Mar 9, 2008

Proposed state budget cuts may hinder student progress

Guest Opinion

By Superintendent Jan Christensen

Redwood City School District

In January Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced 10 percent across-the-board budget cuts to deal with an anticipated $14.5 billion deficit for 2008-09, including $4.8 billion in cuts to state education funding. The deficit is now estimated to be $16 billion. After years of budget volatility, it's easy for ordinary citizens to tune out the rhetoric and not think about what the numbers mean. But as superintendent of the Redwood City School District, the potential cuts are all too real because I understand how they will affect the K-8 students of Redwood City.

The figure $4.8 billion sounds big, but what does it pay for? About one month of school for every student in California. Or, about 107,000 teacher salaries. Or, about $24,000 for every classroom in the state of California. None of us expects the governor to shorten the school year by one month, but teacher layoffs are a very real possibility for many districts, including ours. This is a price our students cannot afford to pay.

If the governor's budget passes, local school districts will need to cut millions of dollars from already-lean budgets. For a local school district, what does $1 million pay for in a year? About 12 teaching positions, or maintenance services for three schools, or 700 new computers, or professional development for teachers to increase student achievement.

Redwood City School District stands to lose about $6 million in revenue - money that pays teacher salaries, keeps our class sizes low, and assures that we have well-maintained, pleasant facilities. Our district has reduced expenditures by $3.2 million over the last five years, and frankly, there is little room to cut more without directly impacting student learning.

Our district has made tremendous strides toward raising the academic performance of all K-8 students in the last few years - our district's base Academic Performance Index (API) score was 658 in 2002; in 2007 it was 754. Taft School increased its API score by 74 points last year to hit 747 - the highest gain in San Mateo County. The proposed cuts will create a devastating setback to the unprecedented gains we have made and put the brakes on the momentum we have worked so hard to build.

Last year we invested $1 million to provide professional development for every teacher in our district - we will now lose that investment for every teacher we cannot rehire, and worse, our students will not be able to learn from those highly trained teachers.

The future of our state rests on the skills of the students we are training today. We cannot afford to curtail the important progress we have made in Redwood City and around the state in recent years.

As superintendent of the Redwood City School District, I urge our legislators not to balance the budget on the backs of our students, who represent the future of this state.