Tri-Valley Schools Getting Squeezed by State Cuts
In response to huge deficits, the State of California will be slashing education funding for the upcoming 2010-2011 school year. Every school throughout the Tri-Valley will be hit by the reduced funding; however, some districts will be impacted more than others. Dublin Unified School District (DUSD) is facing required cuts of about $1.5M (roughly 4% of last year’s budget) whereas the San Ramon Valley Unified School District (SRVUSD), which oversees schools in San Ramon, Alamo, and Danville, is expected to cut about $30M from their budget over the next two years (about 7%). Pleasanton Unified School District (PUSD) needs to find $8M of savings, and Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District (LVJUSD) needs to implement nearly $9M in reductions.
While every school district is looking at red ink for the next few years, their approaches to handling the budget woes vary significantly. Pleasanton is looking to reduce the school year by 10 days. This strategy would provide $6.1M of the total $8M in required cuts. Livermore will be consolidating Portola Elementary and Junction Avenue Middle Schools to eliminate facilities and operating costs. This move has been heavily criticized by Portola Elementary School parents who are worried about exposing their children to the notorious gang-related challenges at Junction Avenue Middle School. DUSD and SRVUSD have yet to identify their cost reduction strategies. All school districts are likely to raise class sizes and cut extracurricular programs.
Livermore Valley Charter School (LVCS) is also looking to address funding cuts for the upcoming school year. As with all charter schools, the State is actually cutting more funds on a relative basis from LVCS than their traditional district counterparts. While traditional school districts are increasing class sizes and cutting programs, LVCS will not be increasing class sizes or eliminating any student-facing programs or expenses. The budget gap will likely be eliminated by maintaining current staffing and salary levels with minor upward adjustments, obtaining special federal funds for activities like providing healthy school lunches, aggressively pursuing greater value from vendors, and continued fundraising and grant efforts.
While Dublin’s $1.5M budget deficit for 2010-2011 is small in comparison to other school districts, the deficit balloons to $5.8M for 2011-2012 once east Dublin’s Kolb Elementary school opens and some federal funding gets cut. In the face of the roughly 14% forecasted budget deficit, DUSD Board President David Haubert recently affirmed that Kolb Elementary is on target to open for the 2011-2012 school year. How Dublin’s school district will bridge the $5.8M gap for 2011-2012 remains unclear. A town hall meeting will be held on Monday, February 8, 2010, at 6:30PM in the District Board Room to provide information and answer questions related to the budget.
School districts will be facing fiscal challenges for at least the next few years. These tough times are unpleasant and have impacted the educational experience for most students. We nevertheless have an opportunity to make our school districts as efficient as possible. The playing field has started to level. School districts that can cut unnecessary administrative and operating expenses will come out of these tough economic times stronger than before.
9:06 AM on February 3rd, 2010
Just to clarify the San Ramon Valley Unified School District deficit is $30,000,000 over the next two years. Still not great, but better than having to cut that much in one year.
9:30 AM on February 3rd, 2010
Call me crazy, but how about cutting some SPORTS programs before you start cutting academic programs at the schools? I know, I know, sports are valuable and provide some important outlets for kids as well as help them grow in other ways, but seriously, are we going to cut out Math before we dare pare down the athletics departments?
5:13 PM on February 3rd, 2010
If the Livermore charter school has to make budget cuts, how does it expect to open up a sister charter school in Dublin? Won’t that involve a lot of start up costs?
6:28 PM on February 3rd, 2010
All school districts and schools (public, charter and private – elementary, middle, secondary or post secondary) are in pain right now – pain that isn’t going to go away anytime soon. 30% tuition hikes in the UC system. Layoffs and program cuts at schools of all kinds and all levels. School closures and consolidation. Charter school failures. Political wrangling over funding (and who gets the funding). Parents and taxpayers at the local level have difficult decisions and tradeoffs to make.
This issue is at the core of the charter school debate in Dublin (written about at length here: http://wp.me/pHUAa-5h). Will Dublin students be better off with two undersized and underfunded high schools, duplicated administrative expenses and the programming restrictions that result from smaller scale?
