What Impact Do Budget Cuts Have on California's Schools and Students?

Here are some real life examples...

Whether school districts are forced to eliminate class-size reduction and music, arts and sports programs, lay off teachers, classified employees and other staff, or eliminate basic supplies (like copy paper), this year’s budget cuts and bad economy are hurting our schools and students. Below are just a few examples of responses received from teachers, districts and parents when asked: how have the state budget cuts impacted students in the classroom, and what do more these cuts mean for California’s future?  Share Your Story!

TEACHERS:

Jena Ritchey, Chula Vista Elementary School District
As the budget has dwindled, school supplies have gotten cheaper and cheaper. The pencils won't sharpen, the dry erase markers stain the whiteboards, etc. Our district is using an old, out of date math series and we are unable to purchase a new series. Books are falling apart, we don't have a librarian, and our certificated staff have lost hours. We only have a school nurse 2.5 days a week. We are not providing the best, safest learning environment for our children. We make due and we try to keep students interested and involved in learning, but it's hard to convince students that education is important when our state doesn't seem to value it at all.


Janese Swanson, Del Mar Union
I earned seven degrees and taught as a tech coordinator for a school of 800 students and 40 staff members. I create curriculum, program (award winning by the way), teach teachers and repair 200 computers as needed. I received a pink slip that my job was no longer a job. I make less than $60k a year with my doctorate. Wow. What a hard job!  If I leave today, how will that affect retirement. I have taught -- this year will be 4 years -- at Sage, with one year in Oceanside where I was also pinked. I may need to leave early.

Debbie Grace, Redondo Beach Unified
I have been counseling at the continuation school for two years now. I absolutely love it!  My students are my passion. They are at-risk individuals looking for hope. They are what keeps me going on days when I want to give up. However, on March 5th, this was all taken away from me. I was told I was being laid-off. From that day forward, I have been nothing but confused. I was told that my job might be saved if another counselor retires or resigns. I was told that if a grant came in, my job would be saved. Yada yada.  I had hope up until April 3, when I was told to start looking elsewhere. There are two of us (counselors) being cut, so with this news, I'm going to be unemployed come June.

Julie Felkins, Dixon Unified:
Dixon Unified is giving 60+ pink slips to teachers within our district. My husband Cecil Felkins and I (Julie Felkins) are two of those 60+ teachers. My husband has been teaching AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination), Social Science, and Technology for four years, plus he has coached basketball at the middle school for nine years and baseball at Dixon High School for the past four years. I have taught Physical Education for nine years, and have been the Athletic Director for eight years. In November 2008 I received my National Board Certification in Physical Education (EAYA)... and what compensation do I receive from Dixon Unified School District? A pink slip. These budget cuts aren't supposed to affect our students, right? So then why did we have students crying when we told them that we were BOTH being given pink slips?

Marita Dietz, Mariposa County Unified:
We were told by our reps that class size reduction had been preserved. Last night I went to our school board meeting and a bombshell dropped. Our superintendent told our board that our school will receive Class Size Reduction money, but that the board could layoff teachers and raise class sizes - with no limit - and still receive $750 per student in grades K to 3. I checked the budget information carefully, and yes, it does sound as if districts will only pay a 30 percent penalty for classes over 25, and there is no cap on the class size. Is that the same interpretation that CTA gets? Californians are being snookered. They think that the legislators kept CSR intact when really quite the opposite is true; school districts will be rewarded with 70 percent of their CSR money by eliminating CSR! Please get the word out. People need to know that their districts may not keep CSR, after all.

Susan Westcott, Paradise Unified:
Our school is being dismantled person by person and program by program. CTA should take the lead on requesting a waiver of the five-day school week. Every high school in the state should be temporarily closed on Mondays. This should continue until CA is financially solvent. The other four days would be extended to allow for student minutes not to be reduced. All teacher "prep" time would happen on Mondays at home. This would shut down one day for all classified staff - an instant 20 percent savings. Teachers would be in teaching "hell" without breaks and all prep on Mondays. However, teachers realize we can't run a school without classified. Master schedules would need to be redesigned without prep time and extended class time. It is a huge savings and it makes the crisis touch every home. I am a secondary teacher; maybe this could apply to elementary.

