At its Monday, October 7, 2019 meeting, the Board of Education took numerous actions pertaining to the Facilities Advisory Committee's recommendations to move forward with
planning for a bond to finance
capital facilities
improvements
, an early
retirement
incentive program,
resolutions to support the City's
public safety
tax
and
Red Ribbon Week, and the
2020-21
LCAP and Budget Planning Calendar. The Board also heard presentations
from
the Expenditure Review Team and
San Marino High School on its accreditation review process.
Click here
to listen to a digital audio recording of the full meeting, and
click here
to view documents related to the various agenda items.
The Board invites the community to attend its next regularly scheduled meeting at 6:30 p.m. (note earlier time) on Tuesday, October 22, 2019, in the District Board room, 1665 West Drive, San Marino.
FAC Recommendations and General Obligation Bond Planning Considerations
Facilities Advisory Committee (FAC) Chair Jeanie Caldwell provided the Board and the community with a second opportunity to hear a full report of the FAC's findings and recommendations regarding the District's facilities needs. Click here to view the FAC presentation.
The District's financial advisors provided the
Board
with information
about the various components of a bond program, including tax rates, SMUSD's assessed values, bonding capacity and currently historically low municipal bond interest rates. They provided several different bond illustrations using various assumptions. All of the illustrations assumed a "
no tax increase" (i.e. a
tax rate that does not exceed the current tax rate paid by San Marino
USD property owners
for the bonds approved in 1996 and 2000). The illustrations ranged from a low of $68 million to cover only the projects identified as 1
st
and 2
nd
priority by the FAC to a high of $200 million to address the majority of the projects considered by the FAC.
Click here to view the presentation
.
TBWB
H
Strategies,
an election planning public communications firm, provided information
to the Board about potential bond election dates and
steps in planning for a potential
bond.
The presentation included information on the
sequence of events
that are helpful to plan for in
leading up to a bond campaign, and the pros and cons of the Board calling for a
potential
bond election in March 2020
or
November 2020. If the Board decides to move forward with a
potential
bond election in March 2020, it
would
need to call for the election
on or before
December
5,
2019.
Click here to view the presentation.
The Board voted unanimously to approve the FAC recommendations and to direct Dr. Wilson and staff to prepare a proposed bond resolution for its consideration at its next regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, October 22. As the Board has not discussed or decided the date of the possible election
n
or the bond amount, the proposed bond resolution will be
presented without this information for the
first reading.
An important part of making the decision to move forward with a
potential
bond election is
seeking
community input
and feedback
. The Board
also
directed Dr. Wilson and staff to prepare a timeline for community education and outreach so that the San Marino
USD
community will have a better understanding of the District's facilities needs. In addition to meetings with District teachers and staff, PTAs
/PTSA
, and community groups, there will be town halls so that parents, students, and community members will have an opportunity to learn about a potential bond, ask questions, and provide input. There also will be an online Thoughtexchange through which the community can give their opinions.
The Board invites the community to learn more about the District's facilities needs and to provide its input.
Expenditure Review Team
As part of his efforts to identify potential cost savings to
resolve
the
District's
structural deficit, Superintendent Wilson established an Expenditure Review Team (ERT) consisting of himself, Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Julie Boucher, and Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Linda de la Torre. Superintendent Wilson presented an update to the Board of the work performed by the ERT since the beginning of August, including an analysis and evaluation of organizational structures and staffing within the District operations and at all school sites. Dr. Wilson identified the following possible
budget
savings thus far:
2018-19: Through saving efforts that had already begun during the 2018-19 school year, such as by not replacing open positions and reducing overtime expenditures, the ERT identified almost $800,000 in one-time savings.
2019-20: Through ongoing operational changes for the 2019-20 school year, such as through a hiring freeze and possible reorganizations, the ERT has identified an estimated savings goal of $800,000 - $1 million.
2020-21: Looking forward to the coming school year
's
budget, the ERT is considering many cost-saving measures, including re
imagining how the District delivers and supports its educational and operational programs,
and a possible supplemental retirement incentive program. While the goal is to avoid impacting existing employees' jobs, it may not be possible to address the structural deficit without a reduction in force for the next school year.
The ERT will continue to address possible solutions to the structural deficit and will report back at future Board meetings.
Supplementary Retirement Plan
As part of the District's efforts to address the structural deficit, the Board approved the adoption of a Supplementary Retirement Plan (SRP), which is a voluntary early retirement incentive program for
those
eligible employees. Assistant Superintendent Linda de la Torre has met with the leaders of the
certificated (SMTA) and
classified
(CSEA Chapter #120)
employee associations to discuss the
possible
incentive program and has received their support. If the District's fiscal and operational objectives are not met through employees' interest and participation in the SRP, the District will have the ability to retract the early retirement incentive program.
WASC Self-Study Report
San Marino High School faculty members Lisa Davidson and Ana Teleguario-Lee presented a first reading of SMHS's self-study report as part of the accreditation process. The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) is the entity that provides accreditation to public high schools, and accreditation is necessary for colleges to accept students' high school transcripts. In order to receive accreditation, each high school must demonstrate "the capacity, commitment, and competence to support high-quality student learning and ongoing school improvement." Accreditation is an ongoing six-year cycle that includes identification of goals, measurement of goal achievement through various methods, preparation of a report, and a several-day site visit by the WASC team.
SMHS last received full and clear accreditation in 2014. The WASC Committee will be visiting in Spring 2020 to assess SMHS's progress regarding its 2014 goals and to consider its 2020 goals. The Board thanked Ms. Davidson, Ms. Teleguario-Lee and the SMHS accreditation committee for their hard work.
Click here to view the WASC Self-Study Report.
LCAP and Budget Planning Calendar
As part of its required Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP), the District includes parents, teachers, staff, students and community members in developing the District's goals and budget related to those goals. The Board approved the proposed 2020-21 LCAP and Budget Calendar, which sets forth the various tasks and meetings related to the LCAP and budget development process that will take place each month over the coming school year.
Click here to view the approved calendar.
Support of the San Marino Public Safety Tax
The Board voted to support the City of San Marino's renewal of its public safety tax during the November 5, 2019 election. As student and employee safety is of the utmost importance, the Board and District appreciate and rely on the quick response times and high quality services and protection provided by paramedics, fire and police professionals.
Support of Red Ribbon Week
The Board voted to support Red Ribbon Week, from October 21 through November 1, 2019, at its school sites. Nancy Ko, President of Partnership for Awareness, described the various activities that will take place to inform students in age-appropriate ways about healthy choices and lifestyles. The Board thanked Partnership for Awareness for its role in educating the San Marino community.
For more information on the events and activities throughout the school district, please visit the District calendar.
Lisa Link
President, SMUSD Board of Education
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