Pink Slip PAIN 

Mayor seeks to boost City Hall's role in Sacramento schools

rlillis@sacbee.com

Published Tuesday, Feb. 03, 2009

Two months into his administration, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson is redefining how involved City Hall will be with the city's diverse and sometimes troubled school districts.

Johnson is bringing national researchers and policymakers to an education summit downtown, has met with superintendents of several city school districts, and is investigating creating an "education czar" in City Hall.

While Johnson – the founder of Oak Park charter schools – says he has no interest in taking over Sacramento's schools, he already is playing a larger role in the city's public education than nearly all his predecessors.

School administrators said the mayor's involvement could bring the districts closer to City Hall than they've been in a decade. And based on a December meeting the mayor had with top school officials, they said it does not appear Johnson is interested in controlling the schools.

"He obviously has a deep interest in schools. It wasn't like 'I'm going to tell you what to do.' It was more like 'How can I support what you're doing,'" said Dave Gordon, the county superintendent of schools. "He knows full well he doesn't run the schools."

Besides the luncheon with superintendents at Morton's steakhouse, Johnson's education summit shows his commitment to focusing attention on local schools.

Ting Sun, co-founder of the Natomas Charter School and a mayoral volunteer, said more than 200 researchers, educators and policymakers will attend the March 9 event at the California Museum.

"This summit is about bringing the best and the brightest from across the country to help us form our education agenda and vision," Sun said.

Topics include how the city can attract talented teachers and principals, how to persuade national education forces to invest in city schools, the debate over school choice and what can be done to make schools more accountable.

"The majority of our schools are not meeting the academic growth targets for California," Johnson said. "We've got to bring more attention and awareness to our public schools. That's a simple start."

Johnson also said he is interested in creating an education czar in City Hall who "can just talk about the importance of education for the entire city on a regular basis."

While the City Hall liaison is still being looked at, the mayor has begun meeting with top administrators. His first get-together was a few days before Christmas with Gordon and the superintendents of the Sacramento City Unified, Twin Rivers and Robla districts.

Administrators described the meeting as positive, saying that Johnson appeared more interested in a partnership than a power grab.

"He said he does not intend to interfere with district business," said Susan Miller, superintendent of Sacramento City Unified. "It's not his intention to run the district."

Not since former Mayor Joe Serna Jr. was in office in the 1990s have the city and schools worked closely together.

"The last time the mayor took an interest, that had some very positive outcomes," Gordon said.

Serna put his political muscle behind a slate of Sacramento City Unified school board candidates who were credited with reviving infrastructure development and high school and elementary reform.

Sun said Johnson's education summit – and the mayor's increased role with the schools – is a positive development.

"There are many groups who are interested in very similar things and work with each other and around each other, but there hasn't been one leader who has coalesced everyone together," she said.

A wave of mayors around the country has moved to take more authority over schools in the past 15 years, said Kenneth Wong, a political science professor at Brown University and a leading researcher on mayor-controlled districts. The trend, Wong said, is based in part on a growing desire for accountability in school governance.

School board elections generally fall on off-years, causing low turnout and electoral outcomes often decided by voters organized by a handful of special interests. Once school board members take office, the public is forced to fragment blame or praise among a number of board members, rather than just one executive.

"Nobody is willing to take ultimate responsibility," Wong said. "But when a mayor takes over, it's more like 'I'm in charge and if you feel I'm not doing a good job, you can vote me out.'"

Campaigns for mayoral takeovers have generally been successful only in cities where one district fits neatly within the city's borders; that's not the case in Sacramento, where a number of districts fall wholly or partly within city lines.

Still, in some cities with multiple districts – such as Los Angeles – mayors have been able to augment their authority over schools through a variety of shared power models.

Despite improvements in student performance in cities where mayors have more authority over schools, experts say the model isn't right for all cities, or for all mayors.

"Each city is a separate and distinct story," said Mike Kirst, an education professor at Stanford University and the former president of the California State Board of Education. "The feasibility and desirability depends on the local context."

