Declining enrollment, shrinking budget and infrastructure needs

By Galina Bondar

"Now, more than ever, our communities need to rise to the challenges ahead. As your School Board Member, I will work to bring interested parties together to Solve Problems and Promote Academic Success."

2. Shrinking budgets: What can be done to maintain San Juan's high level of educational performance in the face of shrinking budgets? The answer to this question is similar to the answer for declining enrollment, but complicated by the fact that the State budget is hemorrhaging with red ink. It's the "trickle down" affect, in addition to declining enrollment, and thus the shortfall in ADA (average daily attendance) reimbursement, incoming State monies have been reduced. Again, long-range planning is the key. The District must secure adequate funding capacity so as to be able to operate a pre-planned level of curricula through the next few years. This will involve establishing a good working relationship with the teachers' and other service-persons unions. Organized labor must be involved in crafting a solution to limited resources by "out of the box" thinking in the months to come. In addition, some innovative funding schemes must be devised to bring in other non-traditional sources of funding.

3. Infrastructure: What can be done to meet the District's future infrastructure needs?

First of all, California itself is in this challenging predicament because of "limited-growth" and "no-growth" policies that do not work with the fastest growing population in the Country. The regional, county, and city planning agencies must cooperate, together with State agencies and the legislature, in the planning and design of necessary facilities to meet the growing demand for all services. In the case of this District, many of the properties are old and in need of updating and repair. Special consideration should be given to facility updating during times of underutilization--like when enrollment in down--through the use of special (including private) funding programs.
4. Education: What additional actions, if any, need to be taken to improve education in the District?

Improving education in the District is not necessarily a matter of adding money to District coffers. Private schools educate kids at an alarmingly high rate of proficiency for a lot fewer annual dollars. Over the last several years, more and more money has been "thrown" at education, and students' readiness to enter the world has been declining. There must be accountability and more local control over curricula. Federal and State dollars must be monitored by federal and State controllers, respectively, to see that those dollars are properly spent. Schools, teachers, and administrators ought to be rewarded for successes with preparing their students. California has a big challenge, and unless we get back to the basics of teaching reading, writing (i.e., English), math, and science, we will stay behind the majority of the developed world in preparing the next generation to compete.