We have a new and more difficult budget crisis confronting us, which will require difficult additional budget cuts, while trying to maintain our gains and minimize the negative impact to students.
We have just been handed the belated budget from the state which will require budget cuts in HUSD of an additional $17 million in the next year. This represent 10% of our total budget, and presents a very serious situation which will test than all the skills, experience and creativity of even the current school board veterans of the recent last round of budget cuts. However, I have been through this five years ago, and my fiscal and business background and knowledge of the HUSD budget will help get us through this crisis also.
Before being given this bad budget news, my priorities for the next few years were, and still are:
- Improved student safety.
We are in the process of designing and installing a video security system in all of our schools, and have created a high school gang task force in cooperation with the police. However, I believe that we must obtain more student input and assistance if we are to significantly improve the reality and perception of school safety.
- Continued academic improvement.
We have just recently purchased for all schools the Accelerated Reader web-based program, which helps motivate students and enables teachers to help students improve at their own (accelerated) pace from whatever level they are currently at, (rather than using only grade level materials for all students, who may be years below or above grade level in ability). I would like to provide more training and encourage greater utilization of these programs by our teachers and students. We will of course continue the other initiatives that have had success over the last five years as well.
- Substantial reform of our high schools.
I have advocated this for years, and we now have a high school reform task force to explore options for real reform to make our high school curricula and overall experience one of more rigor and relevance to the students and the post-high school world. Successful concepts such as small learning communities, more rigorous college prep, and more Career Technical Education (CTE) opportunities are things I am pursuing. We now know that the vast majority of new high paying jobs in the current and future work force will require some post high school technical education, and not the traditional liberal arts college track. We must provide such CTE track opportunities at the high school level as well as more rigorous college prep.
- Bond oversight.
I want to ensure proper oversight of the implementation of our new school bond so that the community gets everything it was promised, and we have their trust when seeking subsequent bonds until we have world class schools throughout HUSD.
- Improve communication.
We have made some good strides, but we have much improvement that can be made in communicating between HUSD administration, teachers, principals, parents, students and the larger community.
The reduced state budget will challenge our ability to improve some of the above goals. We will need all the shareholders in the Hayward school community and in the larger community to sacrifice and work more selflessly for the interests of the students. I remain committed to fight tirelessly to minimize the duration and the impact of these cuts on the students.
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