CUCPTSA Legislation Newsletter September 2009

CUCPTSA Legislation Newsletter – September 2009

Meeting Change: Monthly CUSD board meetings will now be held Tuesday evenings at 7:00 instead of Monday evenings. Please visit capousd.org for a list of the 2009/2010 meeting dates.

Waiver: CUCPTSA was asked to take an official position on the Trustee’s Request for a Waiver. A special committee met and determined that PTA had the authority to take a position and subsequently returned a Support position.

Additional Information on the “CUSD Intent to Request Waiver”

Background: Currently, the seven trustees in our district are elected through a “From-Trustee Area” method. This means that candidates must reside in a specific geographic/trustee area within the district’s boundaries, but are elected by all the voters who reside in the district’s boundaries. A petition has been brought before the Orange County Committee on School District Organization seeking to change the current method of election to a “By-Trustee Area”. In this case, candidates must reside in a specific trustee area within the District’s boundaries and are elected only by the voters who reside in the same trustee area.

Orange County Committee Hearing: Since the petition has been submitted to the county with the requisite number of qualified signatures, the County Committee must hold a public hearing within the district’s boundaries. This hearing is scheduled for September 30 in the board room at CUSD.

Results of the Orange County Committee Hearing: Following the public hearing, the County Committee must, by resolution, either approve or reject the petition. This leads to 3 possible scenarios: 1. Reject the petition – the change in trustee election methodology will not be put before the voters at this time. 2. Approve the petition and set an election date for November 2010 (the district’s next regular election). 3. Approve the petition and set an election date for June 2010 (an earlier special election in which there is no scheduled district election). Fiscal Implications: 1. The cost associated with Scenario #2 is approximately $8,500. 2. The cost of Scenario #3 is estimated to range from $400,000 - $500,000.

Waiver (waive the election requirement): CUSD Board of trustees decided to initiate the waiver process. The waiver would only come into play if scenario #3 exists. The expense of a special election could be avoided by obtaining a waiver from the CA State Board of Education - scheduled to meet in January 2010. If the waiver is approved, there would be no Special Election, and the change in trustee election methodology would occur. Because the waiver would essentially take the vote out of the hands of the people, the CUSD board must hold a public hearing on the waiver request - scheduled for September 15. Following this public hearing, the CUSD board will vote as to whether or not to proceed with submitting the waiver request. This is the waiver request that CUCPTSA just adopted a “support” position. For constituents that are not able to attend the September 15th public hearing, but who wish to share their views with the CUSD Board of Trustees, they may submit comments by September 10th to Julie Hatchel, CUSD’s Chief Communications Officer, at: [email protected] or (949) 234-9427.

CUSD Board Resolution: At the August 10, 2009 CUSD Board meeting, the trustees adopted a resolution to present to the Orange County Committee, at the hearing on September 30. This resolution proposes that the change in trustee election methodology be voted upon at the general election in November 2010, and should it pass, it then would take effect for the November 2012 election utilizing new trustee areas, based on 2010 census data. CUSD Budget: According to Ron Lebs, CUSD Deputy Superintendent of Business and Support Services, “The Governor’s budget was not kind to schools.” Additional state budget cuts, since June 2009, total approximately $7.81 million. This revenue reduction comes from ongoing, additional, and one-time revenue limit cuts, transportation cuts to special education and home-to-school, and a grant offset. CUSD will account for the $7.81 million by a spending freeze/sweep of categorical funds from 2008/2009, a TRAN premium, capturing money from Adult Education and deferred maintenance (both of which may be paid back from the 2nd round of ARRA funds), and further use of undesignated, unallocated reserve dollars.

The 2009/2010 budgeted enrollment was 52,203 with the current enrollment at 52,414 (as of Sept. 10).

The 2010/2011 budgeted expenditures are $379 million. Approximately $25 million in cuts for 2010/2011 are projected, which is 6.6% of the budget.