Danielle Berchtold, Escalon Unified:
Escalon is handling the cuts better then most districts because we had a very large "rainy day" fund. THIS is definitely our rainy day. However, reduction in staff is going to be made. I have been teaching English for 4 years. I have had stellar observations - have never been written up - there are no problems in regards to my performance. However, I am probably going to get a pink slip March 15th simply because I am the newest English hire at the high school even though I have been there for four years. Our city and school are very small - I could be here for YEARS before another teacher is hired. The biggest problem with this layoff is that my husband is ALSO A TEACHER. He teaches PE for Lodi Unified - also year four - and also will probably be laid off in March. Two years ago, my husband and I felt very safe in the directions our carrears were heading. We decided to settle down and buy a house, and begin trying to have a baby. Our baby was born last November, and we have made a beautiful home for our family. If both my husband and I are laid off and do not work next year - EVERYTHING we have worked so hard for will be lost. There is no way we will be able to keep our home - or our cars - we are absolutely devastated. There was never a time that we thought that one - OR BOTH - of us with 5 year college degrees would be jobless, let alone HOMELESS. Where will we go?? What will we do?? I am at a loss - sick to my stomach every moment of the day as of late. PLEASE do NOT let this happen.


Betsy Vega, Santa Ana Unified School District: 
Where do I start?  Well, let me see ... we lost several key staff members. We have not been able to use our library this year because we do not have a librarian. Also, we have lost our bilingual resource teachers, thus, our most needy students (i.e. newcomers, low-achieving students, English learners) are not being adequately served. Furthermore, we have lost 4 of our bilingual aides, so many of us are struggling, trying to reach out to parents during conference time. Finally, our office staff has been reduced to our Principal, Office Manager, and Outreach Consultant; since our Vice Principal is out on a leave due to an emergency surgery, who has not been able to get a temporary sub or replacement. We have only had temporary subs that have come and gone to fill in for our office assistant, who transfered to another school looking for a position that offered more hours. So far, this school year has been a roll-o-coaster. I just hope we get an answer soon from our legislators, who seem to be engaged in a useless battle that is not taking us anywhere. If taxes need to be raised, so be it!  This is definitely going too far. Our schools need us to move on.


Meridith Coady, San Diego Unified:
We got a notice home that the children would not be receiving their usual homework packet (reduced down to just one page front and back) because there was a limit on paper usage due to the spending freeze. While parents at the school are working together to donate paper so our kids can do the homework they need to do (what's wrong with that picture?), what about schools where parents don't have those options? The kids who are already at risk are now further compromised. Where will it stop? We are seriously considering leaving the state of California where I have lived my entire life. We pay tons in taxes and our kids don't even have the paper they need in school! It's outrageous.

Catherine Mitchell, San Jose Unified School District
First, after teaching with SJUSD for 2 years with exemplary evaluations, I've been pink slipped. Now, here's my budget cut story. Last month I had to buy and bring in a case of paper to my classroom. The district refused to o.k. an order for copy paper for our school site. In order to continue teaching my classes and giving my students the education to which they are entitled, I had to bring in my own paper to make copies. This year I've had to buy toner cartridges for the printer in my classroom, binder paper for students to write on, and a bulb for my overhead projector when the old one blew out last month.


Val Gardner, Vacaville Unified:
Think of one of the happiest years of your life in school -- kindergarten is where it all begins! Can you imagine if our government cancelled kindergarten? This is the suggestion by our leaders to solve the $$$$ crisis in education. In California, kindergarten is not required. A child does not have to be in school until they are 6 years old, so they are proposing we just cancel kindergarten. Yikes!

