Today we turn a page on what’s become a ritual of sorts: heart-wrenching budget cuts that slice away at the education experience offered to the community’s children.
Here at home, the Fairfield-Suisun school board in February approved a series of program and staff cuts to close a $6.5 million budget deficit. Plans called for closure of an elementary school and a middle school. Since then, district administrators took a pay cut. Those savings, combined with some budget maneuvering, allowed the district to close just one school for the coming year, Sullivan Middle School.
We feel for the children and parents of Sullivan, who will find it difficult to make their way to a new school this fall. This, unfortunately, is also not new: Five local schools have closed in recent years to make budget ends meet.
The district’s teachers and classified workers stepped up this week, approving contracts that save $1.9 million in the coming school year, which begins July 1. Those savings were used to fund extracurricular activities, including stipends paid to various coaches; restored funding for classroom supplies; and gave a financial boost to adult education and independent study programs that were gutted in the initial round of budget cuts. Swimming pools at the schools will be heated this fall, meaning they can be used, and crossing guards will be in place at busy crossings.