Rinky pink

Did ESUSD slip up and issue too many pinks?

Too much pink? Whether the district went a little overboard when it recently issued pink slips to 15 teaching positions was one question posed to the Eastern Sierra Unified School District’s (ESUSD) Board of Education during its Tuesday meeting, which included a public hearing to consider adoption of the district’s proposed 2010/2011 annual budget. That “adoption” ended up as more of a preliminary “rollout,” but had some pluses among the minuses.

The bad news: the budget is definitely off at least 30% from what it was just a few years ago. The good news: the Board took action to relocate the district’s fiscal management and rescinded three of those pink slips.

The meeting, however, was anything but sedate. From the outset, some members of the public were put off about the perceived rushed nature of budget hearing. Eastern Sierra Unified Superintendent Don Clark said he was under the impression that the budget had to be delivered to the Mono County Office of Education (MCOE) by 5 p.m. In reality, he was advised by Mono County Schools Superintendent Catherine Hiatt that only the third-quarter interim had to be delivered by end of day Tuesday and that document was sent to the Mono County Office of Education two weeks ago. Clark apologized for any misunderstanding.

ESUSD Finance Director Jessica Dennison said she had to make several “assumptions” while preparing the $8.5 million budget … one being that property tax revenue will decline 6%. She also removed one-time ARRA (American Reinvestment and Recovery Act) funding, which lowered federal revenue 30%, and decreased expected state revenue allotments 20%. If passed, the budget will also reduce the work year between 6 and 10 days, include no benefit increases and summarily eliminate all capital expenses. The budget is a reduction of 9.4% overall from last year, and a considerable drop from its previous high of $11+ million in 07-08.

The first look at the budget showed salaries (certificated and classified) down a combined total of 48%, textbooks reduced 46%, services off 19% … overall expenses down 23% (on average). Dennison said 20 percent of the salary decline is due to a smaller work force, and the rest she attributed to the proposed shortened work year. “We didn’t just ‘find’ money; I made certain assumptions while assembling the budget,” Dennison restated. She also pointed out that the rescinded pink slips will increase the certificated salary line, but if other cost control measure remain intact there should be no significant change in the overall bottom line.“ We should be very close,” she said.

Over-pink slipped?

So, did the district “over-pink slip?” Not necessarily, according to Dennison, who added that during the budgeting process they “had to think what is realistic coming back.”

The district had earlier hoped to withdraw five pink slips, but on Tuesday three positions were restored … one elementary 2-3 teacher and another two at High Desert Academy in Benton. Asked whether grant funding could be used to bring back more teachers, Dennison replied that grants are simply not realistic. “Many [grants] want to see that you’re starting a new program or position, or expanding an existing one,” she explained. “There are counseling and physical education grants on the table, but they won’t pay for cuts in positions that currently exist; we’re not allowed to use them for that. You can’t cut them and then add them back because you’re getting a grant.”

Most grants have non-supplanting clauses.

In addition to pink slips, attrition and some retirements have arguably helped the situation, but many parents still want more detail.

“Elimination of one position (Dennison’s — she was also technically pink slipped as part of the MCOE fiscal management offer) will allow High Desert Academy and two teacher positions to be saved? Where was all this excess funding located?” Arnett asked. “How is that one school can be saved and another (Eastern Sierra Academy) still has to close?” Arnett urged taking the remainder of June to go through the proposed budget more meticulously.

“Think what you could do,” she suggested. “We’ll remember these votes taken today and use them when we consider the direction we want things to go in the future. Keep in mind that the lives and well-being of the students in the school district will be affected by the decisions you make today.”

Jimmy Little agreed, pushing for a closer inspection before approving the 139-page budget. “This is all top-line stuff. You’re making decisions without looking at the details,” he said. “Marginal errors add up. Not asking for a line item budget concerns me. That allows for errors. The budget that holds people accountable isn’t here yet.”

An offer they couldn’t refuse

Another key vote on the agenda was on MCOE’s offer to essentially take over fiscal budget services within the Office of Education. Hiatt said the deal would mean no charge to ESUSD this year, saving approximately $157,000 that was associated with Dennison’s line item, and at a minimal cost going forward, which Hiatt estimated might run somewhere around $30,000. Clark said he met with Hiatt & Deputy Superintendent Stacy Adler and talked about the possibility of accepting some of their consolidation ideas. “My recommendation at this point that we accept the one very significant consolidation position (Dennison’s), and that leads us into a formal partnership with MCOE,” Clark told the Board. “We’ll see how that goes. If it’s a good relationship and works out well, we’ll entertain more partnerships down the road.”

“It’s not a choice that staff makes, it’s this board that decides whether there’s a consolidation that requires closing Eastern Sierra Academy or a further consolidation that would allow it to remain open,” commented Stacey Simon. “I commend you on your thoughtfulness, but it’s shocking we haven’t gone further with consolidation of Lee Vining H.S. and Eastern Sierra. Administrative consolidation is a good start, but it should be taken further to the school level.”

Board member Doug Northington said he would still like to see ongoing discussion with MCOE about other possible consolidated positions, “especially if we hit a point where we need to eliminate more positions, we may need something in the future to play our cards and move quickly.” Clark said he expects to have similar conversations as those involving fiscal services with MCOE about other positions. The vote resulted in another unanimous approval.

Northington later moved to postpone budget adoption until June 16 to allow new decisions that don’t have clear numbers attached to them yet to be reflected in the line items. The Board again voted unanimously in favor of tabling the budget.

Little further voiced more concerns regarding how busing what would have been next year’s Eastern Sierra Academy freshman class to Lee Vining HS and other decisions on the table will affect the “very philosophy that will make up the new complexion of LVHS,” which will pick up ESA’s student load.

Academic excellence, some parents thought, should be “portable,” with grade points and other academic achievements following students to their new school, though at least one parent vocally objected to what she perceived was perpetuating a kind of elitism. That objection, however, met with considerable push back from other parents.

Those and other topics will be up for discussion this coming Monday, June 7, at 6:30 p.m., when Lee VIning High School holds a community meeting to talk about the future of the school and its merger with Eastern Sierra Academy.