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You Can Help…Easily
Parent Meeting Presentation
For anyone unable to attend the Progress Report meeting on February 24th 2010.
The powerpoint used during the presentation has been made available. (There is no audio).
SDCCS Parent Meeting
TThe SDCCS Board encourages parents to attend the upcoming Progress Report meeting on Wednesday, February 24 in the school auditorium. The board will present a progress report on the school budget and the effect of the state fiscal crisis as well as the development of plans for a SDCCS high school.
Budget presentation - 6:30 p.m.
High school presentation - 7:00 p.m.
We look forward to seeing you there.o the SDCCS community,
December 2009
To the SDCCS community,
By now you have read the “Budget and High School” letter from the Board of SDCCS on the school’s website, if not, you should. These are exciting times, and needy times. The Board is planning and having to decide on programs and resources with less and less funds. SDCCS’ PSA has done and does an excellent job of internal fundraising throughout the year. The Board has decided now to solicit your help externally.
Our staff and faculty, your kids’ teachers, need digital cameras, science equipment-supplies and access to labs, SmartBoards and projectors, laptops and software, non-fiction books for all ages, and conference travel and experiences. We don’t have monies now (and aren’t expecting them from the State or stimulus) to accommodate these needs. We continue with faculty help to seek grants with very limited success. Now, we ask for your help.
As we see it, we have over 500 parents that work in all kinds of companies, industries with all kinds of products and services. And, you all know at least 5 people that probably have the same or similar interests and concerns regarding excellence in education. WOW, that’s 2,500 people and organizations that should know more about SDCCS and at least some of them may be able to donate money (any amount), equipment, services, and we want to talk to them. You, and the 2,500, may be able to lead us to external giving departments at those companies. Somewhere in your 500 companies (employers) or your associates’ 2, 500 companies, etc. there have to be some that would like to donate monies, computers, supplies, or services. Or, maybe some would donate “frequent flyer miles” for faculty travel. We need those names and contact information.
In the meantime, please share the SDCCS story and your passion with interested people, organizations, and companies. Tell them about our needs, we are non-profit so tax benefits may be applicable.
If you have names and contact information of people that we should get in touch with, please mail them or share them with a Board member (Dr. Tim Becker, 858-349-2040, tim@totalrecalllearning.com or Larry Lauber, llauber@mac.com) or Dr. Wendy that are championing this cause. We look forward to hearing from you. The Board, faculty, and staff sure appreciate your efforts of reaching out on behalf of SDCCS and your children’s education.
Thanks much,
Dr. Tim Becker and Mr. Larry Lauber
SDCCS Board Members
THE ONGOING BUDGET CHALLENGE
September 22, 2009
Dear SDCCS Parents and Friends,
This email addresses two areas of ongoing interest and importance to the SDCCS community:
Budget
After due consideration and discussion, the Board of SDCCS made the decision to operate at a net loss for this school year. Currently the 2009-10 loss is projected to be just over $160,000 and could be more. Because we have been very careful to establish cash reserves, we can absorb an operating loss this year, and could even sustain it for at least one additional year if necessary. We are choosing to do this because:
- It is critical for our children that we maintain all of the offerings of our current program.
- We don’t have to lay off a single individual on our staff.
- Our small class sizes are core to our program and changing that would damage our staff’s ongoing ability to connect at a deep level with each and every child.
- We believe that the state’s fiscal crisis, while immense, will subside over the next couple of years.
- By maintaining the high standards of our program, we are in a better position to consider expansion into a high school and possibly other directions.
Even though this is a large loss that we are absorbing, the drop in revenue due to the state’s fiscal crisis does mean that we still have to make other sacrifices. Most importantly, all teacher and staff salaries have been frozen at current levels for another year.
The bottom line is that SDCCS will come through this fiscal crisis, and we will do so in better shape than many of our fellow charter schools, some of which will almost certainly not survive. But it comes at the cost of lowering our reserves and making tough choices and sacrifices. Fortunately, those will not be in the form of laying off any of our extraordinary staff or damaging our program.
High School
The SDCCS community has had a major interest in a high school program for quite some time. This was reinforced by results of the recent parent survey. Now that we are in a stable home with a very stable and progressive program in place, we are able to focus some serious strategic attention to this issue.
