Moreland Educational Foundation

The Moreland Educational Foundation is a non-profit organization of parents and community members dedicated to supporting quality education in the Moreland School District. Our primary goad is to provide financial support to all of the schools in the district for important programs when there is a short fall in state and local revenues, like right now.

MEF chose to host this event to make sure everyone knew about the significant revenue shortfall that the district is experiencing. It seems to get worse at each successive meeting we attend. We also wanted to give parents and community members an opportunity to ask the different Moreland entities your questions about how they are making these difficult decisions, what it will mean in the classroom next year, how it is going to affect our students’ education and to hear any creative solutions you may have because the district is listening to all of them.

That said, MEF is trying to understand from the parent community what is important to them and what they want us to raise money for. MEF won’t be able to make up for the whole shortfall, but we can work together to save important programs.

Now let me introduce our panel:

Glen Ishiwata – Superintendent of Moreland
Dana Taylor – Assistant Superintendent of Business Services – in the private world we would call her our CFO and COO, she is the one responsible for making sure that our revenues match our expenditures and her department includes: business, maintenance, operations, transportation, technology and construction.
Robert Varich – School Board President, and he has two children currently enrolled in our district. Our superintendent reports to the board.
Lori Booroojian – School Board Member, her children have all attended Moreland and she is our longest standing board member.
Kimberly Lawrence – is the President of the Moreland Teachers Association, a long time teacher in Moreland and is presently teaching 1st grade at Baker.
Maggie Day – is our Enrollment Specialist working in our Enrollment Center and is the Moreland Classified School Employees Association Union President. For those of you unaware, our classified staff include our school secretaries, school clerks, janitors, bus drivers, maintenance team and many others that work in the background to make our schools run.
Susanne MacDougall – President, Moreland Educational Association (MEF) and a founding member.

Procedure for submitting questions:
Please write your question on the cards provided by MEF Board members at the tables where you signed in. On the card include your name, contact information with your question in case we need to follow up.

Similar questions may get grouped together to make sure we can get to all of the unique questions.

One last thing to be explained, the district and teachers union have just started negotiations and that some questions may not be able to be fully answered yet, but we believe that it is very important that you get a chance to ask your questions and hear your opinions as these are very important to the process of making these difficult decisions that affect our students.

Introduction by Glen Ishiwata:

Moreland has seen decreasing budgets each year since 2007 and is projected through 2012, and possibly further. Since 2008-09 Moreland has received $3.7M less from the state due to reductions and will see $2.4M in reductions for the school year 2010-11, possibly more. Mr. Ishiwata went through several handouts on the current district budget which will be posted to the district website.

Moderator questions for the panel:

Based on the entity that you represent, what are the criteria that you hope is used to make these budget cuts?

Lori Booroojian, Moreland Board member:

Caveat: I am representing myself as I can’t speak for the school board. My criteria are to make cuts that minimize negative impact on student achievement. My first priority is educating children, this does not mean that I will not look at cuts in the classroom as there may be cuts in the classroom that have lower impact than some cuts outside the classroom.

Robert Varich, Moreland Board President:

We have laws that govern what we do – federal, state, local and contracts that must be followed. My primary focus is on the kids and I believe that our school model needs repair.

Glen Ishiwata, Moreland superintendent

Unique view: I have 40 years in education; was a music teacher when Prop13 passed and had my position eliminated; that said this is the worst situation I have seen in 40 years.
My goal to preserve as many jobs as possible for as long as possible.

Dana Taylor, Assistant Superintendent:

As District’s chief financial official, my primary responsibility is to the fiscal health of the district.

Maggie Day: (MCSEA, Classified School Employees Association)

I have worked in offices, volunteered as a parent, and substitute taught in the district for over 25 years.
We are willing to work with the district to maintain solvency and w need to maintain technology we currently have, it is hard to replace.
We want schools to be clean /and we also want great student achievement.
I have been through this process before and Moreland has maintained a quality education – hopefully will maintain that now.

Kimberly Lawrence, President, Moreland Teachers Association

I agree with previous comments, I am looking for cuts with the least negative impact and they need to be spread across all bargaining units, schools, grades, etc. I too have a vested interested in the district staying solvent and solid.

Susanne MacDougall, Moreland Educational Foundation

I have been with MEF since its founding in 1993. MEF gives parents a direct say in the district by funding the Foundation and having the Foundation fund programs that are important to the parents and community members.
The cuts have reached the door of the classroom, despite efforts by the District to keep them out. As parents we have help to keep programs alive: Music, sports, technology, Small Class Size etc.

Questions from audience for panel:

Has there been discussion of creating a fund for class-size reduction for 3rd graders at EDS?

GI: I have had conversations with Susanne; agreed it is better for MEF to lead this effort.
Cost of 3rd grade class size reduction is ~$700k (for all schools, for 1 grade level)
(MEF note: Class Size Reduction would need to be funded for all schools, we would not be able to raise money for only one school’s class size reduction and not the others due to being a public school district.)

If you raise money for a special reason (e.g. Librarian at EDS) can you make that donation specifically to that purpose or can the District decide how to spend the money?

