November 4, 2004

School budget crisis hits home
Castillero Middle School considered for closure

By Kymberli W. Brady
Staff Writer 

New San Jose Unified School District Superintendent Don Iglesias brought a group of board members and employees to Willow Glen High School’s auditorium on Oct. 28 to discuss the latest budget cuts the district is planning. Unlike the meetings held last year, those attending didn’t scream or rage, but asked a number of well-thought out questions that, at times, appeared to mildly stymie the presenters.

It was one of several presentations SJUSD and its board is making to parents throughout the district, educating them about its budget shortfalls and discussing yet another round of school closures. While there are no schools in Willow Glen targeted for closure, a number of neighborhood families send their youngsters to Castillero Middle School, a magnet for the performing arts located in Almaden Valley.

Iglesias was joined by Rosemary Pottage, SJUSD’s director of finance and Jerry Matranga, the associate superintendent for administrative services. The three, with help from several school board members also in attendance, attempted to emphasize the dire conditions facing a district looking forward—while justifying the criteria used to target specific schools for closure.

Perhaps it was the material they were presenting yet again, or possibly it was the fact that they had to be out of the auditorium by 5:30 and off to another presentation at 7 p.m., but the material was quite dry and they appeared to be hurried.

“We want to talk about declining enrollment and go through the proposal of what we’re looking at to balance our budget,” Inglesias said. “And that includes school closures.” 

Although Proposition 98 was approved by voters to guarantee public school funding, the state instead suspended the payouts and thrust statewide schools into a $2 billion shortfall—a $9 million hit for SJUSD, Iglesias said
With a projected shortfall of $9 million to $10 million in 2005-06 and $11 million in 2006-07, the district wants to close the budget gap through increasing student attendance, reducing central management positions and resources, building a centralized kitchen, school consolidation and, if necessary, school level reductions, including the elimination of sixth period classes at all middle schools. 

“We are seeing a significant dropoff in our attendance area and have dropped 1,500 students in the last five years,” Iglesias added. “Our projections show that we’ll lose another 1,400 in the next two years.” 

According to Iglesias, fewer students equates to fewer dollars and overhead costs are driving the need to look at school consolidation. Schools receive $4,800 per student in funding. Over the past five years, SJUSD has lost $7.2 million and estimates an additional $6.7 million in revenue losses through 2007. 

“We’re feeling the squeeze in both ways,” he added. “Not only from the state, but from families moving out of the area. We’re having to look at making tremendous cuts and have done so in just about every arena.” In addition, the money is paid only if the student is in class—excused absences mean no money.

Even after $30 million in cuts, Iglesias maintained that not much is left without significant impacts. The district’s decisions centered around student achievement, fiscal responsibility, community participation and qualified educators as the most important areas for preservation. Without fiscal responsibility, Iglesias warned the state would step in and take the decision making process away from the district if they fail to balance the budget. 

The consolidation process
However bad the crisis, most who attended the meeting questioned the selection process—specifically the criteria, or lack thereof—established for school closures. 

Resident boundaries, according to Iglesias, played a major role in the consolidation committee selection of Castillero, John Muir, and Steinbeck, citing facilities, demographics, transportation/safety and fiscal impact as criteria. District realignment and the ability to absorb one school into two others played into the equation as well. 

“If we’re going to close a school, it means that whatever the neighborhood for that particular school would be, it would be re-boundaried to accommodate those kids,” said Iglesias. 

In determining capacity, the district focused on “resident” populations. Although Castillero has a current enrollment of 1,150 students, fewer than 500 fall into that category, thus reducing the capacity to less than the required 75 percent.  
“These are the three lowest resident population schools compared to others,” explained Matranga. “They’re also close to one another.” 

Parcel tax 
Iglesias said that another parcel tax attempt would occur in 18 months, with hopes of passage, thanks in part to Joe Simitian’s initiative that would reduce the super majority to 55 percent. 

“Any programs would be sheltered from reductions for the length and duration of the parcel tax,” he explained. “In reality, we don’t want to do the sixth period and class size reduction things, and hopefully we won’t have to.” 

Although no decision will be announced until Dec. 9, Mangin and others aren’t wasting any time. A grassroots effort has already been established in an effort to challenge the district’s selection process—citing Castillero’s national recognition, API scores and magnet school status as contributing factors that are not being taken into consideration. A Web site [www.savecastillero.com] has also been created for ongoing community awareness and involvement—a community united to halt the closure of Castillero Middle School. 

“We’re starting a parent group to look at a lot of the things they talked about,” said parent Purveen Nteenwala. “It is a very emotional issue and don’t think we’ll get their attention that way. So we’re trying to form something with a plan to go after the numbers and hope to reach them.” 

For more information, call Karen Fuqua at (408) 535-6444 or e-mail Karen_Fuqua@sjusd.org.