Mayors who have successfully taken more authority over schools, whether through mayoral control or a hybrid model, have public backing and a keen interest in education, experts say.

"The kind of mayors who will make this work are mayors who want to make education a priority and who want to put political capital to work," said Frederick Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. "It certainly can work, but mayoral control is not a silver bullet. It depends on the mayor."

And it is a relatively recent phenomenon. How the system holds up after the mayor who got it going leaves office is still a question mark, Hess said.

"What's not clear yet is what happens if later mayors might be more interested in other issues," Hess said.

Call The Bee's Ryan Lillis, (916) 321-1085.

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MSNBC.com

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - More school districts in the Central Valley are feeling the squeeze with millions of dollars in funding to be slashed from their budgets.

Sacramento City Unified School District has already made $20 million in cuts for the 2008-2009 year. Elk Grove Unified School District has made $12.4 million in budget cuts, and Modesto City Schools cut $11 million.

Budget cuts mean that more programs have been cut from Sacramento schools in recent days.

"Music, art, after-school programs, that hurt for my kids," parent Abel Caballero said.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing even more funding cuts for the mid-year. They include:

$12 to $15 million for Sacramento City Unified School District

$15 million for Elk Grove Unified School District

$9.5 million for Modesto City Schools

Elk Grove Unified superintendent Dr. Steven Ladd said reductions in class sizes and administrative support are being considered.

"They've already cut back a lot especially here in elk grove school district. They got rid of the buses," parent Ryan Heintz said.

A hiring freeze is currently in place for Sacramento City Unified School District, and it's looking at streamlining its central offices.

School closures are also being discussed.

"We have lost 10,000 students in the last 10 years and we have not adjusted our facilities to meet that," Sacramento City Unified School District interim superintendent Susan Miller said.

Teachers who will get an incentive for leaving or taking early retirement, will have to submit their resignation letters by Feb. 27.

School districts have until March 15 to issue teachers and credentialed staff layoff notices.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28866461/

Q&A: Sacramento County schools chief on state education cuts

mnix@sacbee.com

Published Sunday, Jan. 04, 2009

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's New Year's Eve budget proposal includes $5.2 billion in cuts to education over the next year and a half.

Schwarzenegger officials say the plan gives schools flexibility in how to cut costs. Districts, for example, would be allowed to eliminate one of two science courses the state now requires for high school graduation, and the governor has proposed cutting five days from the state-mandated instructional calendar of 180 days.

David Gordon, superintendent of the Sacramento County Office of Education and an appointee to President George W. Bush's National Assessment Governing Board, talked to The Bee on Friday about the governor's proposal.

Schwarzenegger's plan to slice five days of instruction from the school year appears more suggestion than mandate.

It would be almost better if the state said, "This is all we can afford. And we will let you know how many days you'll have to cut."

What will happen is the less affluent (school districts) will be forced to cut the school year, and the more affluent will squeak by and fund-raise to have the 180-day school year. That is absolutely wrong, if the state is serious about closing the achievement gap and boosting education for its neediest students.

And why in the world would you cut one of the science classes needed to graduate? It makes no sense at all, especially when industry complains that the state has too few scientists and engineers.

What would it look like to Mom and Dad?

Well, you know, I think with cutting the school year, (parents) will have to find some day care for their children. There will be fewer opportunities for acceleration or remediation, and they may feel (their) child will be short-changed.

And perhaps districts will have to cut the calendar to 170 days next year. … People may start moving out of the state because the schools are substandard.

What do you suggest districts cut?

Well, for the current fiscal year, there may not be (a lot) of flexibility. We are already halfway through the year.

If we cut the length of the school year, you have to go back in and negotiate with the unions. Why would you, as a union member, agree to reduce your pay by 5 percent?

For the current year, you're going to have do the best you can to save as much as you can.

Where?

Districts (could) cut their state-required budget reserve and cut the deferred maintenance (funding) requirement. But the state would have to allow us to do that. These suggestions have only been talked about so far.

The cost-of-living adjustment, which has already been allocated, at about $300 million, would be another place to cut, if the state allowed.

