May 12, 2009

Dear Bonsall Community,

Dickens’ quote, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” comes to mind these days.  Let’s begin with the worst of times but leave off with hope and good news.  As you know, these are historically bad times for school funding.  With the economy’s downturn comes the shortfall in state revenues that provide our dollar per student numbers. Currently the State is projecting a $21.3 billion budget gap.  Cuts in funding become cuts in services.  The Bonsall Union School District has had to lay off classified staff in the past due to budget issues but never the certificated employees (teachers, administrators).  The budget cuts that were applied this mid year cut more classified staff, but legally the District could not cut teachers.  Carrying a deficit into next year, and preparing for the worst-case scenario that is projected for the coming state budget, the District had to give layoff notices to sixteen certificated staff. All of these teachers are on probationary status, meaning they do not have tenure. Of these sixteen teachers, four are on shared contracts with other teachers that choose not to work full time. 

There are extensive legal procedures for the layoff process involving deadlines of notification and selection criteria related to seniority.  Ironically, this has led to two of the site Teachers of the Year being on the layoff list.  Because of a California Teacher Association initiated challenge, the District has had to pay extensive legal fees (money that could have gone toward reducing layoffs) for a hearing to successfully prove that proper procedures were followed. At last week’s Board Meeting there were many emotional pleas to the Board during the public hearing to not lay off the great teachers that were on the list.  However, later on the agenda, the Board had to approve a resolution which confirmed the layoffs.  This week the District must legally send the teachers on the layoff list a confirmation letter of their layoffs. Remember, we don’t yet know what next year’s funding level will be, but we are very certain that it will be substantially lower than the State anticipated. Teachers can be called back from the layoff list, but we will not be able to add any this year even if the State budget is far worse than expected.

The upcoming Special Election on May 19^th contains propositions that provide more school funding, but polls show little hope for their passing.  On May 28th the Governor should release his Budget Revise to give us a picture of what funding the District can expect for the 2009-10 school year.  We also just heard that the  Governor is releasing scenarios on the budget with and without the propositions passing. At the next regularly scheduled Board Meeting on June 11^th, the Trustees will receive an update on that proposed budget. On June 16^th, at 6 p.m. the District will hold a Community Forum at the community center to discuss the budget.  The District must submit its three-year budget for solvency to the San Diego County Office of Education by June 30, 2009.  This is a tough situation for school districts; can you imaging having to develop your budget without knowing how much income have you actually have? 

This layoff situation is particularly stressful for our Bonsall West Elementary community; it is our newest school and employs many young teachers.  Half of the layoffs come from this school, and being a fairly small school, the cuts represent a large percentage of that school’s staff.  So, the stress of the layoff situation is felt to a much greater degree by Bonsall West, which is our District’s highest performer when test scores are considered.  Many members of this school’s community are searching for ways to avoid this layoff scenario, but as of yet we don’t know exactly who will be cut; it could be all sixteen, or it could be only a few.   If parents want to know what they can do to help this situation, voting to pass the propositions 1A and 1B could help.   Also, letting legislators know the importance of passing a budget on time could help. 

So, we are in a wait and see situation with the layoffs.  We have hope that we will be able to call back some of the teachers but we won’t know next year’s funding situation until June. Meanwhile, the District is combing the budget to find any possible funds to prepare for tough news.  Cash flow is becoming a major problem; the State is deferring its payments to the District but the District can’t defer paying its bills, instead depending on reserves to do this.  To remain a solvent operation the District must prepare for the worst.  The District will also have increased costs next year; although there will not be a pay raise, there are contractual step and column pay increases for most of the teachers not receiving a layoff notice.  

Other costs such as transportation are increasing as well.  At last week’s Board meeting direction was given to begin charging for bussing beginning this fall.  The cost will be similar to what is being charged by neighboring districts, and the intention is to increase bussing for Bonsall Elementary to reduce the traffic problems there.  

Some larger districts have rescinded their layoffs and some districts our size have negotiated reductions in workdays or pay for staff in order to do this.  We are currently entering into such negotiations with the Bonsall Teachers Association.  The District does not want to lose excellent teachers and hopes that the union will want to work together to find a way to keep them. 

We do have excellent educators!  Allison Slattery, a Bonsall West 4^th grade teacher has been selected as the Greater San Diego Area Math Council “Outstanding Upper Elementary Classroom Mathematics Teacher Award” for the year. Kim Moreno our AVID teacher at Sullivan Middle School has been selected as the Bonsall Union School District Teacher of the Year!  She will be honored with other teachers of the year at this Friday’s Padre game at PETCO Park, and on The Salute to Teachers gala event and television show when County Teacher of the Year is selected on October 10^th.

Also, in an effort to reduce our costs and increase effectiveness of technology throughout the District, the San Diego County Office of Education has selected Bonsall as a lead in phase one of a technology shift that will allow for a consortium of school districts to access a hosted Internet portal for the school community.  Using a practice referred to as “cloud computing”, our students, teachers, and parents will be using web-based applications on a 24/7 basis.  This will greatly improve our assessment of student learning and differentiate instruction to support growth for all students.  Being able to access their work through any smart device (something that accesses the web) will allow: 1) students to extend their learning using the various applications that support their growth from their current level and 2) parents to stay aware of their student’s progress.  Teachers will also be able to work on their files from home rather than spend the late nights at school.  Many of these applications will automatically adjust the teachers’ web sites to show growth.  Imagine using your phone to do or see how homework is being done!

In pursuit of our vision/mission of “academic excellence and support for all students,” the District will adapt to whatever situation we are presented with.  Improving our schools is paramount and increasing effectiveness in using the resources we have to implement our strategic plan guides our decisions.  We will make it through these tough times together. 

Sincerely,

Justin Cunningham, Ed.D.

Superintendent