This is telling our families that we should  S L O W  down every child's education. If we do not teach 5-year-olds to read, write, add and subtract, and delay their learning until they are 6, California kids will just keep falling further and further behind. In the 35 years I have been teaching kindergarten, I have seen huge growth in learning since we reduced our class size to 20 students. One hundred percent of my kindergartners are reading, writing a paragraph with a topic sentence, adding, subtracting, solving problems, learning about the world and THINKING for themselves. It's amazing what a 5-year-old can learn, AND they are excited about learning!

I am not saying children cannot learn at home but I know most children will not be as challenged as they are in school. Most parents are too busy trying to make a living and keep their jobs. I believe in kindergarten.
If our district does away with kindergarten and Class Size Reduction, we will lose 90 of our teachers! My two daughters and I are included in those cuts. OUCH!

Please join me in writing our Congress and encourage them to not make such deep cuts in education. Our kids are our future!

Mary Oshima, West Contra Costa Unified School District:
The budget cuts are devastating. One teacher has waited for over two months for heat in her classroom. Several of her students were sick with colds and one was hospitalized for pneumonia due to the cold classroom. The children were wearing caps and jackets when the superintendent of schools did a walk-through. The computer lab for the upper grades has been waiting for new computers for over a year now. The computers just need to be installed but there is no money to install them. The computers in the lab are over ten years old. They are dinosaurs and many do not work. We have been told to conserve on pencils or we may not have any for the CST test. Our copy machines are broken and our district has no money for toner for the ones that do work. Our principal just lost her program assistant and she doesn't have a vice-principal. Our school has over 700 students. We have been told to reduce the number of lunch time supervisors from five individuals to three. After-school tutoring has been cut so I don't know how CST scores can keep going up if we don't even have the basics. There are no more field trips. We don't have Expo pens for whiteboards unless we buy them ourselves. Lined paper is also in short supply. I could go on but I hope that someone somewhere gets the picture. There is no place to cut.

Nancy Gomez, Hacienda La Puente Unified:
Our school has completely stopped providing supplies for our students and teachers. This includes paper, pencils, crayons, dry erase markers for boards, chart paper, construction paper, erasers, scissors, glue and even filing supplies such as manila folders and file hanging folders. The only thing being provided is copy paper and each teacher is limited on the amount of copies we can make. This impacts education severely especially in a low economic area such as La Puente. We find ourselves scavenging for supplies constantly.

In addition, this affects school moral for both teachers and students. Students feel that they are being targeted for being "poor" and that the more affluent schools are receiving all the assistance. It is difficult to explain the situation and why it is that we cannot provide them with the basics. Some have even asked if we will be eliminating their free school lunches as well. The worry in these poor children's eyes is devastating and heart breaking. Students fear losing their teachers, since they have seen the reduction in aides and have made the connection that teachers will go next. How does the state of California expect API scores to increase in communties such as this when we are clearly sending the message that these schools/children/communities don't matter?

Susan Ross, Amador County Unified:
When I first started teaching primary some 20 years ago, I had a classroom aide for three hours. We also had a resource specialist and a Title 1 teacher on staff who took small groups of students who were falling behind. Now, I have no aide and no support teachers to work with students who may be struggling. I am expected to differentiate my instruction and give each of my students a personalized plan which will raise test scores by a predetermined percentage. Granted, I no longer have 32 students, but it is impossible to work with individuals or small groups for more than a few minutes in a classroom full of 6-year-olds. I now have fewer resources and more mandated expectations than ever! What more can we cut? Heat? Light? Water?


Heather Busch, Marin County Office of Education:
I teach preschool-aged kids with speech and language problems. I opened up a new class for the overflow of students in the program in October. I had a classroom with tables and chairs and $500 to start with it. The paraprofessional for the class and I have been able to make it an inviting classroom with adequate materials and curriculum by begging and borrowing and making almost all our own curricular materials from scratch. There are no more funds for supplies or materials to create theme-related curriculum in the coming months. When I lose my job, these 3- and 4-year-olds will probably have to be bused to other classrooms and those commutes can be up to an hour one-way. The teachers left standing will have to take on whatever number of students there are or the districts will be out of compliance with federal mandates. Can you imagine what that would be like for the teachers with students with autism or severe and multiple handicaps? And this is happening in the nation's richest county.