There is a “2009/10 Budget Reduction Update” chart which shows how programs were impacted by the reductions approved in the final budget from June 2009. This can be found at capousd.org as a supporting document to the September 15 board meeting.

Negotiation Update: CUEA – There is an impasse in mediation. The next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 25. Although there is no new contract in place, they are working under their current contract, which is still valid. CSEA – Progress is being made. The next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 14. Teamsters – The next meeting will be in October.

California State Budget: The 2009-10 State Budget was signed by the Governor and enacted on July 28th. It projects $89.5 billion of revenue and authorizes $84.6 billion in spending. The new budget agreement relies on $1.2 billion in cuts to prisons, $2 billion in borrowing from local government, and $1 billion in deferral of payments to K-12 Education from March to May, 2010.

In the final state budget, and despite calls for suspension, Proposition 98 was funded at the minimum guarantee for both 2008-09 (49.1 billion) and 2009-10 ($50.4 billion). Declining state revenue is responsible for these figures being reduced from what had been projected in the budget agreements of September 2008 and February 2009. On a positive note, the July Budget Agreement provides a mechanism to restore $9.5 billion of cuts to K-14 Education once the economy starts to rebound.

However, the state's economy is continuing to decline and revenue has been dropping leading the administration to project a deficit for 2010-11 of $7-8 billion. The governor will announce his proposed budget for 2010-11 in mid January.

Finance Reform: Governor Schwarzenegger's Executive Order S-15-09 (dated 7/29/09) mandated the bipartisan “Commission on the 21st Century Economy” to re-examine and modernize California's out-of-date revenue laws that contribute to feast-or-famine state budget cycles. The Commission is comprised of 14 members -- seven appointed by the Governor and seven appointed by the Legislature. The Commission will suggest changes to state and local revenues that will result in a revenue stream that is more stable and reflective of the California economy. The most recent meeting took place on 9/10/09 in Los Angeles. The Commission will report its findings to the Governor and legislature on or before September 20, 2009. The Legislature will be called into special session in late September to consider the recommendations.

California’s school finance system is extremely complex, outdated, and an impediment to significant progress in K- 12 education. AB 8, sponsored by Julia Brownley, will convene a working group to create a simple, more transparent accountable system better aligned to the educational needs of students. The bill passed in the Assembly and is awaiting action on the Senate Floor. State Legislature: The regular session ended on September 11th. The Governor is dissatisfied with Legislature’s progress on the issues of water legislation, prisons, and renewable energy. He has promised to veto any legislation submitted to him that does not focus on these three areas.

Democrat Steve Bradford was elected to the State Assembly in a special election on September 8th to fill the vacant 51st Assembly District seat. Bradford replaces Curren Price (D-Inglewood) who resigned in June after he was elected in a May special election to the 26th District Senate Seat (vacated by Mark Ridley-Thomas in December, 2008).

Mike Duvall (R-Yorba Linda) resigned his seat in the State Assembly on September 9th. The Governor has 14 days to call a special election to fill the vacancy in the 72nd Assembly District. The election, which could take place as early as the first week in November, will cost taxpayers between $330,000 and $440,000.

State Government Reform Movement: There is a growing push to reconstruct the way state government is run. Two groups (outside of state government) in particular are leading the charge – California Forward and The Bay Area Council.

On August 13th, 2009, California Forward submitted its list of proposals to Governor Schwarzenegger and the four legislative leaders. Their proposals include:  Reducing budget vote requirement from 2/3 to simple majority  Ensuring that funding sources are identified for any new programs  Use one-time revenues for one-time programs  Give local governments more control over their revenues  Term limit reform – reduce total time newly-elected legislators are allowed to serve from 14 years to 12 years, regardless of whether the time is spent in the Assembly or the Senate.

