Berkeley schools Superintendent Michele Lawrence attended the King Middle

School PTA meeting on October 22 and gave a synopsis of the financial

situation of the District. Overall, she felt "the corner has been turned,"

and that the district's financial situation, while still requiring some

cuts for 2004-05 school year, is much improved. She plans to present 04-05

budget recommendations to the School Board in late November, and will have

a concrete number for the deficit by then. Currently, the number is

between $2 and $3 million, though certain savings have not been quantified

[see below]. She cautioned that changes to the state budget by the new

governor will impact our district.

 

Overall, systems have improved greatly with the implementation of new

software and a district-wide priority to accurately account for costs. The

last piece of the personnel puzzle, making sure that every employee is

getting the correct benefits--no more and no less--is in its final stages.

In addition, systems are in place to make sure that vacations for

classified personnel are taken in a timely manner, so that when employees

leave, the district does not have to pay for unused vacation time with

cash. Both these improvements will benefit the bottom line.

 

Lawrence noted the General Fund [that part of the budget that the School

Board can make decisions on, unlike, say state or federal monies that go

to some specific item like transportation or Title 1] is 88% labor costs,

and if you include BSEP and Measure BB [maintenance], the labor component

rises to 93%.

 

Last year, health care benefit costs increased 20%--this takes a real bite

out of what we can spend on teachers. Lawrence noted, in response to a

question, that while the actual pay rate of our teachers is not as high as

in some comparable districts, the total sum of labor costs is quite

comparable to other districts, if one includes benefit costs, costs to the

district for release time written into the contract, etc. The district and

the union are in contract negotiations, and how health care costs should

be allocated is one of the items on the table. The total cost, including

benefits, for an average teacher, Lawrence stated, is about $76,000.

 

Areas of ongoing concern:

Food services: Currently about $300,000-$400,000 in the red. The goal is

to provide healthy, appealing food without losing money. Changes at BHS

provide an opportunity to attract kids from fast-food restaurants and give

them a healthy alternative. Lawrence noted that diabetes is a large and

growing health problem in California, and that diet is a key risk factor.

Special ed: Lawrence would like to make available programs like counseling

and other services as early as possible to prevent kids from needing

special ed with the concomitant increase in paperwork, evaluation and

program costs. She noted that state cutbacks hurt these efforts.

 

Lawrence also took questions. In regard to high class sizes, Lawrence

noted outside of increased revenues from the state [not likely] or a new

BSEP measure [see  below], reducing class size quickly is difficult

without cutting other programs. There are only so many dollars, and the

School Board and the community must work together to ensure community

priorities are being represented in the budget.

 

Regarding No Child Left Behind [NCLB], Lawrence noted that while its goals

are noble, its implementation leaves a lot to be desired. Specifically,

mandates as to participation in the standardized testing program can put a

good school on the failing list simply because not enough kids took the

test. Lawrence also noted that NCLB requires ever greater student

achievement, and in two years districts across the nation will go from

adequate to failing overnight--no change in student performance, just

changes in the targets the test scores must hit.

 

That said, Lawrence noted that the district is working to improve

achievement for all students at all levels. State standards have provided

a common basis for education at each grade level. Lawrence noted that a

standard core curriculum can tie schools together, so that when students

come to King from the various elementary schools, the students will have a

common skill set and framework for continuing to learn, while allowing

individual schools to retain certain programs that differentiate them.

Lawrence also noted that previously there was no standard writing

curriculum in the district, and the district is working to implement such

a curriculum.

 

Notes by Jay Nitschke.