March 9th board mtg - budget reductions vote
Thank you to all who spoke at Monday's meeting or emailed us with your perspective on the budget reductions! The list is now being adjusted based on the Board direction that was given that night.
What's next?
Our School Board is meeting next Monday, March 9th at 7pm. You are welcome to attend, speak, or watch online. Agenda will be posted here: https://mdusd.org/agendasminutes
We will vote on:
1. a list of budget reductions by item type and cost, to add up to a total of $21.1 million
2. the final PKS list - this is the list of "particular kinds of service" - certificated positions that could be removed for the 2020-21 school year.
As was explained, our board MUST identify all $21.1 million in reductions before the county office of education will agree to approve our ratifying the Tentative Bargaining Agreement with our teachers union.
Feel free to email the board and superintendent with your feedback, or speak at the board meeting. Together we'll prioritize as best we can for students!
What else can you do to help?
Please call the governor and all state legislators who represent our district, to ask them to significantly increase funding for public education immediately. Here is a phone list from the grassroots Contra Costa Coalition to Fund Education Now - bit.ly/FENWcallscript
(follow CCCFEN on Twitter @cccfunded #FundCAEd )
Budget Reductions mtg Monday March 2nd
Please note we added a Special Board meeting for this Monday, March 2nd at 6pm. You are welcome to attend, speak, or watch online.
Agenda is posted here: https://mdusd.org/agendasminutes
It includes:
1. a list of possible budget reductions by item and cost
2. a draft PKS list - this is the list of positions to receive pink slips
(What is a pink slip? the state of CA requires all certificated employees to receive a "pink slip" notification by March 15th. This tells the teacher/staff that his/her position "might" be lost due to reductions for next school year. It is not a final decision, as the state doesn't give their final budget until May, and then school districts vote on their final budget for 2020-21 in June)
Our districtwide budget reductions are targeted at $21.1 million for 2020-21. See the Budget Presentation and recommended list here, and feel free to email the board and superintendent with your feedback, or speak at the board meeting.
You'll see on slide 15 that after additional administrative and departmental cuts, the remaining target is now $14.5 million.
Together we'll prioritize as best we can for students!
p.s. I was at a school board training on Friday, where I heard from so many other districts that are also needing to make massive cuts right now, and some are even consolidating schools. It was clear that this is truly a statewide issue of vastly underfunding public education.
What else can you do to help? Please call the governor and all state legislators who represent our district, to ask them to significantly increase funding for public education immediately.
Here is a phone list from the grassroots Contra Costa Coalition to Fund Education Now - bit.ly/FENWcallscript
(follow them on Twitter @cccfunded - Frustrated with cuts in your school district? Seeing them in nearby districts too? Enough is enough. Call the Governor TODAY plus every state legislator that represents MDUSD: bit.ly/FENWcallscript #FundCAEd )
List of Possible Budget Reductions - coming soon
Dear community,
I've received hundreds of emails in the past few days asking us not to cut certain programs or positions. Please know that I have received and am reading each message in detail, but it will take time to reply to each one. Your perspectives are all so important and valuable to these heartbreaking decisions. Thank you for taking the time to speak up.
In the meantime, I want to be sure you know that at the Board meeting on Monday Feb 24th, the staff said they would provide 2 items by this Friday Feb 28th at 5pm:
1. a list of possible budget reductions by item and cost
2. a draft PKS list - this is the list of positions to receive pink slips, which our board is scheduled to vote on at our Monday March 2nd board meeting.
(What is a pink slip? the state of CA requires all certificated employees to receive a "pink slip" notification by March 15th. This tells the teacher/staff that his/her position "might" be lost due to reductions for next school year. It is not a final decision, as the state doesn't give their final budget until May, and then school districts vote on their final budget for 2020-21 in June)
Thanks to staff diligence, our budget reductions are now targeted at $21.1 million instead of $22 million. They continue to work to find any/all savings possible.