There is no free lunch with a charter school – set aside the risk inherent in launching a new charter school (29% of grade 9-12 charter schools in California have failed, primarily due to financial issues), and you still have a funding gap to address. Charter movement advocates highlight the funding gap vs. district-run schools as a serious systemic issue.
As a result many charter schools strongly encourage large annual donations per student enrolled. Here are some specific examples: Pacific Collegiate School in Santa Cruz is asking each parent to donate at least $3,000 per student per year; Community Harvest Charter in Sherman Oaks is asking families to donate at least $1,000 per student per year and Downtown College Prep in San Jose states on their website that they need to fundraise annually $1 million to be able to offer a full program (which is 1/3 of their annual budget). Bullis Charter School (BCS) has the following statement on their website: “BCS depends on its entire parent community to make generous donations each year. To help cover the funding gap, we ask each family to donate towards the BCS Annual Campaign goal of $1,400,000. Our suggested donation for this year is $4,000 per student.”
According to a Thomas B. Fordham Institute study, which looked at charter school funding vs. district-run school funding, charter schools on average get 22 percent less per student. According to the Fordham Study the charter school funding gap for California charter schools is wider – 31.5% on average. Tassajara Prep’s claim that donations will not be required to offer a complete program does not mesh with the Fordham data or the evidence from other charter schools in California.
Links to all of the sources used for this research are available on the OneDublin.org website. Note that organizations that advocate for the charter movement were an important resource in this research.
6:29 PM on February 3rd, 2010
Minor correction – here is the URL for more detail: http://tinyurl.com/yd9k7ov.
11:12 AM on February 5th, 2010
Thank you James for asking the hard questions about the chater school debate in Dublin. How is the Tri-Valley Learning Corporation going to offer all of the proposed classes and activities with only 216 students? Why are they looking to expand when they still have yet to open the Livermore school? Is there a danger of lawsuits if monies get diverted from tax measure L to a chater school that has yet to provide significant public support?
11:20 AM on February 5th, 2010
Lawsuit? Keep in mind the ADA money belongs to each individual student. It comes and goes with the student only. Whichever school this student decides to attend, the ADA money goes to that school. The money does not belong to DUSD, period!
3:58 PM on February 8th, 2010
Hi Anon,
I appreciate the description regarding ADA funding, but my question had to do with the parcel tax and measure C monies that were voted for specific schools. Can any of that money be diverted to another school?
6:16 PM on February 8th, 2010
Before the charter school opens, Measure C money is going to be all used for current schools. For the special parcel tax, it is going to be used for its specific purpose. But for the general parcel tax (property tax), part of ADA money comes from that.
9:44 AM on February 5th, 2010
Tassajara Preps claim that they do not rely on donations is demonstrated in the fiscal plan I saw posted online…please show where they rely on donations or stop making claims that are not supported by facts. It is possible they can run a business better then DUSD/others can?
11:39 AM on February 5th, 2010
The issue is that the Tassajara Prep charter petition assumes no donations will be required for a full program – a claim that is contrary to all of the data points listed in my original posting and on the http://www.OneDublin.org website. I’m questioning the validity of Tassajara Prep’s fiscal plan using real-world data points as evidence.
The same issue was independently raised by many speakers at last night’s public hearing.
11:45 AM on February 5th, 2010
What is the big deal of donating some money to the charter school if the quality is really good? It is still much cheaper than a private school or 0.5% of property tax hike (like in San Ramon).
2:49 PM on February 6th, 2010
Here is proof delievered, it is taken from LVCS’s foundation that asks all families to give $1,000 to their school annually.
http://www.ccefonline.org/news0307.html
Why are we asked to participate in more fundraisers when we contributed during the $1,000 annual drive? Doesn’t that cover it?
CCEF strives to fill the funding gap left by inadequate state and local funding.
California public schools are sorely under-funded when compared to the national average, and Livermore is further under-funded when compared to the other public schools in the area. In addition, LVCS does not have access to Measure D or Measure L funds, leaving a substantial financial difference between Livermore District Schools and LVCS.