If districts choose to cut five days, can they decide whether to eliminate an entire week, or choose a day here and there?

Yes, it's all within their control based on what they can negotiate.

Do teacher workdays count towards the 180-day calendar?

They can under certain circumstances. It depends, but generally speaking, districts do not have (teacher workdays) as part of the 180-day calendar.

How does our public school instructional calendar compare to those of other states?

There are only five or six states that require fewer than 180 instructional days. And I believe Minnesota is the only state that allows districts to decide the length of their calendars.

How will the state cut $2.1 billion in educational funding by the end of this fiscal year?

It's all in the work of changing the laws. It depends on how they do that. There is some talk … of deferring the payment (districts) are owed this fiscal year into the next. The result may be that districts will not have enough money to make payroll, and they may try to get loans to make payroll.

Typically, the first source (for districts) to borrow from is the county treasury. But guess what? The counties are broke, too.

Districts will have to find another place to borrow, such as securing a revenue anticipation note from a bank. Those are very expensive in terms of the rate you have to pay. And it's very expensive cash in the best of circumstances. The state and districts' collective credit rating is pretty poor.

So money is not going into the classroom, it's going to lenders.

Call The Bee's Melissa Nix, (916) 321-1090.

This story is taken from Sacbee / Our Region

 More funds urged for California's school meal program

mnix@sacbee.com

Published Wednesday, Dec. 03, 2008

The poor economy is hitting the bellies of 3.1 million California school children.

Editorial: Ambitious plan aims at school equity

Published Sunday, Mar. 15, 2009

Editorial: Decision time at Sac City Unified

Published Wednesday, Mar. 04, 2009

The listening tour is done. Now the real work begins for the Sacramento City Unified School District board.

Here's the deal: The district has too many schools for its enrollment. Like a majority of school districts in California, Sacramento City Unified has endured six years of declining enrollment, going from 53,400 students in 2001 to 47,000 today.

So now, the district has two dozen schools with fewer than 350 students, fewer than 50 kids per grade level. Some elementary schools have gotten so tiny that they have to combine fifth- and sixth-grade classes.

As one teacher at Thomas Jefferson Elementary said at a community meeting, "Schools need to be large enough so students don't suffer." Currently, money that could go toward programs that would attract parents and students is, instead, going to the costs of keeping underutilized buildings open. That has to stop.

Here's one way of looking at the situation: In fall 2001, Sacramento City Unified had 4,662 first-graders. That dropped to 3,933 by 2007, a decline of 729 students in six years.

Here's another. In 2001, the average number of students in each grade level from kindergarten through 12th grade was 4,109 students. By 2007, that had dropped to 3,726 students.

As Sacramento City Unified works through this change, the public and the board might take a lesson from the Portland, Ore., school district, which has gone through a similar enrollment decline. That district went from 54,150 students in 2001 to 46,000 in 2007.

But there's a difference. Portland has closed 18 schools and created a number of K-8 schools to reduce the trauma of the transition from the elementary to middle school years, where schools begin to lose kids.

Today, Portland still has a number of schools with fewer than 350 students, but now it is taking a breather on closures to focus on restructuring – trying to get the right staffing and leadership to improve the academic program to attract kids at schools with low enrollment. Then it will take another look. The Sacramento City Unified board needs to go through a similar process.

The board will review options at its Thursday meeting. Here are the realistic alternatives for reducing the number of school sites:

• Reconfigure: Merge two schools of different levels, such as merging a K-6 school with a grade 7-8 school to form a K-8 school.

• Merge: Combine two schools of the same level, such as two K-6 schools. For example, last year the board combined Bear Flag (which had dropped to 168 students) with Caroline Wenzel Elementary.

• Expand: Add grade levels to a school, such as turning a school that is now K-6 into a K-8 school.

• Close and reassign: Shut a school and reassign students to nearby schools. For example, the board closed Marian Anderson Elementary in 2006 and sent kids to five nearby schools.

