Friday, February 26, 2010
By Adam Robak
News Editor
and Zack Rosenfeld
Staff Writer
The Manhattan Beach Unified School Board, during its Feb. 24 meeting, proposed $6.5 million in cuts to the district’s budget due to the poor economic climate.
The state has cut only $4 million; however, the board is discussing precautionary cuts in case the economic situation worsens.
During the meeting, multiple teachers spoke to the board in defense of their positions. However, board members maintained that there was very little they could do to change the predicament.
“As horrible as these cuts are, we need to make tough decisions. Most of them are jobs rather than programs because salaries are roughly 80 percent of the budget,” Board member Penny Bordokas said.
Administrators don’t think the budget will improve next year.
“Last year most of the programs that were cut were brought back in September 2009,” Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services Dr. Steve Romines said. “This year, I don’t see any reinstatement of any programs at all, unlike last year.”
Full-Time Equivalents were proposed to be cut from many positions. FTE’s are full-time positions, which consist of about five class periods a day. Part-time jobs are shown as decimals of FTE’s.
“In this proposed plan I need to cut at least six teachers, and some of them could come from English,” Mira Costa Principal Julie Ruisinger said.
The class size ratio for kindergarten through third grade classes will increase from 25 students to one teacher to 29 students to one teacher. The secondary levels (6th grade through 12th grade) will also increase. Twenty-five teachers (at the elementary level) will be given pink slips, with the most recently-hired being let go first. Eight secondary level teachers will be given pink slips, again according to seniority.
“On March 15, teachers will be given pink slips, and there are an expected 55 to 60 slips that will be distributed,” Romines said.
Mira Costa
Next year freshman English classes are proposed to increase in student-teacher ratio. Previously, the ratio was 20 students to one teacher, but it is likely to increase to 29 students to one teacher.
Freshman English class sizes have been very low in the past due to Mira Costa’s participation in the Morgan-Hart Class Size Reduction Act, which allocates funds to school districts if participating high schools reduce class sizes in grade nine English.
“We’ve participated in the Morgan-Hart program for more than two decades,” English Department Co-Chair Pam Jenning said. “Due to the budget cuts, the board is considering raising the ninth grade English class sizes to conform with the rest of the school.”
In the proposed budget cuts, both FTE’s from the College and Career Center would be cut. Cutting both CCC counselors may make the college application and scholarship process much harder for upperclassmen.
“The most important job of high school education is preparing students for the real world. We have to be able to go to good colleges and employment that will be the focus of the rest of our lives,” senior Jack Danylik said.
“Without the College and Career Center counselors, our futures are endangered, and our whole lives could be worse off for it,” Danylik said.
Due to the budget cuts there will likely be a reduction in graduation requirements. This may allow juniors to take only five classes and seniors to take only four classes.
“In the coming weeks I will propose the idea of six classes for freshmen [and] sophomores and five for junior and only four classes senior year,” Ruisinger said.
Three Mira Costa guidance counselor FTE’s would also be cut in the current proposal. Next year, only three guidance counselors will be able to see students, which would create a much higher counselor-to-student proportion.
The Mira Costa librarian position has also been proposed to be cut. During last year’s round of budget cuts the librarian position was removed, but it was later brought back as a result of the MBEF’s fundraising efforts.
“Not having a librarian would be a lot harder for students and it will be difficult to depend on volunteers and teachers running the library daily,” sophomore Charlie Binkow said.
MBMS
The removal of the MBMS vice principal was discussed but was not included in the proposed budget. However, a cut of the 0.46 FTE of instructional assistants for physical education classes was included in the proposal.
Two of the three FTE’s for the MBMS counselors were also proposed to be cut. Now that some of the MBMS and MCHS counselors have been proposed to be cut, there could be little to no student-counselor relationship in the secondary schools of the district.
Elementary Schools
The district proposal also includes a cut of 2.5 of the five FTE’s that make up the elementary school principals. This was discussed in all of the budget board meetings as an extraordinary measure made necessary by the unprecedented level of cuts.
Under the proposal, elementary instrumental and choral music would be completely cut. This department has been an integral part of the district for years and has had a significant impact on its former students.
“The musical excellence of our high school is largely dependent on the instructors that teach the early fundamentals,” said senior and French horn player Taylor Jones. “Without elementary music, there will be a decline in enrollment and musical ability.”
With these projected cuts, and as long as the state’s economic condition seems unlikely to improve, the coming school year will see significant changes.
“These cuts will effect every child, every classroom and every employee in this district,” Board President Ida VanderPoorte said.
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