The Foundation can set up targeted donations.
MEF can not set up a donation to a particular school – MEF will work on donations for a particular purpose (e.g. music, art, etc) for all schools. It is important to keep all of our schools programs strong.

How many families are in the Moreland district?

We have 4125 students, but we are not clear how many families that is.
MEF’s guess is about 3000, based on copying without duplicates for Wednesday envelopes.

What reductions have been considered / proposed at district administration or board level?

(GI) This is our 3rd year of cuts. Administration 2008-09 cuts were 1 Director of Education Services and there were 2 additional administrators cut in the previous 2 years.
2010-2011, we will cut administration by $180,000.
Total reductions for all groups 2008-2011 are:

Classified staff has been cut: 17.3%
Certificated (teachers) have been cut: < 10.3%
Administration has been cut: 21.6%

Over this same period, revenues decreased by 20%
Maggie Day: Note that in 2003-2004, Classified had to take mid-year cuts required under Gray Davis because Teachers have to be given several months notice and the state didn’t provide enough notice. Because classified had to take the brunt of the cuts that year Glen agreed to let Classified stabilize in the next couple of years.

Where do the District’s lease revenues of unused school property go?

DT: Lease revenues go to the general fund to fund school operations.
Moreland receives a total of over $4M per year to the district.

When the choices were made to close schools, why didn’t you eliminate administrator positions from those schools – how do you save money that way?

GI: Those positions are all gone. The same person may still be in the district in a different role, but those positions are gone.

The Parcel Tax was supposed to be overseen by a community group – who decided where the current money was spent, is there a committee, who is on it?

GI and DT: We are still in the process of recruiting members and have been over the last few months. We are currently searching for a business member of the committee to serve.
The district determines what the funds are used for and the charge of the committee is to make sure that the district spends the funds appropriately. This is an oversight role.

Is MSD a Basic Aid district or are our property taxes kept within the district?

LB: No, we are no a Basic Aid district, if your district boundaries create enough property tax to fund you above the state limit, you get that revenue (and are a Basic Aid district)
Our property tax makes up 80% of the revenue limit and the state provides the rest.
We can’t choose to be a Basic Aid district, our local tax revenues dictate this and our local tax revenues aren’t high enough to do so.
Unfortunately, the Moreland revenue limit amount (the amount the state gives us per student) is set below the state average – we get less money (from the state) than the average for the state. This was because when this limit was set the cost of housing for our teachers was cheaper than state average. (!)

Are we getting our fair share from federal? How did our performance affect those funds?

We receive 7% of revenue from Federal funds and along with this revenue are strings – they say how the money can be used.

Why was the parcel tax not made high enough? (why didn’t we ask for more)

LB: We have asked for a Parcel Tax before and failed and we didn’t want to ask for an amount that would increase likelihood of failure. Before calling for a vote, we conducted a poll of random voters asking about amounts and got a positive response for $95 per parcel. The revenue picture was different 1 year ago when parcel tax was being worked on than it is now – it is much worse now. Our consultant suggested that number and it was difficult to find a good number – the district needs more, but so does community.
GI: We expect $1.1-1.2M per year (in revenue from the Parcel Tax). If it were not for that money, everything on the reduction list (see handouts) would have to go – Thank You to the community for this support. We just passed this parcel tax with 69% - needed 67% to pass.
Staff recommendation is that top 4 items on blue sheet be funded with Parcel tax

Librarians
Several teaching positions
Performing arts

LB: Note: this item is for maintaining a prep period for the teachers, not just for an extracurricular activity.
When students go to performing arts, teacher is given a prep period to do setup for the class day.
Purpose of this is primarily to allow teachers to prepare for education, not just performing arts.
KL: Note also that the performing arts program is developed cooperatively with the teachers so that the skits and songs are supporting what is being learned in the classroom.

What is the impact to the students of losing Class Size Reduction (CSR)? 30 students per class seems unmanageable?

GI: Almost every school district is considering CSR because districts are not fully funded for CSR
CSR is capped at the number of classes a district had in 2007-08

What you got funded then is what you get funded today. This was ok for most districts as they are facing declining enrollment, Moreland has not, we have been growing and now have many 20-1 classes that are not receiving funding.

How would removal of CSR be rolled out?

GI: Right now we are just talking about 3rd grade. Up to 1997 there was no such thing as CSR – all classes were 30 or higher. Now have a generation of teachers who have known only 20:1 ratios. It will be the educational services department duty to come up with training and support for these teachers.
KL: If classes go to 30, how do we manage our time and maintain the same level of teaching? It is possible to adjust, but standards and testing have become much more rigorous and lengthy (respectively), we have more varied backgrounds of students (population constantly changing) and many more issues than before CSR. We can’t do the extra stuff teachers have always done such as the science fair, talent show, etc. we have to use the after hours times to do grading, etc

GI: Will need to plan ahead to figure out how to do this.
State playing games with the Districts

Have to let teachers know by March 15th whether or not they will have a job in the fall

Has going 25:1 in grades 1st – 3rd been considered?