It's decision time for the Sacramento City Unified board on March 19 and April 2. As one teacher/parent said at a community meeting: "Nobody wants to close a school, but you can only stretch a rubber band so far."

The board needs to reduce the number of schools so the district can focus resources on the academic programs that will attract students and their families to Sacramento. That won't be easy, but until the board settles on a plan, the district will continue to bleed dollars and quality.

Adult education enrollment rises as economy sinks

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By Walter Yost
wyost@sacbee.com

Published: Monday, Feb. 16, 2009 | Page 3B

For some it's a way to acquire a high school diploma or learn new jobs skills in a depressed economy.

 

But for Bob Reiche there's only one reason to attend Placer School for Adults: the clogging.

 

"My wife and I saw an ad for a clogging class 17 years ago. We didn't know what it was, but we've been clogging ever since," Reiche said of the Appalachian tap dancing.

While financially strapped public universities and colleges are capping enrollment, adult schools – with a vast array of class offerings – are opening their arms to new students.

 

"Enrollment is booming. When the economy goes down, our enrollment goes up," said Debra Jones, state director of adult education.

 

"It's the most exciting time ever and one of the most challenging," she said.

Last year, 1.2 million Californians attended public adult schools, and Jones said that number is on the rise.

 

The two largest adult school programs in the Sacramento region are also seeing a surge in students, especially those who are trying to survive the recession.

 

Sacramento City Unified School District reports 15,000 students are enrolled at its four adult school campuses. That's "significantly higher" than last year, said Mike Brunelle, district director of career technology preparation. The adult school is one of the largest in the state and has been in existence since the 1800s.

 

Placer School for Adults in Auburn has historically catered primarily to the region's large number of retirees. That's been turned on its head almost overnight.

Judy McCoy, the school's principal, said the economy is "opening up a totally different demographic."

 

The demand these days is for job training classes in professions such as clinical medical assisting and emergency medical technician.

 

"We never offered an EMT class before. We didn't know how these classes would go," McCoy said. "As soon as a new class is offered, it's already full and with a waiting list."

Last year, the Placer School for Adults served approximately 10,000 students.

 

Not all of the most popular classes are job-oriented. There's still a demand for free adult basic education and high school diploma programs.

 

And McCoy said plenty of adults are interested in fee-based community education classes, including conversational French, basic cake decorating, knitting, retirement planning, music for fun and relaxation, and an array of art courses.

 

Artist Sonja Hamilton teaches a much-in-demand intermediate/advance watercolor class.

 

"People have to line up at 5 a.m. to get into the class," said Suzy Knisley one of Hamilton's students.

 

Across the hallway from Hamilton's class, two dozen seniors filled teacher Kathy Kaplan's clogging class.

 

Over the din of steel taps, 80-year-old Janettte Haley described how she first encountered clogging at a fair in Arkansas.

 

"I just loved it," she said. Haley's been clogging regularly for the past 18 years.

Adult schools may find themselves benefiting from another casualty of the economy.

With legislative analysts urging state lawmakers to cut funding of recreational classes in California's community colleges, adult schools – which offer health and fitness courses – could pick up the slack.

 

Jones said such classes are generally more affordable at adult schools.

The California Education Code allows unified or high school districts to establish separate adult schools, and the state budget supports these schools based on average daily attendance.

 

The key to a successful adult school program "is trying to find out what isn't being done elsewhere," said McCoy.

 

When her high school district couldn't provide sports coaching certificates because it encroached on their budget, the adult school began providing the service on a trial basis.

 

Flexibility is an adult school advantage. McCoy said her school now offers classes to 200 county jail inmates and 30 people on probation.

 

"We can offer a class as a pilot. We can test the waters," McCoy said.

 

This story is taken from Sacbee / Our Region / Top Stories

 

 

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Editorial: New school brings an old goal to life

AS ENROLLMENTS DROP, SMALL HIGH SCHOOLS CONTINUE TO MAKE SENSE

Published Wednesday, Dec. 03, 2008

Sacramento has a new arts and sciences charter high school, a merger of two small high schools. It opened in September and was officially dedicated on Monday.