Vallejo school district facing $5M in budget cuts – Vallejo Sun

By Ryan Geller

The Vallejo City Unified School District is planning to cut $5 million, including $4.1 million in staff and educator positions, from the coming year’s budget in an attempt to alleviate this years’ budget deficit of $13 million and a projected $7 million shortfall for the 2024-25 school year.

The budget deficits are primarily tied to the district’s declining enrollment. Districts across the state have seen student enrollment drop and Vallejo has lost additional students to the city’s charter schools in recent years.

Source: Vallejo school district facing $5M in budget cuts

Fairfield-Suisun school board OKs plan that identifies nearly $8M in possible cuts – Daily Republic

By Susan Hiland

Trustees of Fairfield and Suisun City schools gave the go-ahead last week for a 2021-2022 budget priorities plan that was put on hold earlier this year due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The projected budget for 2021-2022 includes nearly $203.183 million in attendance-based state revenue. That’s compared to just more than $195.561 million for the current academic year that ends June 30.

The district has identified $4.355 million in cuts that can be quickly implemented if needed at the start of the coming school year July 1. About $500,000 would come from what’s paid in retiree benefits. The district also reported some costs that were greater than anticipated and student-based funding that will fall short of projections.

Source: Fairfield-Suisun school board OKs plan that identifies nearly $8M in possible cuts

Vallejo school board gets first looks at additional cuts – Times-Herald

By John Glidden

As the Vallejo school district heads into a new fiscal year, trustees will get their first look at proposed budget cuts meant to keep the district fiscally solvent.

The Vallejo City Unified School District Board of Education will meet Wednesday to receive information only about the district’s plan to slash at least $5.4 million from the 2020-21 fiscal year budget. Fiscal years run from July 1 to the following June 30.

The plan to be presented includes over $6 million in cuts with a bulk of that amount coming from the elimination of 62.81 full-time equivalency (FTE) positions.

Source: Vallejo school board gets first looks at additional cuts – Times-Herald

Vallejo school district to discuss how to use bond money – Times-Herald

By Rachel Raskin-Zrihen

Vallejo City Unified School District officials will discuss how to spend the millions of dollars coming in from bond sales, even as they prepare for deep cuts to compensate for continued declining enrollment.

Items dealing with having enough teachers are also on the agenda during Wednesday’s meeting.

One of the items on Wednesday’s meeting agenda would make it possible to sell the district offices if needed. Right now, the district is leasing the site for $1 per year from Lennar Mare Island, which has yet to draw up the required paperwork conveying ownership to the district for the agreed-upon price of $1.

Source: Vallejo school district to discuss how to use bond money – Times-Herald

Vallejo school board to hold hearing on budget – Times Herald

By John Glidden

Fiscal uncertainty continues for the Vallejo City Unified School District.

The Vallejo school board will hold a public hearing Wednesday night on its tentative 2018-19 fiscal year budget and the news isn’t good.

According to the budget’s executive summary, during the upcoming fiscal year, which begins on July 1, the district is projecting that it will be able to meet its current fiscal obligations.

However, the district may not be able to pay its bills in years 2019-20, and 20-21.

“During 2019-20, the district estimates that the General Fund is projected to deficit spend by $8.2 million resulting in an unrestricted ending General Fund balance of approximately $3.5 million — $1.3 million short of making the state required minimum 3 percent reserve for economic uncertainty,” according to the same summary. “During 2020-21, the district estimates that the General Fund is projected to deficit spend by $11 million resulting in an unrestricted ending General Fund balance of -$7.5 million (about) $12.4 million short of making the state required minimum 3 percent reserve for economic uncertainty and $13.1 million short of making the District Board reserve of 3.5 percent.”

Source: Vallejo school board to hold hearing on budget

FSUSD agenda: Low-bid roofing contract and reductions – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

A roofing bid and the reduction of certain classified, or school-support, jobs are on the agenda when the Fairfield-Suisun Unified governing board meets Thursday in Fairfield.