GI: Article in SJMN on how different districts are struggling with this issue. Some districts are looking at other options; this concept is on the negotiations table currently.

What does the research say about the effect of CSR?

There is no research that shows CSR makes a difference in academic achievement. However, research does show that quality of the teacher makes a difference. The quality of teaching in this district is what will ensure that the quality of education is maintained. Before 2003, Moreland did not have professional development for teachers. We are still building our professional development program and teachers are welcoming these changes.
Professional development was cut in a budget exercise in 2001-2002.
MSD has maintained some of our professional development through these cuts to avoid having this problem again.

We want to hear that there is a plan for training teachers to prepare for 30:1 ratios.

GI: There is not a plan at the moment, but it is being worked on actively. The need for the plan will emerge from the decision to do or not do CSR for Fall. This is currently in negotiation.

Enrollment question – is this about class size?

Have a consultant on demographics who has had a high accuracy rate over 25 year career, but has failed to predict the current increased enrollment into our district.
Figures for Moreland, have been accurate except for Kindergarten

Can not explain the kindergarten explosion this year
Every District in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties has seen an unexpected increase in K enrollment this year.

How many inter-district students attend Moreland?

We have just under 100 students district-wide that come from another district into Moreland. The district gets funded (by the state) based on the # of students in the classroom regardless of their home district.
We are taking inter-district students (students from other districts), but they may have to wait until district students have been seated first.
Basic Aid districts, do not encourage inter-district transfers because you get the same amount of money regardless of the number of students and you do not receive additional money if you take out of district transfers. For Moreland, more kids mean more money overall because the state gives us money based on the number of students.

5 Furlough days could offer $600k in savings – sounds like a fair way to do across the board cut – is this being considered?

Board is working toward 5 Furlough days (max allowed by the state), but this would have to be negotiated with the teachers union and classified union.

Is it possible to cut salaries instead of eliminating positions

GI: This is possible, but needs to be negotiated with union groups.

How would furlough days work?

Recommended are 1 staff dev day, 1 teacher prep day, 3 instruction days. The Board is looking at convenient days for families (Thanksgiving week, summer, etc).

How much would a wage freeze save us for 1-2 years?

DT: $900k per year
GI: Note: This year, none of our bargaining units received a raise, but we are paying more for benefits which are built into the union contracts.
Our teachers are on a Step and Column salary schedule:

Each year you advance a step on the salary schedule and contractually, employees are entitled to move up a step.
If they have more units of education they move over a column.
There is a max at 20 years for certificated, 6 for classified.

Will we offer sports at MMS next year? If you eliminate sports, do you expect problems with kids getting in trouble after school?

After School Sports are not on the list of cuts for 2010-2011, but the list could change based on negotiations.

Sports costs the district ~$50k

District contributes $30k
Donations collected from parents of students who participate is about $20k

MEF raised money for sports in last year’s March Donation Drive and have $7500 reserved to host a matching grant for after school sports for this year.
We are also considering grant request from the district at this time through our small grants program. (Update: on Feb. 8th MEF approved a $10,000 grant for after school sports bus transportation.)

If PE teachers are cut, how will teachers be trained to teach PE?

This would be a teacher professional development task and we have curriculum for training.

What is the impact on safety if the resource officer is eliminated?

RV: This position has already been cut. Staff and students are getting along fine without a resource officer, to my pleasant surprise.

Do we have a person who is trained in writing grants? Tech grants are still available.

MEF: We don’t have anyone writing grants as an organization

Call for help – we would love to have someone help here.

GI: District does have someone who has been trained to write grant applications, however, all grants come with strings.

E.g. “in-kind” grants, where district has to provide matching funds.
Grants are also often Seed money to help start a program – need funds to continue from the main budget.
Funding agencies don’t always have the same goals as we do.

How can we fix the CA government?

GI: Joe Simidian is our state senator, contact your representatives and let them know how you feel.

How do our administrative salary costs compare to other school districts?

GI: Our administrative costs are in line with the median for our valley.
KL: Salaries are about 82% (total cost of salaries and benefits).

District salaries are 5% too high – why?

GI: I don’t know where that figure came from. We do have to pay competitively to get good staff, but we do not believe we are too high.
Moreland slashed administration severely in 2001-2002 cuts, this caused small problems to get bigger and in those years our legal fees went up because things were not getting dealt with.

Given that everyone wants to make the cuts that make the least impact, how will you measure / evaluate the impact?

GI: The cabinet level staff (Superintendent, 3 Assistant-Superintendents) has 70-80 years of collective experience.
Board would look to that staff for advice.
We would take student achievement aspect, morale of staff, needs of community into account in making recommendations.
The School Board saw in first 2 rounds philosophy from staff – the desire to preserve as much as possible. However, at this point we don’t have any where else to turn
The School Board’s endorsement of opening this discussion up to the community shows commitment and openness to new ideas.

Why give to MEF and not just local Home and School Club?

MEF can fund salaries of our most valued resource, teachers.
MEF funds programs for all of the schools.

Meeting adjourned at 8pm

Tax ID #77-0339357

United Way #100953

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