, August 10.
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