The $1,000 per student is the monetary difference between what a school district school receives and what LVCS receives, without even counting our construction needs. If everyone were able to participated at the $1000 per student level, we would be able to narrow the funding gap. However, with 66% of families donating
to last year’s Annual Fundraising Drive and not necessarily at the $1000 per student level, we fall short of that goal. Moving forward, we encourage everyone to participate in our Annual Fundraising Drive at some level, as this is by far the most important fundraiser of the year.
Where does the money that the CCEF collects go, specifically? Books? Salaries? Equipment?
Monies raised by CCEF go directly to LVCS’s core expense — its operating budget. This includes books, salaries, equipment, as well as expenses such as the PG&E bill.
9:55 AM on February 6th, 2010
Sorry – that response does not work for me, onedublin or DUSD shill. There are over 500 quality charter schools in California that do just fine without significant donations. I’m sure most all of us are willing to give money to a school that spends it well to benefit our kids.
How is DHS going to look after it makes budget cuts to address the current fiscal crisis? One of the speakers at the hearing mentioned that DHS is considered weaker then all of the local high schools and has been for 20 plus years. why is that acceptable?
I think competition is always good, and fear of it was obvious. If DHS is as great as everyone says, who goes to this charter school? Why a website to fight it? Fear of change?
12:06 PM on February 6th, 2010
To the anonymous poster, thank you again for publicizing http://www.OneDublin.org as you have done in numerous posts throughout the Around Dublin blog.
The point of view of OneDublin.org is thoroughly documented on our site for Dublin parents and residents to consider, agree with or dispute.
4:02 PM on February 6th, 2010
Please visit our site to find out why two is better than one at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Is_Better_Than_One
*Taylor Swift or her spouse is not an employee of DUSD.
9:24 PM on February 6th, 2010
Do people realize that the charter school in Livermore cannot up class sizes ONLY because they are bound by their charter? They also cannot cut their special classes because they are bound by their charter. They will expect parents to continue to donate thousands of dollars while trying to maintain a facade that things are well internally.
12:48 PM on February 7th, 2010
It looks like the charter school could increase class size, just like other public schools. It would simply need approval from the authorizor, which from my research is almost always given. The school might not need to increase class size or eliminate programs to help manage the loss of revenue.
EVERY public school is asking their foundation or parent organization to help fundraise to offset state cuts. Charter schools are no different. The difference is that this school has been able to keep the impact away from the kids so far.
12:05 PM on February 8th, 2010
For the record, it was the Livermore schools district’s poor decisions that directly lead to the founding of LVCS. The school district chose to close two high performing elementary schools. Some believe the school district wanted to spread higher performing students around to various nonperforming schools to bring up their scores. Seemed to do that until the charter school opened. Whatever the district’s actual thought process, parents did not accept the district’s decision like sheep and LVCS was born.
Like any organization, we’ve had ups and downs. But parents and teachers have worked hard to make it a fine school of over 850 students. The proof of success is in the long waiting list for enrollment.
I’m not speaking for or against the proposed Dublin charter school but simply pointing out that charter schools provides parents options. Its up to committed community and administration to make it work.
Good luck.
2:16 PM on February 8th, 2010
Terrific point – when there is a real problem to solve, and it sounds like there was a real problem in Livermore, charter schools make sense. The situation in Dublin is completely different, as thoroughly documented on the OneDublin.org website. Cookie cutter solutions do not work in education.
However, enough of hearing from me – if you missed the public hearing you can hear from a diverse group of Dublin parents, students, educators and residents from across the city (yes – that includes parents from the east, north, south and west parts of Dublin). All of the videos are available on the DUSD YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/DUSDVideoChannel.
4:07 PM on February 8th, 2010
To LVCS Parent,
Thank you for your insights into charter schools and how they work. I support charter schools when they fix a problem, which it sounds like your charter school did.
In my opinion there isn’t a true need in Dublin for a charter High School. I was very interested in your statement that it is up to the committed community and administration to make a charter school work. I don’t see Tassahara Prep working due to lack of public support.
