At his sixth annual State of the District address Superintendent Jeffrey Felix proposed asking votes to support a bond measure to fund local schools. If approved by the governing board at a special budget meeting on February 6, the measure would appear on the June 2014 gubernatorial primary ballot.
The money would be used to eliminate the district’s $2.8 million structural deficit.
The debt will have a short-term payback schedule that must be paid off every 3 to 4 years, he promised. It would not be a burden on the average homeowner. “Seventy percent (70%) would pay less than $40 a month more in taxes,” Felix said.
In the past five years the district has used reserve to funds, but these will run out by 2015. The need for the bond stems from a loss of state funding. In the past schools were funded based on the number of students.
Then last year Governor Jerry Brown and state legislature crafted the Local School Funding formula (LSFF) that gives schools with English language learners and economically disadvantage students more money. “LSFF has changed the way we operate here in Coronado, perhaps forever,” Felix said.
This benefits large urban districts — Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco – that have a high percentage of poor and minority students.
This year, Felix pointed out, San Diego Unified will receive $1,000 more per pupil than Coronado Unified. Next year they will receive $1,200 more. Because the formula benefits larger districts, it will never go away.
“We will never catch up; we will always remain dead last, “Felix said.
He pointed to the prudence that Coronado Unified exercised during past five years, weathering the worst economic recesses in a generation, without firing a single teacher or lowering its academic standards. Coronado schools remain among the top in the state.
“We beat out Poway to remain the highest scoring district in the county,” he said.
Students at Coronado’s middle school and the two elementary schools averaged California Academic Performance Index (API) scores over 900. Only Coronado High School fell a tad short of that goal, with its students scoring an average of 877, Felix noted.
“We’ve done everything right,” Felix said. Throughout the five-year recession, the district parceled out its reserves to keep teachers and maintain high academic achievement.
“We were able glide all the way to down to a soft landing on the backs of our employees, but with the LCFF [the state] moved the runway.
Felix was referring to the furloughs teachers and staff took to keep the district solvent.
Not laying off staff was something the district was proud of; something other less prudent districts were forced to do. Now Coronado faces dismissing 24 employees in March. CUSD has already let go of three. Meanwhile, San Diego Unified is hiring more teachers and shrinking classroom size.
Besides losing its competitive edge in the all-important student-to-teacher ratio, Coronado is also contemplating program cuts, which would further erode the quality of education here.
The cuts include $59,000 in cuts to teacher salaries, $2.7 million from special education funds, $335,000 from athletic programs, and $170,000 in cuts from Coronado School of the Arts (CoSA). A complete list or potential cuts is posted on the district’s home page here.
Felix made it clear cutting teachers and programs was not the best way forward. While giving the rational for the bond initiative, Felix said, “We cannot cut our way out of this deficit. Our task today is to find new revenue.”
Members of the governing board appeared to agree. “I like your idea,” said Trustee Bruce Shepherd. “It’s sized to keep our schools high quality. It’s sized to provide a cushion.”
Trustee Ledyard Hakes pictured at top, and Jeff Felix above right.
Trustee Maria Simon
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Gloria Tierney
Staff Writer
eCoronado.com