John Walker, Escondido Union High School District:
I work at River Springs Charter School. As of November 24, our director was laid off due to budget cuts. Now another director will be traveling back and forth from two sites to pick up the slack. In addition, support staff have been laid off, or are faced with that possibility in the beginning of 2009. Also, some teachers may face the ax during mid-semester of next year. I am concerned about my own job. I live in San Diego, which has had a hiring freeze for a couple of years now and will probably only get worse. I enjoy the position and school I am with now, however these budget cuts are making for a tense and nervous situation. Also, my wife is pregnant with twins! Perhaps my job will be secure, nonetheless I worry about all the other educators both in and outside of my school. This is an inexcusable situation. We are the wealthiest state in the nation, yet one the poorest in terms of financing our schools and raising revenue for other important services. It's time for a ballot measure that frees us from our 2/3 majority budget trap so that progressive education legislation can be passed.

Alison Signorotti, Amador County Unified:
Our math classes are packed to the brim. Our neediest students are in "Algebra A," a course for freshmen who NEED a two-year Algebra program. When I started teaching 10 years ago, these were the first programs targeted for 20:1, and boy, did they need it. Now those classes are staffed at 34:1 at our site – because, due to budget cuts, when one teacher retired, we didn't replace him; we just crammed all the kids into the other teachers' classes. That means that students most in need of extra assistance and attention are in jam-packed classes where they cannot receive either. How can we be expected to increase test scores when our neediest students receive less and less teacher time?

Marlene McCain, Eastside Union High School District
This is affecting our students, community and family. They are wanting to cut sports from the school. This would impact many of our students' academic performance. Sports gives the students motivation to want to do better. The students want to transfer out to another school that will offer sports. Taking sports away can only make things worse. What is our governor doing? These are our children...our future.

Karen E. DeNovi, Desert Sands Unified:
I teach 2nd grade at Van Buren Elementary in Indio (a Title 1 School that is 98% Hispanic). Despite the fact that my students live in poverty and lack English language experience, my second-graders scored so high on the CST's, they beat district, county and state averages in Language Arts and Math. I was recently elected Elementary School Teacher of the Year for Desert Sands Unified School District. Ironically, the same day I won my award, I was given my RIF notice! I have been teaching 12 years, but since I am new to the district and did not have tenure, I was laid off. I ended up keeping my job this year, but with the budget cuts I am in danger of being laid off once again. With Class Size Reduction you are losing talented and dedicated teachers like me! And who suffers? The kids! I give these kids 100% and so should you - they deserve more. Invest in our future!

Jeff Seiver, Anaheim Union High School District:
I teach Woodshop, one of the last. I'm glad to have a job which I enjoy. My budget for six classes that average 36 kids per class is $100 for the entire year. I personally spend between $500 and $1000 per month to keep my little program running. Yes that's right: about $10,000 per year. I collect shop fees but only about half the kids are able to pay. Teachers all over the state have become enablers by allowing the districts to force them to have to buy all of the materials that they need to perform their jobs. I don't know what you can do as a teacher. I think that all teachers should tell their principals: “I am sorry the district is so poor, but I can't supply [all the materials and supplies] needed for students to learn.” The state education system is going to hell in a hand bag.

Diane Gray, Capistrano Unified:
No copy paper.
No ink cartridges for computers.
No hall passes for kids to go to the bathroom.
No index cards for activities/learning.
No scantrons for tests.
No pens.
No overhead transparencies.
No nothing!
In other words, nothing to do our jobs!
This is absurd! I bet Arnold has paper and pens in his office!