Thanks again for your insight.
-Cynthia
4:26 PM on February 8th, 2010
This is exactly why Tassajara Prep is formed. “The school district wanted to spread higher performing students around to various nonperforming schools (DHS)to bring up their scores. Seemed to do that until the charter school opened. “
4:40 PM on February 8th, 2010
Again, the question I have, which has yet to be answered. Where is the parent support for Tassajara Prep? I have only seen a few people in the community supporting the charter school. I’ve seen alot of postings from “Anonymous” but that could be anyone. Tassajara Prep from my understanding is trying to take only the “elite” students for its population. And believe it or not, the elite students live ALL OVER Dubin, not just in Dublin Ranch.
10:20 AM on February 9th, 2010
Yes. All elite students, not just from Dublin Ranch. Now can you see why this school might have the potential to perform extremely well?
5:16 PM on February 8th, 2010
What? The district is spreading higher performing kids to DHS to bring up their test scores? What are you talking about? Seems to me that the kids that go to DHS are within DHS’s jurisdiction – the city of Dublin.
I really want to know why Tassajara Prep’s supporters think that only high performing kids are going to attend there. If you have a policy of open enrollment, you will get kids from all levels. Furthermore, do you think that parents will want to choose a school with 21 (I think) possible AP choices, or an unproven school?
10:16 AM on February 10th, 2010
Which is more interesting to talk about in your college essay 21 AP classes or being a member of the founding class at Tassajara Prep?
11:50 AM on February 10th, 2010
What’s better, getting an education from an excellent, established, proven high school with a 98% college acceptance rate, a growing academic program with many different elective choices/levels of core classes/tons of extra-curricular activities; or being part of the experimental group in a brand new school with an extremely limited program?
I’m sure the kids can find other topics to write about in their college essays.
2:08 PM on February 10th, 2010
Top colleges like to see leadership. The stage is set. Beside… being the ‘experimental group’, I am sure grading would be more lenient. Leadership and high GPA!
5:09 PM on February 8th, 2010
Yes, it takes a VERY committed community. It has not been an easy road. Fortunately for our school, parents support the school financially as much as they supported their district schools, in some cases more. Maybe that’s due to the strong dissatisfaction with the district, I don’t know for sure. Don’t underestimate the challenge or commitment, but if there’s a true demand, do not underestimate the benefit. Most of us love the school.
Cynthia is right, be sure there’s real demand. That’s the critical piece that makes it work. Make no mistake, its a tough road. The local school district has taken an incredibly adversarial position against our school, to the point of driving public opinion against it at every opportunity. Not an upstanding way of treating families of about 10% of all K-8 aged kids in the city, but that’s the state of affairs here.
Best to all.
6:08 PM on February 8th, 2010
Cynthia –
I find this continual position that there is no support frustrating. There is a great deal of support. I watched HUNDREDS of people come through their booth at day on the glen (I was in a booth close by) Not to say all of those people were supporters but it is fair to assume some were. I did not make all of the townhall meetings, but the one I did make was full of supporters.
I know there is opposition, louder and more passionate than those in favor. But there are a lot of us in favor as well.
7:23 PM on February 8th, 2010
Then why didn’t any show up to the hearing? It would’ve been interesting to hear some of the arguments given by PARENTS that actually support the charter school, instead of hearing John Zukoski read to us from the Tassajara Prep website.
8:10 PM on February 8th, 2010
I have talked to many parents that walked by the Day on the Glen booth who liked the idea of a second east-side high school… until they had time to research the reality of a charter school in Dublin. Concern about the negative impact on Dublin High – concern about reduced student choice – concern about Dublin ending up with two undersized, underfunded high schools. Many parents came to the same conclusions I did long before they knew anything about OneDublin.org.
Those that chose to attend the charter school public hearing last Thursday heard parent after parent express their point of view. A diverse cross-section of parents from east, west, north and south Dublin. They also were able to hear student after student support Dublin High – something you have to see to fully appreciate. It’s worth the time to listen to all of them via online replays of the event: http://www.youtube.com/user/DUSDVideoChannel.
