Spring is in the air in all Capo Unified School District’s schools. The high school students are waiting eagerly for acceptance letters from their favorite colleges.
I am sure they are suffering from "senioritis," too. The weather has turned out to be Southern California weather, and with daylight savings time, we are seeing more children enjoying their time under the sun.
$28 Million Shortfall
As reported in my March column, CUSD has a $28 million budget shortfall. As a result, the district has issued layoff notices to many teachers. This is so unfortunate.
I heard that budget shortfall will be taken care of through Zero Based Budgeting theory, i.e. the items which are core to the School District’s function will be rated at the top, and no cuts would be made.
Teaching is the main function of any school district. Laying off teachers will surely hurt the classrooms and as a result the students in the classrooms!
The mismanagement of funds has gone on for years. The District was in negative spending eight of the last nine years.
Hence, the reserve has come down to the bare minimum of about 2 percent.
If CUSD’s reserves drop below 2 percent, the district will be taken over by the State of California.
If the District had reserve funds saved for rainy days like it’s facing in the coming school year, no cuts would have been necessary!
Has anyone thought of any means to bring additional money to the District? I mean thinking outside the box?
We are surrounded by successful businesses. We are surrounded by some of the richest people in our American society. Has anyone gone out soliciting funds?
Recall Certification
Well, the citizens have spoken. The CUSD Recall leaders, with the assistance of other interested citizens, have collected and submitted over 65,000 registered voter signatures to the Orange County Registrar of Voters.
The Registrar has certified the recall petition recalling Marlene Draper and Sheila Benecke, two of the four Fleming-era Board members (I do not call them Trustees as I have lost complete trust in them).
On March 24 (after this issue has gone to press), the seven member board will set a recall election date in a special meeting. This special election will be held between June 20 and mid July at a cost of about $700,000.
The two recall targeted members can do the most honorable thing and resign, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars! They must go! If they do not, they will cause further damage to the District.