The seven-member governing board likely will approve Alcal Specialty Contracting, a roofing firm with main offices in Sacramento, as the low bidder for roofing projects set for Cleo Gordon Elementary, the Public Safety Academy, Sullivan Interagency and Armijo High’s welding shop, for a total of about $1.8 million.

Robert Martinez, assistant superintendent of human resources, will make the presentation about reducing certain classified, or school-support, jobs.

Source: FSUSD agenda: Low-bid roofing contract and reduction in school-support jobs

Fairfield-Suisun school board set to consider cuts – Daily Republic

By Daily Republic Staff

Trustees of the Fairfield-Suisun School District will be asked Thursday to give the green light to eliminate more than a dozen positions in response to the governor’s budget for the coming school year, with bus drivers bearing the brunt of the proposed cuts.

Robert A. Martinez, the district’s assistant superintendent of human resources, provides details about the planned layoffs in a staff report and accompanying resolution that the board is scheduled to consider.

The proposed cuts include 16.682 full-time equivalent positions: 10 from among the district’s bus drivers, 2.781 from the district’s roster of child nutrition assistants and the equivalent 1.288 positions in the corps of bilingual para-educators. Roughly half a position each would be cut from among the district’s mental health clinicians, associate mental health clinicians, behavior analysts, para-educators and campus monitors.

Source: Fairfield-Suisun school board set to consider cuts to ranks of bus drivers, other staff

Trump Seeks to Cut Education Budget by 5 Percent – Education Week

By Andrew Ujifusa

President Donald Trump is seeking a roughly 5 percent cut to the U.S. Department of Education’s budget for fiscal 2019 in a proposal that also mirrors his spending plan from last year by seeking to eliminate a major teacher-focused grant and to expand school choice.

Trump’s proposed budget, released Monday, would provide the Education Department with $63.2 billion in discretionary aid, a $3.6 billion cut—or 5.3 percent— from current spending levels, for the budget year starting Oct. 1. That’s actually less of a cut than what the president sought for fiscal 2018, when he proposed slashing $9.2 billion—or 13.5 percent—from the department.

In order to achieve those proposed spending cuts, the president copied two major education cuts he proposed last year: the elimination of Title II teacher grants and the 21st Century Community Learning Centers. Those two cuts combined would come to about $3.1 billion from current levels. Overall, 39 discretionary programs would be cut, eliminated, or “streamlined.”

Source: Trump Seeks to Cut Education Budget by 5 Percent, Expand School Choice Push – Politics K-12 – Education Week

Vallejo school board to review additional budget cuts – Times Herald

By John Glidden

With a need to cut $8 million from its budget by March, the Vallejo school board will review a second round of proposed cuts during its meeting Wednesday night.

On the agenda is $1.5 million in additional position eliminations from various district offices, including food service, special education, and child development.

The central kitchen manager, several paraeducators, along with a special education teacher, and three child development teachers are expected to receive layoff notices. Overall, the district is recommending 28 employee positions be slashed. Late last month, trustees approved the elimination of 50 district positions, for a savings of $4.3 million. Those cuts included 30 classroom teachers, several administrators, eight site safety supervisors, and a handful of secretaries.

Source: Vallejo school board to review additional budget cuts

Vallejo trustees slash $4.3 million from budget – Times Herald

By John Glidden

A morose Vallejo school board unanimously approved devastating budget cuts Tuesday night as 50 district positions were eliminated.

The move will save the Vallejo City Unified School District about $4.3 million for its upcoming 2018-19 fiscal year budget.

A sizable audience was on hand to learn about the cuts during the special board meeting held at Steffan Manor Elementary School.

“Every position in the district is directed toward supporting the classroom, so none of these reductions, that we are recommending, are easy to make,” VCUSD Superintendent Adam Clark said to the board and those in attendance. “They all are useful, they all are needed within our district to support our students. Every last one of them.”