Some completely disagree with OneDublin.org’s point of view – Tassajara Prep has some supporters. Is there enough support for a charter school to succeed? Is that support passionate? Is Tri-Valley Learning Corp. really in for the long haul when they have their own local challenges to deal with? I can assure you the hundreds of parents I have direct contact with are passionately supportive of Dublin High and are very concerned about diverting funding from Dublin High to a start-up charter school. The 200+ people who turned out last Thursday represent a subset of those voices.
Regarding the Tassajara Prep town hall meetings – I attended the first and third. The first was a small turnout – not surprising since it was the first session. The third was 80-90% attended by those opposed to or at best uncertain about the charter school initiative (I know it was 80-90% because other than 4-5 people they all signed on to my mailing list after the session ended).
However, at the end of the day there is a process that will determine whether or not a charter school sees the light of day in Dublin. Part of that process was the public hearing last Thursday – whether charter school supporters chose to stay away, were told to stay away or are few and far between doesn’t change the reality. There are hundreds of parents who are very concerned about the charter initiative. Parents who are highly motivated and well organized to see the best outcome for Dublin. This isn’t about “charter schools: good or bad” this is about “what is best for Dublin public education”. If I believed our public schools were failing our children you can be sure I’d be on the other side of the argument.
The Livermore and Dublin situations are very different – and that’s why we’re seeing a different response.
7:44 PM on February 8th, 2010
It seems like a silly process to me. I went to the meeting on Thursday night to find out about this new proposed school. I heard nothing about it other than one rushed statement. What I did hear was a three hour commercial about the existing school. Why did we need that? I understand that some people won’t want to send their students to a new school. Some of of actually want an informed choice. I know I don’t feel informed after that meeting. The tactics of the school district supporters make me want to see this charter school succeed.
8:31 PM on February 8th, 2010
I’m pretty sure that the “tactics” the district supporters used were part of the legal steps necessary for this whole process. That hearing was an opportunity for parents, students, and teachers to voice their opinions about this whole situation, and that’s what happened.
If you want concrete information, contact Dublin High’s administration and the people with the Livermore Charter School group.
9:11 PM on February 8th, 2010
Regarding Measure C (Feb 8, 6:16) where is all the Measure C money going? I see on the last agenda that they want to increase spending on Wells Middle School by +$6MM. Do these projects need to be approved by the voters first? Who is watching this spending and how do we know it is being used wisely?
11:04 PM on February 8th, 2010
You can check the DUSD website for the status of Measure C projects. It seems the school board makes the decision how to use the money.
11:15 AM on February 9th, 2010
Both the parcel tax and bonds have citizen committees that oversee the use of the funds. Click the link for more info on the bond oversite committee:
http://www.dublin.k12.ca.us/vnews/display.v/ART/45ef054abb5f2
2:23 PM on February 10th, 2010
“Top colleges like to see leadership. The stage is set. Beside… being the ‘experimental group’, I am sure grading would be more lenient. Leadership and high GPA!”
What leadership? These are kids that are going to a school because of a decision by the parents. It doesn’t ensure any sort of leadership qualities. And I doubt that this proposed school would like to water down their message of academic rigor with lenient grades.
10:42 AM on February 12th, 2010
Not actual leadership, but painting the picture of leadership. By default, any activity you participate in you’re a founder.
2:47 PM on February 10th, 2010
The 98% college acceptance rate for charter schools that is quoted is misleading.
29% of all charter schools founded in California have folded. That’s a lot of kids who didn’t graduate from charter schools and who didn’t get into to college based on their charter school attendance. They aren’t included in the statistics.
And more to the point, charter schools accept applications and pick and choose their attendees. Public high schools do not. I would be ashamed if I was picking people I expected to succeed in college and they weren’t accepted when I was done. Even with the pre-selection process thousands of charter school kids (2%) still weren’t accepted to college.
If you stack a deck of with 100 aces, it is inconceivable that only 98 of the cards you draw end up being aces.
