Hello Belmont-Redwood Shores Community,
 
This update includes:
 
  • Budget Cuts
  • Ralston Math and English Placement
  • Social Emotional Resources & Parent Newsletters from the State
 
 
Budget Cuts 
Since last week’s update, the financial forecast for the State budget and its funding of public K-12 education has worsened considerably.  Yesterday, California’s state finance officials signaled that they expect a $54B state deficit ( summary article here ) for the State’s 2020-21 budget, which would translate into $18B less in K-12 education funding next year.  Education experts estimate this averages out to a reduction of $2,300 per student from this year to next, which is a daunting and unprecedented reduction.  Given the complexities of educational funding and the many ways it can be affected, we will learn important specifics from the Governor’s May Revision to the 2020-21 state budget, expected to be released on May 14.  
 
In the meantime, our administrative team has found over $1M in reductions, and we will work to identify further reductions in advance of next week’s May 14 board meeting.  We will update the Board of Trustees at that meeting and ask for their input on our initial round of proposed budget reductions, but no decisions or actions will be taken.  I will then update the community via email on May 15 with information from both the Governor’s May Revision to the state budget and BRSSD’s board meeting.  If you care to observe the May 14 BRSSD board meeting, we will provide a link on the District homepage to the meeting’s video conference.  The board meeting will begin at 6:15pm, though I would expect us to discuss the budget closer to 7:15pm.  Throughout this process, we will work to take care of our staff and ensure that we’re maintaining quality core programs for our students.  Our final budget for 2020-21 is scheduled to be approved at the June 18 board meeting.  
 
If you are inclined to donate to your child’s education, a donation to SchoolForce will make the greatest impact on maintaining the quality of our program for your student.  Donations received by June 30 will be applied to next year’s programming.     
               
 
Ralston Math and English Placement
Ralston’s teachers and our administrative team have been reviewing our offering of advanced classes at Ralston and determining  how best to place students into those classes.  We expect that math placement will be the same as in past years but with fewer data points.  For English, we are proposing  to maintain our current 6th and 7th grade Advanced Standing (AS) and Common Core (CC) student placements into 7th and 8th grade next year.  As for 6th grade English, we propose to consolidate next year's 6th grade AS and CC English courses into a single course for all 6th graders.  The primary reasons for making this curricular shift are:
  • Both AS and CC English courses currently teach the same content at each grade, 6-8.  
  • The Study Sync English curriculum, adopted in 2018, is designed to give students reading assignments at different levels, facilitating within-class differentiation.  
  • Currently 82% of all BRSSD 8th graders qualify for Carlmont's 9th grade AS English course, while only 20% of our students are in AS English.  So our AS English courses aren’t necessary to be well prepared for advanced English in high school.
  • In consulting with peer school districts (Burlingame, Hillsborough, San Carlos, Menlo Park, Las Lomitas, and Woodside), none have advanced English courses in grades 6-8.  None report that their students are disadvantaged with regard to preparation for high school English. 

The memo to the Board, which outlines our placement and English course proposal, can be found here .  As with other significant curriculum decisions, we will be consulting the Board at next week’s meeting and seeking approval of this proposal.  
 
 
Social Emotional Resources & Parent Newsletters from the State
In addition to the counseling resources mentioned in previous updates (outlined on our At-Home Learning page), the Sequoia Healthcare District is offering a new Parent Education Webinar and support group. More information can be found here . 
 
The California Department of Education provides a weekly newsletter for English language learners.  The newsletter contains information related to school closures and services for English language learners.  The newsletters can be found here , including translation into several languages. 
 
 
Thank you for your patience and support during these challenging times.  Next week, we expect to receive draft protocols from the County for opening up schools again in August.  I hope that you have a good weekend, and Happy Mother’s Day to all of our community’s mothers!  
 
Sincerely,
 
Michael Milliken


Suvarna Bhopale | Amy Koo | Samuel Leinbach | Jim Howard | Rahila Passi
Board of Trustees