OC School Budget Cuts for Future OC Residents (Santa Ana, Orange: house, layoffs)

[missionhome]

I know an important thing to anyone considering a move with children is the quality of the schools in the neighborhood they choose. For Californians, the budget cuts coming up this next year is common news, but people from out of state likely do not know about the financial problems facing California schools this upcoming year. I think it is better for us to warn people interested in Orange County and California what the conditions are so they don't get surprised. It is only fair because people should not be surprised when they find that perfect house with the perfect school and then find out the next year the class sizes are increasing to 35 students in kindergarten. It is better to let everyone know beforehand.

So background of the budget cuts:
Proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
Cost of the cuts to education state wide: 4.8 billion dollars
This works out to about $750 per student lost
Some school district are more dependent on state funding, other are not, so the budget cuts affect each school district differently.
Also, the cuts have not officially been passed. You can write to the governor or your representative/senator to prevent this from happening.

So, I thought for Orange County we could do a school district by school district thread of how various communities are being affected. I will post on the two school districts in my area and then other people can follow up with theirs and hopefully we can make this a big thread that is full of information to help serve other people with children interested in cities here.
So I'll start:
Capistrano Unified School District
-serves South Orange County including Mission Viejo, San Juan Capistrano, Laguna Niguel, San Clemente, Aliso Viejo and other south Orange County cities and unincorporated areas
-Student Population: Over 52,000 students, 2nd largest in Orange County, 12th largest in California, 85th largest in USA
Amount District is cutting: 28 million dollars
Planned cuts:
231 teachers are losing their job and class sizes in grades K-3 increase from twenty students to thirty students
35 teachers in grades 4-12 are losing their job
Half of the school bus routes will be eliminated eliminating 57 bus drivers
36 resource teachers
39 administrators and support staff

-Comments: Tragic cuts for those with elementary children (thank God mine are in high school). The class size reduction program is excellent. In all, with the amount the district must cut, I think they did a good job shielding the majority of the students (grades 4-12) from noticing anything, but I would rather have this not happen. I think it is good they aren't cutting special programs like music, sports, or advanced class though.

I have to go, so I will do neighboring Saddleback Valley Unified later.

Feel free to add how this affects your neighborhood school district

[ocexpo]

Illegal aliens are to blame for this.

[bhcompy]

unfortunately we need to cutback in every program.

[missionhome]

OK,
Saddleback Valley Unified School District
-serves Laguna Hills, Lake Forest, and parts of Mission Viejo and Rancho Santa Margarita
-Student population: Aprox 32,000 and declining in enrollment
-They need to cut: 19.3 million dollars
Major areas seeing cuts
-130 teachers in grades 1-3 for class size reduction to end and average amount of students in class to increase over 30
-15 high school geography teachers and elimination of the class for graduation requirements
-15 principals fired, having some schools share principals
-24 district level administrators
-Elimination of ALL school bus routes
-Vocal Music in elementary classes will be cut
-The International Baccalaureate Program will be cut at all four high school (aprox 110 students combined in the district in this program). SVUSD will allow inter-district transfers to CUSD's Capistrano Valley and San Clemente High Schools for students who want to be in the prestigious program.
- Some Language Funding cut
- JV coaches loose salaries
- Fire some librarians
- other

- Comments: Overall this district is getting slammed. Combined with the money it is loosing due to declining enrollment, the district is cutting a lot of programs that directly affect the students. Sadly some of the things such as music, IB at all four high schools, and small classes will likely go and are aspects that made this a excellent district. Parents are not happy either. I live in Mission Viejo (CUSD part though) and SVUSD parents were rallying yesterday and today at La Paz Road and Marguerite's intersection. There were about 150-200 people. I heard they were at Trabuco Hills High also yesterday. I say good for them because it is unfair for the governor to take all this money on one of the most important things for this state. If this state doesn't have an educated population, it will do nothing but go downhill.

I encourage others to post what is happening in your area.
Write to your representative or to the governor demanding these cuts don't happen.

[Donna7]

Missionhome, Thank you very much for your excellent posts. I really appreciate all the information that you've provided. I'm re-reading what you've written as there's a lot here to digest. I wonder if some sort of funding will come through at the least minute in order to alleviate some of the problems that are arising due to the budget shortfall. I hope that funding does come through as this shortfall seems to be all-encompassing.

[willitbeOC]

Thank you for posting, Missionhome. We have 2nd & 4th graders and are in the process of narrowing down areas in OC. The scale of the hit on schools is enough to make me rethink relocating. At the least to research local funding.