4:03 PM on February 10th, 2010
Anon,
You are correct that many charter schools close.
However, you incorrectly state that charter schools get to pick and choose who they enroll. They are bound by law to be open to anyone. The California oversight board is very clear on this. Charter schools are still public schools and follow allow anyone to enroll.
You seem to be very out of touch with reality on this topic. Please be mindful of the facts. Spinning the bits and pieces you find on the net only hurts your argument.
In regards to schools that close, think about how many public schools in schools districts have also closed. As LVCS Parent pointed out, Livermore closed 2 local schools. They intend to close at least one more school. That puts it at about the same ratio as charter schools in CA. It happens even in supposedly well-managed school districts.
12:20 AM on February 11th, 2010
Interesting point concerning the fact that charter schools are open to “all students”. Local data doesn’t support it:
LVCS’ Enrollment of Students with disabilities 8/673 = 1.1%
http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2009/2009GrthSchDem.aspx?allcds=01-76372-0107839
LVJUSD’s Enrollment of Students with disabilities 1056/9570 = 11%
http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2009/2009Growthdstapi.aspx?allcds=0161200
Harvard research also proves otherwise:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/01/27/19hehir_ep.h29.html
In a performance comparison of Boston charter school students with those not admitted, for example, Harvard University professor Thomas J. Kane found that the students attending charters outperformed their peers at traditional public schools. His research, however, was designed with the recognition that charter students are different along some critical, perhaps immeasurable, dimensions from students attending traditional schools. This is especially true in relation to students with disabilities: Traditional public schools are serving far greater numbers of them than charter schools, particularly those whose disabilities require significant special education services.
Findings from other research conducted in major cities, including Los Angeles and San Diego, further illustrate this phenomenon. In San Diego, where close to 10 percent of all students attend charter schools, the enrollment of students with disabilities in charters during the 2005-06 academic year approached just 12 percent; the average enrollment of these students in nonconversion (from scratch) charter schools was only 5.8 percent.
“These schools may appear to produce superior results, but they do so without serving comparable populations and while enjoying advantageous funding.”For students requiring extensive special education services, the statistics were even more dismal: There were, for example, only three children with mental retardation in all San Diego nonconversion charter schools combined, while traditional schools across the district educated almost 1,000. That same year, nonconversion charter schools in the city educated just two students with autism.
The picture is similar in Los Angeles, where approximately 8 percent of city students are enrolled in charter schools, yet only 11 percent of those are students with disabilities. Their enrollment in independent charter schools averages below 7 percent. As in San Diego, the distribution of disability types within independent Los Angeles charter schools is skewed; for students with disabilities requiring extensive special education services, the likelihood that they will be enrolled in independent charter schools is one-fourth the likelihood of their enrollment in traditional public schools.
1:56 PM on February 11th, 2010
You reinforced my point that you take bits and pieces and throw out there as “truth” and “facts.”
Read up on charter law and governance in California. Do yourself a favor and get the facts. At least take a lesson from the IPCC blunders.
2:07 PM on February 11th, 2010
Mr. Boster,
My regrets. I took your entry as one from Anon. My mistake.
However, the fact is the law is very clear. A few points taken from surveys doesn’t change the law or the fact that the schools are open to everyone. If there’s a disparity between the enrolled population and the general school age population, we can look at possible reasons for that. Granted, there are many. But as LVCS Parent noted, many charter schools exist in hostile community environments. Perhaps that scares away some groups. My view is that’s the intention of that adversarial stance, but I recognize that’s just an opinion, not a fact. Some districts make it very difficult to access Special Ed resources, again , maybe with the intention to cause the charter school problems. I know its happened, though its not possible to prove intent. Nonetheless, it creates issues with parents of Special Needs children.
My point it very factors play into who enrolls, but enrollment is open to everyone.
10:03 PM on February 12th, 2010
Dear Interested Party,
Thanks for admitting the mistake, don’t worry about it people have mistaken some anon. posts in the past for my entries as well. Rest assured, anytime I comment you will see my name at the top.