Source: Vallejo trustees slash $4.3 million from budget

Vallejo trustees get first look at budget cuts – Times Herald

By John Glidden

Possible teacher layoffs dominated the conversation Wednesday night, as the Vallejo school board discussed cutting $8.9 million from the district’s 2018-19 budget.

“I don’t want to cut anything in the classroom and I’m going to be watching that carefully,” said Trustee Tony Ublade as preliminary reductions being proposed by the district include cutting about 32 teaching positions. This amounts to $2.6 million in savings, district staff said.

Vallejo Education Association President Sheila Gradwohl said the unpredictably of teacher layoffs affects everyone.

“The feeling you get when this happens is one of uncertainty, you’re scared, you don’t know if you can pay bills, it really affects you and if it affects you, it affects your kids, affects the students you teach,” Gradwohl said.

Source: Vallejo trustees get first look at budget cuts

Bill With More Than $2 Billion in Teacher-Training Cuts Advances in House – Education Week

By Andrew Ujifusa

Lawmakers in charge of the U.S. Department of Education’s budget voted Wednesday to advance a funding bill that cuts $2.4 billion from the agency’s budget, with most of that reduction coming through the elimination of a major program focused on teachers.

The GOP-backed bill approved by the House appropriations committee on Wednesday by a 28-22 vote cuts the department’s budget to $66 billion. That’s a less-severe cut than the spending blueprint floated by President Donald Trump in May that includes a $9.2 billion reduction. House Republicans followed the Trump budget’s lead and cut the $2 billion Title II program that covers teacher training, as well as class-size reductions.

“We invest in programs that ensure that all students have access to a quality education,” said Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., the chairman of the House appropriations committee. The bill now moves to the full House for consideration.

Source: Bill With More Than $2 Billion in Teacher-Training Cuts Advances in House – Politics K-12 – Education Week

California would lose $400 million in federal K-12 education funding under Trump budget | EdSource

By Mikhail Zinshteyn

Programs run by the U.S. Department of Education, which distributes funding for numerous programs to all states, would be cut by $9 billion under the Trump administration’s proposed federal budget for the fiscal year beginning in October.

California’s K-12 federal allocation would shrink from the 2016-17 level of approximately $4 billion to $3.64 billion in 2017-18.

Presidential budgets typically serve as wish lists, and it is far from clear what parts of the document released Tuesday will be enacted by Congress. But the document provides important insights into President Donald Trump’s education agenda, and where his priorities lie.

Source: California would lose $400 million in federal K-12 education funding under Trump budget | EdSource

State school leader gives fed ed budget proposal a failing grade – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

Tom Torlakson, the state’s superintendent of public instruction, Tuesday urged Congress to reject President Trump’s federal education budget proposal, which includes cuts that he described as “deep” to teacher training, after school programs, mental health services, advanced coursework, among others.

“I give this budget an ‘F’ grade for failing public school students in California and across the nation,” Torlakson, who leads the country’s largest public school system with more than 6.2 million students, said in a press release. “We need to invest more in our public schools, not slash away at programs that help students succeed.”

A former East Bay high school science teacher and athletics coach, he noted that the proposed federal education budget heads in a completely different direction than the California approach to education funding.

 

Source: State school leader gives fed ed budget proposal a failing grade

Trump Gives Commencement Address; Leaked Education Budget Has Big Cuts : NPR Ed

By Anya Kamenetz

It’s graduation season. That means commencement addresses lead off our weekly education news roundup. Last week, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos faced boos at Bethune-Cookman University. This week, President Trump received a warmer welcome when he addressed cadets at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. Far from a conventional graduation speech, Trump talked about his rough week in Washington and how he keeps going in spite of his critics.

“Look at the way I’ve been treated lately, especially by the media. No politician in history, and I say this with great surety, has been treated worse or more unfairly. You can’t let them get you down. You can’t let the critics and the naysayers get in the way of your dreams,” he told the graduates.