Daniel Coleman, Fortuna Union Elementary School District:
Certificated staff have not received a raise since 2005. Morale is at an all-time low! Classroom funding has been cut; we can't even get ink for our classroom printers to send home newsletters to our parents. The younger teachers are talking about changing careers. The superintendent said the only way to get a raise is to switch to a lesser health plan with a higher deductible. That's a no-win situation for our teachers! We want our political representatives to go to bat for us and do what it takes to make things right for us. Our kids deserve teachers who are well respected with decent pay and benefits!

Lori Walker, Capistrano Unified:
We are basically operating on a "shoe string" budget. Our supply budget has never been enough, but now we have been cut 25 percent more for this year, which means we have to dig deeper into our own pockets for student needs. Our parents are very helpful but it is not enough. Our teachers are afraid that they will lose their jobs or that our salaries may be cut. We are currently working without a contract. We did not receive any cost of living increase this year. Our school bus system has been almost completely eliminated. We have lost most of our Technology staff. There are no new funds for updating computers or buying new ones. We have an excellent program called "TLC," which has been very successful in helping all learners achieve. We believe we will be losing that program unless our PTA pays for it. Currently, the PTA pays for music classes and field trips and for an AIDE for the “TLC” program. I don't know how they can possibly afford to do any more. Last year, families in our community raised $1 million to help defray the costs of Class Size Reduction. It simply does not make sense that our state could be in so much trouble and yet continue to make California the last in the nation regarding education funds for children! Teacher morale is obviously low but our teachers remain true professionals. You would never know that there was a problem if you were in their classroom. But they are scared. We all feel like we are fighting an uphill battle.
 

Blair Sakai, Huntington Beach Union High School District:
Because of the state budget cuts, the Huntington Beach Union High School District is proposing to cut 100 class sections (17 class sections per school). I was offered a partial contract for the semester. I currently teach three classes with a total of 98 students. I (along with the other semester-contract teachers) will most likely not be hired back next semester due to mid-year budget cuts. The students will be filtered into existing Algebra 1 and Basic Algebra classes, increasing class sizes so that they will be at or very near the legal limit (37 students/class). This would be a great disservice to students and teachers in the district. And deeper cuts are expected next year.

Oscar Segovia, Chaffey Union High School District:
I am a history teacher first; the boys’ soccer coach second. Cuts were made this year and I'm sure the cuts will continue next year. The cuts are affecting the classrooms and all sports in our high schools. Test scores have been improving, in part, due to funding. But now? If we must accept cuts, remember the kids and their families when making cuts!

Mindie Gilliland, Lake Elsinore Unified:
I have been a middle school PE teacher for four years. Before the budget cuts we were able to provide after-school sports to all of our students. This included all team sports throughout the year, as well as bus transportation, and a very small stipend for those who helped coach. I know Gov. Schwarzenegger is a huge advocate for staying physically active; our school participates in the Governor’s Challenge annually. However, since the budget cuts, ALL of our team sports have been dropped. This was a great opportunity to motivate students to do well in school and be rewarded with sports competition. It was extremely successful last year for testing purposes, as well. Our school had the highest increase in test scores in the state last year with 111 points! For the sake of our student's health, well being, social skills development and many more factors, we need to find a way to put sports back into the budget. I am a strong advocate for lifelong learning – mental, physical and emotional – and without sports, we are diminishing the future of our children.

Shannon Patton, Chaffey Union High School District:
This sounds totally lame, but we need copies. We are supposed to bring in outside reading material that goes beyond the textbook and we don't have a big enough copy budget. I would love to make copies of some up-to-date election articles and psychology articles, but I do not even have enough of a copy budget for the class sets I need.

Sydney Borstel, San Mateo-Foster City School District:
Hello my name is Sydney Borstel. I am a 3rd grade teacher in the San Mateo-Foster City School District. I am wondering if CTA would support a campaign to cut back on state testing for a few years to save money and keep teachers in the classroom. I do support testing, yet in these times it would be a quick solution to reduce the budget crisis in California.

