Step One: Putting on the White Hat

There is a need for more funding for AUSD unless we want a further reduction in services. I believe that help must, and will come from many sources.

There is real beauty in local funding – nobody from the State or Fed can take it away, or screw with it.
We need to have some long and wide discussions on this. There are ways to get support from a wider spectrum of citizens than the way MH was written, or the way questions about it were handled..

For some reason which I do not understand, school bonds seem to be “more palatable” than straight parcel taxes, but they still attach property tax bills, and only require 55% on ballot to pass. –Go figure. But all 6 Bay Area Bond measures passed, (Bonds must be used for facilities, including system hardware, not ‘programs’.)

Of the 10 Bay Area school parcel taxes only four passed, and they all were higher taxes than MH – $198, $290, $$375, and Mtn View had a $127 / $1016 (depending on parcel size)

Of the 6 that failed, only San Ramon ($166), was asking for more than MH; the rest of the failing parcel taxes were $45, $78, $88, and $96. I don’t know the story of each, but it appears it is not size that counts, at least not for passing a parcel tax..
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/04/BAMP1102HT.DTL&hw=election+returns&sn=008&sc=618

For future AUSD cost containment; can we use available technology to bring down the cost of education? I think that it is both possible and the likely future. But it’s too big a conversation to add to this post, however many students, not just in high school, but also younger students take pride in doing well, are self motivated to do well, and can/should be encouraged to learn on their own as they will have to do throughout their lives. This is just one of the ways to bring down labor costs in the system of delivering a useful education to the youth of our society. A concept of rethinking facilities is another ballpark of cost containment. At facility site level we make principals the ‘mifwic. The hiring for that position, like others, is too often based on a paper presentation. Often it seems (from my limited 1st hand experience, that “nice” leadership in schools is a long term negative. PhD’, in education, management, psychology, …whatever; only help so far. KIDS NEED DISCIPLINE, ROUTINE, ORDERLINESS, and if a principal loses control of a facility, the whole ball of wax starts to go downhill, slowly the site culture changes, and everyone starts caring less. I had a long conversation about this when I got of work today. It was about s middle school site, not AUSD, that not the school parents hoped their kids would be assigned to. It took many, many years of strong willed administrators teaming up, empowering the staff – finally even the head custodian had ‘Suspension Powers”. Teachers and staff were backed up and supported by the Vice Principal and Principal, and every staff person played a role in enforcing the rules. There was no eating in classrooms halls and stairs, there was no “swooping of pants”, or hats on backwards. Even the name patches on custodial uniforms were changed to read “Mr. ***” The cultural change that took place at that middle school not only changed the API, and public perception of the site, but it probably had a significant effect on the high school as kids moved on. Some of the 20 & 30 year employees have seen how it works, and they have also seen it backslide after a short time of weak leadership. It doesn’t take long for a site to look dirty, to look neglected. Kids quickly pick up on it, when people don’t care, when they can ge away with more negative behavior, and you hear more lines for all levels of staff like “that’s not my job” and “you have to pick your battles”.

http://www.associationoflowwealthschools.org/index.php

Does anyone know if these ‘equalization funds’ were included when MH was comparing AUSD’s ADA money?

…if not…

How does AUSD’s actual total per pupil funding compare when ALL non-local funds received are included?

I think the most critical feature of working together as a community for the next Parcel tax will be that information and discussion be very public, web available, openness and truthfulness must be beyond reproach. Discussion cannot be one-sided, this is not a one sided issue, but through public education more voters will be part of the solution.. Remember the vast majority of Alameda voters did not vote at all on the Measure H issue.

Another issue may be to re-direct Hospital tax funds.

To start at the top of the whole page in the light of the public and determine the goals and needs of AUSD, and look for improvements there even before moving on to how to best raise revenue.

Improving our schools (making them richer, better, and more equitable while pursuing genuine efficiencies) will take a “two-front” effort, as I see it. There is the “home front” of pursuing greater community involvement, exercising budgetary wisdom, improving teacher pay, and restoring our school facilities (as in Measure C), and then there is the Sacramento front, which is more important because that is where we are limited in our local options at present.

The first priority for Alamedans concerned about our school funding mess should be to pursue a re-balancing of state school funding and related priorities in Sacramento. Without major revisions in the current school funding formulas to achieve greater equity, we will only fall further behind in our efforts to educate the next generation. Amendments to the local 2/3 taxing rules and to proposition 13’s inequities need to be looked at as well.

Of course, the perennial logjam in Sacramento is going to mitigate against achieving any of the above, and the overall logjam in state government effectiveness needs serious attention, too, including:
1) repeal/revision of Proposition 13, to eliminate its death grip on self-determination by local governments and schools,
2) ending the dominance of state government by lobbyists through campaign spending reform, stricter activity and funding reporting requirements on all lobbyists, etc.
3) ending the 2/3 legislative requirement for raising taxes and passing a budget…

but I digress…(sort of

AUSD needs smaller classes for all students, more curriculum enhancements (arts, music, PE, drama, languages, etc.), more volunteers, better facilities maintenance, upgrades to both facilities and information resources, and more para- professionals in each classroom. In these needs, we are like almost every other school district in the state.

We as a community need to come together even more, as we have for AEF, PTA Council, the Chalk Painting and art projects, music concerts, and many other efforts. More non-parents should take advantage of the richness of volunteering in our schools. (I did.)

As a community, we can do much more by continuing to work together, raising our children as a “village.” But to unleash our community’s full resources, we also need help from Sacramento to loosen the chains of the current schools funding inequities and legislative logjams.

2011-2012 may be ‘right around the corner,” but we’d better start working hard on the logjam in Sacramento if we want to approach the end of the current parcel taxes (both of which received my support and my vote) on a more sound footing.

1. issue an official statement asking the 50ish or so loyal KASE volunteers to throw their efforts behind Siltanen and Ann Casper (or is it Anne)??. the sooner the better

2. close down both the high schools, sell the property, and build a new high school somewhere in the middle of town. instead of closing the high schools as soon as the new one is built and expecting the community to be happy about it, i would follow a process where you keep the old high schools open, stop enrolling new students, and allow the students to graduate from their beloved schools. every year the student body will shrink and the teachers that are no longer needed would begin working at the new school.

3. follow above process in which you allow students from encinal to graduate, close down the school, sell the property value, and refurbish Alameda High into the main high school of the city.

-if future bloggers wish choose to throw sticks and stones at the whole East vs. West issue…Alameda High is bigger, fits more students

4. consider looking into turning off lights at night

[...] already begun the important “what’s next” dialogue, including AUSD Board Member Mike McMahon and my fellow “Alamedans” Lauren Do and Michele Ellson.  I know the Alameda Education [...]