Source: Trump Gives Commencement Address; Leaked Education Budget Has Big Cuts : NPR Ed : NPR

Federal support for teacher training to continue, but next year’s funding in doubt | EdSource

By Michael Collier

As Congress struck a $1.1 trillion-dollar budget deal earlier this month to fund the federal government through the rest of the 2016-17 fiscal year and avoid a government shutdown of federal agencies, education leaders in California are relieved that the state will continue to receive federal support for teacher preparation programs.

But support for these programs in the coming fiscal year, beginning on Oct. 1, is still in doubt.

The Trump Administration had proposed to cut federal funding through Title II Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act by half – by $1.2 billion – for the remainder of the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, and to eliminate the program altogether after that. However, the budget bill approved by Congress cuts the program’s funding by only $249 million for the current fiscal year, according to Education Week, to about $2 billion.

Source: Federal support for teacher training to continue, but next year’s funding in doubt | EdSource

Education Budget Cuts, Student Aid Problems and More : NPR Ed

By Sophia Alvarez Boyd and Anya Kamenetz

National K-12 and higher ed news came fast and furious this week. Here are our highlights to help you keep on top.

The president’s “skinny budget” has cuts for education

The biggest story of our week happened early Thursday morning when President Trump released his budget outline, historically known as a “skinny budget” because it has few details.

The U.S. Department of Education came in for a $9 billion, or 13.5 percent, cut.

During Trump’s campaign, he promised $20 billion for school choice. His 2018 budget is the first small step in that direction, increasing charter school funding by two-thirds, funding an unspecified new “private school choice program,” and adding another $1 billion for Title I, which helps fund high-poverty schools. That Title I money would be earmarked to “encourage” school choice.

Source: FAFSA, Pell Grants And Charters, Oh My! : NPR Ed : NPR

State schools chief vows to battle Trump over cuts – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

State schools chief Tom Torlakson said President Donald Trump’s proposed $1.1 trillion 2018 budget was very disappointing and goes in the wrong direction with funding cuts that would hurt disadvantaged children, after-school programs, teacher training, and other services, but sets aside $250 million for a nationwide voucher program.

In a press release issued Friday, he said the cuts, should they go into effect, would hobble programs that help prepare California 6.2 million public school students for jobs in the increasingly technological, 21st-century global economy.

Trump’s planned budget would take hundreds of millions of dollars from California by eliminating federal funds for programs that have proven successful in educating at-risk students, especially those from low-income backgrounds. It also reduces financial assistance to low-income college students.

 

Source: State schools chief vows to battle Trump over cuts

Fairfield-Suisun schools face more than $7M in cuts – Daily Republic

By Ryan McCarthy

Increased pension contributions school districts throughout California face spurred a two-word description by Fairfield-Suisun School District officials as they prepare the 2017-18 budget and consider more than $7 million in budget cuts.

“Pretty grim,” is how Michelle Henson, assistant superintendent of business services, described the situation.

Judi Honeychurch, president of the board of trustees, at the Thursday school board meeting agreed with the assessment.

Source: Fairfield-Suisun schools face more than $7M in cuts

As Budget Battle Looms, Education Department Warns Against Early Ed Cuts – Education Week

By Lauren Camera

The U.S. Department of Education went on the offense Monday to protect federal education programs ahead of looming spending battles in Congress to stave of a government shutdown prior to the end of the fiscal year, Oct. 1.

Specifically, the department took aim at the appropriations bills that passed through the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives that would slash funding for federal education programs by $1.7 billion and $2.8 billion, respectively.

Those bills, which passed through appropriations committee this summer, have not been voted on by the full chambers.

In a press release, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan blasted the Republicans decision to slash the administrations Preschool Development Grant program, arguing it would pull funds away from states in the last two years of the grant.

via As Budget Battle Looms, Education Department Warns Against Early Ed Cuts – Politics K-12 – Education Week.