Theodore Dent, Los Angeles Unified School District:
After two years of creating new opportunities for students as Literacy Coach for the seven continuation high schools, I lost my position due to "loss of funding". The students reverted to that diminished situation of minimal opportunities to reach beyond their current teachers' abilities. In small schools, teachers always excel beyond their imagined capabilities, but the loss of a coach minimizes their and students' possibilities.

Now, I exist as a substitute assigned to a 4,200 student high school, and my 18 years experience in alternative settings does not qualify me as anything other than a first-year substitute.

Javier Chavez, San Jose Unified School District:
If the cuts that are being proposed happen, they will affect our categorical personnel resource teachers and staff. Some of these personnel have been working for over 15 years of service. These personnel are very committed to working with students and have taken our school out of program improvement status. If they lose their jobs, they will have to sell their homes, because they will not be able to afford their mortgage and bills. At my site, people are afraid of the uncertainty of their positions, some are cutting back on major expenses and only spending money on the basics.

Teacher Representative from the Val Verde Teachers Association:

Our association did a survey about a year ago with one of the questions being how much do teachers spent out-of-pocket on their classroom per year. The range was from $50-$3000 with the majority of teachers in Val Verde Unified spending around $700 per year on materials. We had a major “paper & copying crunch” last year which of course has continued into this year and I know that many teachers (including myself) have bought our own copy paper when our site has run out. (High stakes testing has made instruction very paper intensive in order to meet the “scoring expectations” of the district.) As for myself, I spend about $1000 a year, which includes ”basic” supplies such as white board markers & erasers, pencils, staples, tape, paper clips, and of course, copy paper.

Teacher Representative from Twin Hills, Sonoma County:

Thank you for your time in bringing this matter to light. I am at Twin Hills Middle School Special Day Class, 6-8 grades. Last year I spent about $200 on laminating film, rewards, pencils, rope for installing a swing in class and lined paper. I also spent $80 on a pumpkin patch field trip, as I did not want to ask the parents to pay $22 for a field trip. (I asked them to pay $10, which just covered the busing.) This year I have already exceeded my budget, and have had to pay out $80 for student rewards and incentives. These are very small items such as gum and 50 cent toys, but are an integral part of our classroom economy and positive behavior reinforcement system. They classroom money I had at the beginning of the year all went to curriculum and supplies such as folders, lined paper, construction paper, markers and pencils.

Teacher Representative from Cotati-Rohnert Park USD, Sonoma County:

When I decided to become a teacher, it was a given that I would be spending my own money on my students. Many of the items that I have bought in the last 16 years were my choice because I thought my students would benefit from supplies, experiences, and hands-on learning. From my first year, I was never given money for supplies. I have bought every poster, video, and experiment necessity that I needed to enhance the learning of my students. This didn’t bother me because they were my kids and they needed something. Now there is not enough money for copier paper in schools. I am buying about a case a year out of pocket. I will continue to do this because I won’t let my kids suffer because of a system that has so many problems.

STUDENTS:

Jose Corona, Azusa Unified School District:
The effect of the budget crisis in my school is that they want to cut all K-12 music as well as many other arts which prepare us for the future. I will be a musician, but this budget cut is going to hold me back. That's why I ask everyone who reads this to do something about it. If you have any ideas, send them to me (cerveza14@live.com) even if you are shy because I know people get shy sometimes. If you're not shy, speak up and make a difference. Thank You.

SCHOOL DISTRICTS:

Torrance Unified School District:

The list would be a much shorter list if the question were: What has not been cut?

In the Torrance Unified School District, and because of the state’s budget crisis, in previous years we have cut as far away from the classroom as possible. Everything was frozen, cut or reduced. This year we are 38 teachers less than we were last year. I cannot overemphasize the negative impact that it has had on our instructional program due to huge class sizes. In addition, the health and safety of our students is more difficult to ensure when the correct number of personnel are not in service.