[missionhome]

I am glad you saw this before moving here. That is why I wanted to do this is because I realized a lot of people from out of state did not realize the financial situation. I cannot recommend enough that you research the school districts very very well before you settle on where to move. That amazing music program or special ed class or advanced program at the school you are considering may be gone next September. Don't be afraid to come, some districts are barely being effected. But this is just some advice to do as much research as possible and point people in the right direction.

[Donna7]

Originally Posted by missionhome

I am glad you saw this before moving here. That is why I wanted to do this is because I realized a lot of people from out of state did not realize the financial situation. I cannot recommend enough that you research the school districts very very well before you settle on where to move. That amazing music program or special ed class or advanced program at the school you are considering may be gone next September. Don't be afraid to come, some districts are barely being effected. But this is just some advice to do as much research as possible and point people in the right direction.

Post Edited: If I may ask, why are some districts being harder hit than others? I re-read your original post; you answered my question.

[Coldjensens]

You get this scare tactic almost every year. The districts issue a bunch of lay off notices in March and then lay off few or no teachers as of September. Usually the State budget gets changed or the schools tap into rainy day funds, private money, or find some other source of revenue.

This year the budget will probably get changed as well. They will just issue bonds and borrow ore money once again, or they will increase some taxes. Without threateing teacher layoffs, they cannto get bonds or taxes approved by voters. However they will probably not get enough to prevent some layoffs this year. The State government financial condition is really bad. Worse than most people realize. There is too much pork in the government, and they just will nto give that up. They may need to bankrupt the state to get out of all of the absurd deals that they have made with unions, corporations, and other lobby groups.

The problem with schools is that they are not laying off where they should be. They should get rid of almost every administrator and certainly all of the multiple layers of cirriculum reviewers before laying off a single teacher. When the superintendant is down to a secretary and three staff members, then and only then should they consider laying off a teacher.

Unfortunately they wil not do that. Laying off teachers is more dramatic and helps them get tax increases approved. Further, administrative positions are often political pork positions and cannot be cut without breaking political deals.

In Santa Ana there were kids without desks or books, schools ran out of tissue paper, janitorial supplies, and other necessities. However the superintendant made an absurd salary with a fancy car and travel expense account. How does that make any sense at all?

All the hoopla right now is bacisally meaningless. You have to wait until the actual budget is in place and the districts decide where the real cuts will come. For now it is all just dramatics.

[Donna7]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

You get this scare tactic almost every year. The districts issue a bunch of lay off notices in March and then lay off few or no teachers as of September. Usually the State budget gets changed or the schools tap into rainy day funds, private money, or find some other source of revenue.

This year the budget will probably get changed as well. They will just issue bonds and borrow ore money once again, or they will increase some taxes. Without threateing teacher layoffs, they cannto get bonds or taxes approved by voters. However they will probably not get enough to prevent some layoffs this year. The State government financial condition is really bad. Worse than most people realize. There is too much pork in the government, and they just will nto give that up. They may need to bankrupt the state to get out of all of the absurd deals that they have made with unions, corporations, and other lobby groups.

The problem with schools is that they are not laying off where they should be. They should get rid of almost every administrator and certainly all of the multiple layers of cirriculum reviewers before laying off a single teacher. When the superintendant is down to a secretary and three staff members, then and only then should they consider laying off a teacher.

Unfortunately they wil not do that. Laying off teachers is more dramatic and helps them get tax increases approved. Further, administrative positions are often political pork positions and cannot be cut without breaking political deals.

In Santa Ana there were kids without desks or books, schools ran out of tissue paper, janitorial supplies, and other necessities. However the superintendant made an absurd salary with a fancy car and travel expense account. How does that make any sense at all?

All the hoopla right now is bacisally meaningless. You have to wait until the actual budget is in place and the districts decide where the real cuts will come. For now it is all just dramatics.

It sure seems like a lot of dramatics going on. For myself and others that are looking to relocate to S. CA, this sort of thing is disturbing. Of course, we are in the same predicament here in OH, NE OH, to be exact, as this is where I live. It seems that more and more states are increasingingly joining the "I'm broke" mantra and it seems to becoming a trend. We passed an school income tax levy, in addition to increased property tax levies, and bussing has still not been reinstated. Do you have any idea when the "break-through", when new funding will be announced for CA? The state's not going to wait until almost September are they? Thank you in advance for any information you can provide or even any thoughts on this matter.