I am very familiar with ed code. I realize that the law says charters are open to everyone; however, there is a very large discrepancy between special education students served in charter schools and non-charter schools. Charter schools must offer the same services as non-charter districts, that is the law. Once a charter school establishes itself, they are required to offer these special services to students who qualify or contract out the services if they don’t have the required professionals in-house.
Many charter schools simply can’t afford these services due to their small size. As we all know, anytime you contract out a service, it costs more than if you could hire the specialist as an employee. Therefore, charters passively discourage parents with special needs from enrolling due to lack of professionals to begin with. However, if a student does qualify for services, the charter has to scramble and figure out how to meet these federally required needs of the child while still trying to run their school.
This scenario sends the charter in search of a provider. The larger the provider, the more specialists they will have. This provider is usually the local school district. The local school district bills the charter school for the professional services a student requires. Services are driven by assessment in special education, nothing else. There is no sinister plot by school districts to make charters look bad. A school/district would be foolish to deny a service that showed up as a need on an assessment. Likewise, if the student is a charter school student, the charter would be foolish to not seek out the service. That is lawsuit land waiting to happen.
This is where many charters try to cut corners and provide the services, at the cheapest rates, sacrificing quality along the way. This negotiation of services is where some feathers may be ruffled. Parents who have students in Special Education understand this tradeoff really well. Please understand, the parents of special needs children are the best advocates for their child. If charter schools could offer a quality education for their child with special needs, I am sure they would rightfully seek out the best placement for their child regardless of the barriers put in their way. As parents, don’t we all want the best for our own children?
Bringing it closer to home, what would happen if a student with a disability would enroll at TPHS? They may require an aide, occupational therapy, speech services, psychological services, and special equipment in order to access the curriculum. These services would encroach on the general fund of the school. Without getting too technical, this means there is less of the general fund monies to support the other classes that TPHS would like to offer. Therefore, due to the small scale of the school, this particular student could present a funding challenge that will diminish the overall course offerings at the school. Let me be clear, this isn’t the students fault at all. They have rights to services based on their disability. It is the school’s short-sided vision of wanting to create a narrow band of classes with less funds from the state that impacts everyone’s ability to access a wider variety of challenging coursework.
Plain and simple, the more kids you have on one campus the more options all of those kids can have. Size matters, especially when you are talking about serving the talented students as well as the students with learning disabilities.
10:16 AM on March 6th, 2010
Superintendent Hanke and DUSD have published their draft financial plan for the 2010-2011 school year.
http://www.dublin.k12.ca.us/vnews/display.v/ART/4b91eb0ab96a0
9:09 AM on March 11th, 2010
I am quite neutral about the Charter school. Dublin schools may lag behind our neighboring cities as far as ratings. I feel strongly that child’s education starts, continue and end at home. Schools are there as sources of knowledge. Parents play an important role in a child’s education. Teachers are secondary. I see comments regarding why predominantly asian schools excel in API ratings. Being asian myself, discipline and respect is number one in my priorities for kids to learn. I see this to most asian parents. It does not mean that other race does not place discipline and respect as a priority in their child’s upbringing. I was brought up by my parents with a whip in the left hand and a caring right hand. The left hand instill in me the respect I have to give to my parents. The right hand shows me the love and caring they have for me. I cannot bring home an average passing report card as the right hand may not be there. I may get the left hand in some occasions and does scare me to bring a bad report card. The right hand is always there to hug me when I bring an outstanding grade. I was thought to be disciplined by the respect I give my parents. I notice the outstanding parent involvement in San Ramon, Danville and Pleasanton schools. Before we look at schools as the culprit of an under achieving child, we need to look twice or thrice at the parents. My daughter did not attend public schools in Dublin. No knock on our public schools. I was brought up in a sectarian catholic school and I place focus on religion as a means for my child to be disciplined and respectful. May be not anymore as I think it has changed. My daughter is one year away from graduating Nursing from Dominican College and is in the dean’s list and may get a Summa Cum Laude. I was successful in my daughter’s education and so all of us. Don’t use the school as a scapegoat, if it applies to you. Focus on your child.