POTENTIAL BUDGET CUTS . . .

Associated Administrators of Los Angeles Weekly Update Week of March 19, 2012 | http://bit.ly/ylr0l6

Dr. Judith Perez, AALA President, made the following comments at the meeting of the Board of Education on March 13, 2012, during which the approval of the District’s Second Interim Budget was a major agenda item.

The Superintendent has repeatedly stated that the District’s top funding priority is teaching and learning at K-12 sites. I would like to remind you that LAUSD is a Pre-K through adult school district.

I am here, first of all, to urge you to reconsider the 2012-2013 categorical allocations sent to principals on March 1, which effectively cut 30% or more of their funding. The memo stated that because resources are needed to fund the Office of Civil Rights Voluntary Agreement, Teaching and Learning Initiative and implementation of the Common Core State Standards and Assessments, some categorical allocations to schools would be cut. AALA wants to know the individual cost of the three cited initiatives. We urge you to request a delay of the OCR agreement for one year because of the District’s fiscal constraints. We recommend that the Teaching and Learning Initiative and Common Core implementation be postponed. The categorical funds diverted for their use should be returned to the schools. During this fiscal crisis, any money taken from schools is too much.

Second, I’d like to speak briefly about Adult Education. While we appreciate your proposal to continue ROP and credit recovery classes at high schools, we urge you to think bigger. The Division of Adult and Career Education currently serves over 300,000 students with a budget of approximately $150 million. If the budget is cut to $50 million, educational services to 200,000 residents most in need would be eliminated and could not be replaced. We are talking about immigrants trying to learn English and gain citizenship for a better life, parents trying to obtain the skills to get decent jobs and help their children learn.

Third, we support maintenance of all Options Programs. Options students are as capable as other students, but because of various life challenges they need a small-school environment, support and personalization to graduate from high school and go on to postsecondary education. The cost of their earning a high school diploma is far less than the cost of incarceration. Please understand that for safety reasons and lack of adequate transportation, most Options students will not travel to sites outside their communities to attend school. By cutting 50% of Options sites, the District will, in fact, contribute to an increase in the dropout rate and a decrease in the graduation rate.

Fourth, we urge you to keep all Early Education Centers open. Fifty years of research demonstrates that children who attend pre-school are well prepared for kindergarten, do better in school and are more likely to graduate than those who do not.

To conclude, if the Superintendent’s goal to improve teaching and learning is to be realized, the District must maintain the programs that make it possible. Early education, options and adult school programs are essential; they are not extras. Skimming categorical funds from school sites to pay for initiatives that can wait a year is not justified given the current fiscal crisis. Again, let me remind you that LAUSD is a Pre-K through adult school district.

AALA SUPPORTS ADULT EDUCATION

AALA’s long-stated goal is to save the Division of Adult and Career Education (DACE) as a unit and to save all administrative positions—including those of adult education principals and assistant principals.

Since last fall, we have published weekly articles in Update on the importance of adult education. During our regular meetings with Superintendent Dr. John Deasy, Senior Deputy Superintendent of School Operations, Michelle King, and Deputy Superintendent of Instruction, Dr. Jaime Aquino, we have explained repeatedly why adult education is essential for adult students, their children and for the entire community. Dr. Judith Perez, AALA President, spoke in support of retaining all adult education programs at the Board of Education meeting on March 13, 2012 (see Page 1). AALA has helped recruit prominent public figures, retired superintendents, former Board members and others to advocate on behalf of adult education at Board meetings and to write letters to Board members and senior leadership in support of DACE.

Furthermore, we have supported and will continue to support complete budget transparency. At a meeting with Dr. Aquino on Friday, March 2, Dr. Perez asked him to give consideration to budget recommendations made by AALA members through their respective organizations. He said that he would welcome such input. To that end, he held a meeting for DACE principals on Monday morning (March 5) to express his commitment to preserve the Division as much as possible, given the current fiscal crisis. This is a far better scenario than zeroing out the Division altogether, as the Board recommended in the First Interim Budget in December.

Dr. Aquino asked Dr. Clif de Cordoba and Donna Brashear, as representatives of the DACE principals, to submit a ―concept paper‖ within two days (by March 7), explaining in broad outline how to structure the division, based on several potential funding levels. His invitation indicates a beginning shift toward greater budget transparency. Dr. Aquino also told the principals that DACE administrators will have several months to work on details of the plan because of the uncertainty of the final budget. The District has been basing decisions on the worst-case budget scenario. Its approval on March 13, 2012, of the Second Interim Budget is not the end of the story as a much clearer picture of actual revenues will emerge when the Governor presents his May Revision.

Dr. de Cordoba and Ms. Brashear plan to contact the DACE AP Organizations’ presidents to discuss the potential DACE structure and budget levels at their respective meetings to come up with recommendations. In this way everyone’s voice can be heard. Again, AALA’s goal is 100% preservation of the Division and all administrative positions.