We added a Special Board meeting for this Monday, March 2nd at 6pm, specifically for budget and PKS decisions. You are welcome to attend, speak, or watch online. Agenda will be posted here: https://mdusd.org/agendasminutes
What else can you do to help? Please call the governor and all state legislators who represent our district, to ask them to significantly increase funding for public education immediately.
From the grassroots Contra Costa Coalition to Fund Education Now (follow them on Twitter @cccfunded ) -
Frustrated with cuts in your school district? Seeing them in nearby districts too? Enough is enough. Call the Governor TODAY plus every state legislator that represents MDUSD: bit.ly/FENWcallscript #FundCAEd
Districts across CA are in the same boat, reducing budgets and cutting positions and programs that are crucial and valuable, but that simply are unaffordable when the state funds districts at significantly less than the expectations and obligations it sets for us.
Feb 2020
Did you see that MDUSD is looking at approximately $22 million in necessary budget cuts?
Here are details and actions you can take:
1. Community Input on Budget - attend final meetings TONIGHT
2. Fund Ed Now - call the Governor
3. African American Awareness Month - share your actions & photos
4. Superintendent letters & Next School Board meeting
Community Input for Budget Decisions
Attend meetings TONIGHT!
Thursday, February 20th - 5:30 pm Riverview Middle School Multi Use Room
Thursday, February 20th - 7 pm Pleasant Hill Middle School Multi Use Room
Visit https://mdusd.org/budgetsolutions for details, presentations, surveys and more.
Can't attend in person? You can still give your ideas online in English or Spanish at bit.ly/mdusdfeedback
Fund Education Now
Fund Education Now Week is over, but our advocacy has just begun. This week, take 5 minutes to call the governor & our local state legislators.
- --> Call to say that MDUSD is right now needing to make $22 million in cuts due to years of state under-funding of public schools. A Stanford 2018 study showed that to simply fund a basic level of adequacy for CA public schools, there should have been an additional $25 billion of state investment. For MDUSD that would be an additional $150 million! If the state even invested one quarter of that, we could keep and grow opportunity for our students. Urge the state for #FullandFairFunding of public schools.
- Governor Newsom (916)445-2841
- Asm Tim Grayson (916)319-2014
- Asm Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (916)319-2016
- Sen Steve Glazer (916)651-4007
- Bill Dodd (916)651-4003
Stay involved!
- Follow @CCCFundEd and @MtDiabloUSD on Twitter
- Visit www.cocoschools.org/cccfunded
- --> Share your story on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram about what significant cuts could mean for your classroom or school, and copy/paste these tags: @GavinNewsom @BauerKahan @AsmGrayson @Steve_Glazer @BillDoddCA @CCCFundEd #FundCAed
African American Awareness Month
The school board passed a resolution on January 27th in recognition of February as African American Awareness month. This includes encouraging all schools to "commemorate the occasion with appropriate instructional materials. My next blog will feature a compilation of student, parent, teacher and staff actions in Mt Diablo schools for African American Awareness month.
Do you have a photo or story to share? Please send it to me and I'll include it!
Superintendent’s Friday Letter
Read Superintendent Dr Martinez’s February 14th letter here, including celebration of Silverwood Elementary's Distinguished School Award, and the following Mt Diablo winners from Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) Region 6:
- Classified Leader - Dominic Machi
- Adult Education Administrator - Cynthia Paige Endo
- Special Education Administrator - Jenny Vargas
These are always posted at mdusd.org and on Facebook & Twitter. To receive them as emails, write to [email protected] to request to be added to the Superintendent’s email list.
Next School Board meeting February 24th
Budget discussion will continue, including data & results from surveys & meetings. Visit https://mdusd.org/agendasminutes to see the agenda when it is posted, and all meeting agendas & videos.
Thank you to all who are participating!
Sincerely,
p.s. OGMS 8th grade students organized a successful Community Immigration Fair this month!