A few other services to students that we have been forced to cut include:

• Reduction of clerical and support personnel in the following offices: Attendance Office - site level, Child Welfare and Attendance, Human Resources, Fiscal Services, Educational Services, Maintenance and Operations, Personnel Commission
• Reduction of personnel in the following Maintenance and Operations categories: Grounds, Transportation, Heating and Ventilation, Plumbing, Print Shop
• Custodial cuts: The entire 11 person night crew, Campus Security, Library Media Services, Food Services, Health Services
• Administration cuts: 4 assistant principals at the middle school level, 4 assistant principals at the high school level, 1 assistant principal at the elementary level, 1 Cabinet level administrator

The list goes on. We are extremely concerned over the current fiscal crisis that exists and the potential for mid-year cuts. Additional cuts are simply an impossibility, as I'm sure they are in other districts.

East Side Union High School District:

East Side Union High School District for the 2008-09 school year has reduced or eliminated the following staff / services:

• Librarian services have been reduced at all 12 high school sites
• 4 Resource Teaching Positions were eliminated
• 40 Classified positions have been eliminated for this year

Anaheim Union High School District:

In order to balance the budget this year, the Anaheim Union High School District increased class sizes in all grades, reduced the number of counselors, reduced summer school electives, and consolidated four continuation school sites into two sites which necessitated a reduction in teachers, counselors and administrators. In addition, there were many classified and central office administrative positions that were eliminated.

Stanislaus Union School District:

Teachers have been laid off, as well as classified employees, kindergarten aides and others. We’ve increased class sizes at our middle school, eliminating offerings. We’ve decreased instructional supplies, decreased aide time per teacher, decreased or eliminated overtime for classified (including librarians, secretaries, custodial), decreased custodial supplies allocation, decreased other unrestricted discretionary dollars. Major cuts were made to categorical programs.

Jefferson Elementary School District, Daly City:

Midyear cuts present another problem… small COLAs have not kept up with inflation or increases to health and dental premiums. If we have to make cuts we will consider laying off PE aides, library aides, and reducing our custodial staffing. Eventually, we will need to look to eliminating class size reduction for the primary grades and closing schools.

Bonita Unified School District:

Cuts in staffing that include: program specialists, assistant principal, a nurse, an accountant, a night custodian and clerks, just to mention a few. In addition, reductions were made overall in departments and to schools. Cuts at each school amounted to 7%.

Plumas Unified School District:

Reductions in recent years include: 

• Class size - increased staffing ratio from 18:1 at K-3 to 20:1, and from 28:1 at 4-8 to 32:1
• Academic program - eliminated most electives from high school master schedules, going from 285 regular ed high school sections in 2004/2005 to 245 in 2008/2009.
• Library services - reduced from full-time general fund library services at each school to part time categorically-funded (less than half-time at most schools).
• Combination class aides - reduced from 3 hr/day to 2 hr/day - slated for elimination next year as they are categorically funded.
• Custodial services - reduced night custodial staff, reduced classroom cleaning schedule from every night to every other night
• Administration - assigned four district office administrators to additionally serve as part-time school principals, reducing administrative staffing
• Special Education - reduced full-time Resource Program aides to 2 hrs/day (secondary) and 1 hr/day (elementary).
• Home-to-school transportation - eliminated mid-day kindergarten bus routes.
• Non-reimbursed transportation - eliminated funding for field trip transportation.
• Food Services - instituted centralized kitchen, demoted site kitchen managers, reduced site kitchen staff.
• School office staff - eliminated part-time elementary school attendance clerks, reduced full-time high school attendance clerk/registrars by two hrs/day.
• Student supervision - eliminated secondary school noon duty supervisors, reduced elementary noon duty supervisors to 2 per school.
• Athletics - reduced number of coaching stipends from 18 per high school to 8 per high school

Should mid-year cuts be necessary, we would select from the following range of options: Release general-funded temporary teachers, further reduce custodial services, further reduce home-to-school transportation, establish a hard freeze on hiring, out-of-district travel, and non-critical spending, eliminate high school clerk/registrars, eliminate sub caller, reduce district office clerical staff.