The Bay Area Council, which includes Google and Yahoo, is calling for a California Constitutional Convention. In this scenario, 400 California residents would look at the state’s problems and draft a new blueprint for statewide government to go on a statewide ballot. Please note that on September 25th , Bay Area Council President & CEO, Jim Wunderman, is scheduled to speak at 4th District PTA’s Advocacy Roundtable at Fountain Valley School District Board Room. All PTA members are welcome. For details, please go to: www.fourthdistrictpta.org or http://www.fourthdistrictpta.org/legislation/roundtable_flier_9-25-09.pdf

On September 3rd, California Senate President Pro Tem, Darrell Steinberg, and Assembly Speaker, Karen Bass, announced the creation of a Select Committee on Reform. The committee is tasked with “making government more efficient and accountable” and “diminishing the influence of special interests.” This committee is scheduled to start meeting on October 1st.

Parcel taxes: In light of the economic conditions, many school districts are turning to parcel taxes to fill in money that is no longer coming from the state. As reported in the Albany Today by reporter Barbara Grady-Ayer “Twenty-three school districts have put education parcel taxes on the ballot in 2009 so far and of them 15 have passed. An additional 21 districts put measures on the ballot last year, mostly in November and 17 of those passed.” The new taxes range in amount from $78 to $795.

The Senate Constitutional Amendment authored by Senator Joseph Simitian (SCA 6), which would allow for school districts to approve a local parcel tax with a 55 percent majority rather than the two-thirds majority, is currently pending in the legislature.

Race to the top funds and California’s special session: Gov. Schwarzenegger has called a special session in order to consider legislation that could dramatically change California’s education system. The goal of the Governor’s proposed changes is to qualify the state for the federal “Race to the Top” money. The proposed reforms include:

 Adopting a merit pay system that would reward effective teachers and give them incentives to work at low- performing campuses;  Abolishing the current cap on the number of charter schools that can open every year;  Forcing school districts to shut down or reconstitute the lowest-performing schools or turn them over to charter schools' independent management;  Allowing students at low-performing campuses to transfer to a school of their choosing;  Requiring school districts to consider student test data when evaluating teachers, something the federal government believes is prohibited under state law.

Sen. Gloria Romero, Chair of the Senate Education Committee along with Senators Huff, Alquist and Wyland, have authored what will become Senate Bill 1 in the special session. This bill would remove the state law that restricts use of student achievement data in teacher evaluations among other things.

As stated by Sen. Romero, “But Race to the Top is not just about the money. It is about equality and opportunity for our children.”

The special session is scheduled to end October 5th.

Latimes.com Schwarzenegger’s plan would reshape education in California By Jason Song and Jason Felch

Blogs.dailybulletin.com Senators lead charge to ensure California wins Race to the Top funds By Canan Tasci

FEDERAL

FEDERAL STIMULUS PACKAGE (ARRA) FUNDS: The U.S. Department of Education recently released an additional category of federal stimulus funds that will help pay for technology for schools. (EETT funds). California received $71.6 million dollars from the EETT federal stimulus funds, which will be in addition to the regular EETT grants.

On September 4, the U.S. Department of Education also announced that it is releasing the second installment of the ARRA funds for Title I, and IDEA (special education). These funds were previously scheduled to be released to states by September 30. California has not yet announced the timeline for distribution of these funds to school districts, or the amounts that school districts can expect to receive. In addition, California filed a request with the U.S. Department of Education in August for immediate release of 90% of the state fiscal stabilization portion of the ARRA. Those funds are designated to be used for education and public safety.

NCLB Reauthorization and Senate Education Committee Chair: Experts expect that NCLB/ESEA will be reauthorized and amended sometime during the next year. President Obama supports changes in assessments under NCLB, and is expected to focus on reform and incentives for school improvement.

On September 9, Senator Tom Harkin was appointed to be the new chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and will be involved in any efforts to reauthorize NCLB. Harkin has a history of supporting spending for special education and school facilities.

President Obama Response to CUCPTSA Letter: Last June, CUCPTSA Presidents and Legislative Reps sent a letter to President Obama thanking him for providing additional funding for education in the federal stimulus package, and asking him to continue to focus on improving public education in our country. President Obama responded in August, sending a letter to our team thanking CUCPTSA for our letter, and encouraging us to continue our efforts.