2012 Budget Crises

Financially this has been a tough year for education in California. New Haven Unified School district is no exception. The district weathered the storm of financial problems for the 2011-12 year by laying off teachers, furloughs, employees sacrificing a sixth day without pay on a non-student day, and increasing class size. With the year 2012-13 looming more cuts will be necessary. Teachers will be getting layoff notices as required by law on March 15th. The district already has notified teachers of the following cuts for the rest of the 2012 year. There will be no overtime for classified staff and any new positions will be frozen. There will be no new hires, no hires for vacancies, no Office Depot online print orders, nine furlough days in 2012-13, no more funds for travel and conference expenses unless they have already been approved, and no more funds for consultants. As of now, all non-salary accounts are frozen which means there will be no buying paper and cartridges for printers. These are just some of the cuts now put in place.

With 2012-13 upcoming, the New Haven Board of Education voted to place a parcel tax measure on the June primary ballot. The parcel tax will be $180 per parcel and if it passes, will generate $3 million for 4 years. This measure requires a two-thirds majority vote and includes exemptions for disable residents and senior citizens.

The passing of the tax measure will not alleviate all of the district's budget problems. The district is also hoping voters will also approve Gov. Jerry Brown's tax initiative in November. If the tax measures do not pass, New Haven could lose up to $10.7 million in the 2012-13 school year.

The possible impact of non passage of these measures could be: nine budget reduction days for 2012-13, increasing K-2 class size to 30, eliminating the Community Day School, eliminating media specialists and library technicians, eliminating stipends for co-curricular and athletics programs, reducing elementary specialist, and reducing middle school elective positions.

If you know a teacher, give them a hug and vote yes on the parcel tax. It's hard on morale to work in such an environment. In the last few years teachers have had to deal with layoff notices or being bumped to a new position. This is particularly hard on teachers with less than nine years experience as they are the most vulnerable to layoffs. Teachers buy supplies, spend time getting grants for supplies and equipment, and sacrificed a day of pay. Teachers have gone the extra mile to provide the best education possible for their students even as they watch their class size rise. Beside losing their job, the rise in class size probably hurts the most as every teacher knows how small class size provides the best school experience while increasing student learning and ultimately test scores.

CA Budget Crisis Eliminates Class Size Reduction

Teachers will be giving more than ever next year. According to Rick LaPlant, New Haven Unified School District's Public Information Officer, the school board was forced because of the ongoing state financial crisis to make another round of drastic budget cuts.

The Board approved staff recommendations totaling $3.6 million in new reductions for 2010-11, on top of $1.6 million in reductions previously approved for next year. As a result, class sizes will be larger in kindergarten through third grade in 2010-11, and the District no longer will offer transportation for elementary and middle school students.

The Board approved a recommendation to eliminate four assistant principal positions at the elementary schools, a reduction previously forecast for 2011-12. Starting in 2010-11, there no longer will be assistant principals at Alvarado, Eastin, Emanuele, and Pioneer elementary schools.

This will be a hardship for teachers and students. Many young dedicated creative teachers will lose their positions at a time with jobs are increasingly difficult to obtain. Students in grades K-3 will now have 25 students in their class instead of 20. Those students with home and learning problems will find it more difficult to get the personalized attention they need to be academically successful. Many lower grade teachers who came in with the triads in 1995 for the beginning of class size reduction have never had 25 students at one time. This number of students changes the entire atmosphere of the classroom. Teachers will learn new ways to get the most out of their academic time with students. Teachers in these large schools, as much as 850 children, will have to handle many more disciplinary problems.

One huge role of the assistant principals has been problem solving student's major behavior and lifestyle issues. Assistant principals also keep track of truant students and those who are habitually late for school. They supervise CELDT which is the California English Language Development Test. CELDT testing is required in the state of California. The test is given to students who's home language is not English.

So everyone will be giving more. How much more can teachers and principals can give? Everyone was already giving their all. Are teachers and principals going the way of the tree in The Giving Tree, as a stump, with nothing more to give?