Rosedale Union Elementary School District, Bakersfield:

We have already cut class size reduction programs in Kindergarten (picture 30 4-5 year olds), pink slipped 7 staff members, cut after school sports and all field trips, put off starting a new school that is already long overdue, as well as $1.5 million in other all areas across the board.

We would be looking at a reduction in campus security at our middle schools, more staff losses and dropping CSR for third grade if forced to make more cuts. Any more cuts would really be devastating to our district…

Murrieta Valley Unified School District:

We’ve made staffing reductions and stopped all professional development and technology expenditures. If mid-year funding cuts are imposed, we’ll need to make further cuts and
consider work furloughs.

PARENTS:

Examples of what local PTAs are being asked to fund and various parent comments:

Joanne Kim, Alhambra Unified:
It is affecting my children's school terribly. How will our children succeed and what happen if their education falls greatly behind other international countries? This will ruin our beloved country.

Ventura area:
The haggling over the state budget is costing the state of California millions of dollars a day. The legislators need to get over their pride and fund the state and schools -- or find another job! Do something NOW!
Carole Nelson, a concerned mom.

Irvine area:

• 4 elementary schools reported being asked to provide additional funding to keep health clerks in their school each day. The amounts ranged from $1000 to $5000 in additional support.
• 2 elementary schools reported being asked to provide additional funding for school supplies and support, one for $2,200 and the other for $8,000.
• 3 elementary schools and one middle school were asked to provide additional funding for library and media support, ranging from $3,500 to $6,000.
• 3 elementary schools were asked to support funding for K-3 music education at costs ranging from $1,000 to $10,000.
• One elementary school and one middle school reported being asked to support counseling programs, one indicating cost of $3,400.
• Additional support for field trip transportation at one elementary school for $4,000.
• Additional funds of $1700 were requested at one school for a behavioral program.
• One middle school has been asked to fund $5,000 for copier maintenance.
• One elementary school has been asked to establish a fund to support field trips for needy families.
• One middle school has been asked to purchase additional computers.
• One elementary school has a budget item of $10,000 for "unforeseen expenses due to state budget cuts."

Capistrano Unified:

• More funding for librarian and health tech to keep the same amount of services as last year. Increased the amount of school supply reimbursements to our teachers and are spending more to keep our workroom supplied with basics like paper clips and paper. Field trips have also gone up because of the increased cost of busses.
• Request to provide extra textbooks for our middle school science (these would be left at home).
• The PTA donated $7,000 to fund 1/3 of a new computer lab. Our old primary grade lab was out of service for most of last year and, with the cuts this year, it would not have been sustainable. Most grades last year could not get lab time because of the constant breakdowns.
• We were also looking into ways to fund the Mind Institute music program for grades 1 -3, which had to be cancelled due to budget cuts. It turned out to be out of our PTA budget range.

Other requests to support:

• Art masters- there is no other art program for the kids of all grades without this
• Music for grades K-3
• Part-time Librarian- the district only pays for one day a week. Obviously that would not be enough for all the classes to go to the library!
• Visitor and volunteer stickers for the office
• Agendas and homework folders for all grades
• Field trips for each grade
• Requests in for items such as LCD Projectors, ELMO equipment, Computers, items of a Technological nature
• Paper (colored) Kleenex pencils highlighters Markers Etc.
• Copy Paper
• Computer Lab Assistant
• Reading Counts Web-based program
• Science Education Supplies
• Custodial Support / Supplies
• Teacher Supplies
• We are replacing the emergency backpacks and supplies in them for all the classrooms; as well as purchasing lockdown kits for the classrooms. We have budgeted $4,000 toward the backpacks and lockdown kits. We fund the traditional PTA funded programs that were cut years ago: assemblies, fieldtrips and art instruction.

Huntington Beach schools:

This year the supply budget has been cut again and we as parents are being asked again to supply school supplies for the classroom (not just our students) and copy paper.  We are paying $5,000.00 worth of instructional supplies and giving $5,000 worth of duplication costs. This is in addition to the usual assemblies, field trips, etc. We did not make these contributions last year.