The Board of SDCCS recently approved the following timeline submitted by the SDCCS High School Formation Committee for the implementation of the new school. There are a great many questions still to be answered regarding school structure, curriculum, operations, site, etc., and these will be addressed and suggestions put forward by the committee in the coming months. Preliminary discussions with San Diego Unified and commercial brokers are also underway to better understand our physical site options, and an initial budget is being created to determine the fiscal ramifications.
Reflecting the fact that certain of our core administrative functions will not be required to expand at the same rate as our student population and higher funding levels for the average daily attendance of high school students, the board is confident that the addition of a high school will actually improve our revenue and income performance picture. Simply put, we would not undertake this effort if there was any belief that it would be a detriment to our current program, fiscally, academically, or otherwise. Along those same lines, our charter renewal application, which will include the high school, will also include the option for a second elementary site. Stay tuned for details!
Here is the timeline:
September 2009 - SDCCS Board approves initial plan for high school formation
February 2010 - Initial program structure released to SDCCS school community
September 2010 - SDCCS applies for charter renewal, which includes charter expansion for high school and possible second elementary site
April 2011 - Site secured and facility work begins
September 2011 - SDCCS High Opens
THE ONGOING BUDGET CHALLENGE
June 17, 2009
Our Full-year state and federal funding levels for 2008-09 are still not officially set and funding levels for 2009-10 are even less well defined. However there is no doubt that SDCCS will need to use some of its cash reserves to fund 2009-10 operations. A budget reflecting the utilization of reserves has been submitted to the San Diego Unified School District and, subject to their review, will be forwarded to the California Department of Education.
Individual employee compensation in 2008-09 was capped at 2007-08 levels and will continue to be for 2009-10. Additional cost reductions have been budgeted that include not filling the vacant mentor teacher position, reducing the textbook budget and limiting professional conferences and travel.
The current budget is based upon conservative and best available projected funding levels, but consistent with the very real potential for actual funding levels to fall below these projections, the budget committee of the board of directors has established and the board has approved a set of cost reduction contingency steps.
They are:
1. Conversion of Spanish instruction to part-time
2. Conversion of information technology/facilities management to part-time
3. Across-the-board salary cuts
4. Increases in class size
At its June 16, 2009 meeting the board directed Dr. Ranck-Buhr and Ken Rochells to notify the board in the event the 2009-10 projected loss rises above $150,000. After 14 days with no improvement in the projection which takes the projected loss to less than $150,000, the board will meet in special session to consider whether to implement the cost reduction measures listed above.
Volatile economic conditions and the political process are likely to preclude an early and definitive conclusion of the budgeting process and fiscal matters may continue to impact operational matters. The school’s administration and board will be guided in its fiscal management efforts by a desire to minimize the impact on our students, our parents and our dedicated staff.
Sincerely, Dr. Wendy Ranck-Buhr, Principal
Kenneth Rochells, Business Manager
Lincoln Fish, President of the SDCCS Board (on behalf of the entire Board)
A FEW MORE WORDS ABOUT THE SDCCS 2008-09 BUDGET
February 10, 2009
Our last budget commentary was posted on April 3rd. This is an update.
The California Charter Schools Association stated in its January 2009 state budget brief that the projected state of California budget shortfall for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 fiscal years is $41.6 billion. There is no question that the already reduced funding levels for the current fiscal year will be further reduced and it seems likely that funding for 2009-10 will be even lower.
The good news is that, even given the foregoing, we have added four classrooms to our physical plant and our educational program in 2008-09 is fully intact. Our intent is to sustain this commitment to our educational mission throughout the current recession.
In order to meet these education priorities, we held salaries at their 2007-08 levels for the 2008-09 school year. We also made a series of cuts in categories such as classroom funds, text books, etc. We are confident that by continuing this fiscal restraint and by supplementing our revenue from the cash reserve built up over the last few years, we can continue to provide our full academic program.
Sincerely, Dr. Wendy Ranck-Buhr, Principal
Kenneth Rochells, Business Manager
Lincoln Fish, President of the SDCCS Board (on behalf of the entire Board)
BUDGET UPDATE
April 3, 2008
It has come to our attention that there are a great many discussions going on regarding the proposed state education budget cuts and how they affect our school. Given some of the things that we’ve heard recently, it’s clear that certain rumors have snowballed into fears of catastrophic scenarios. This communication is intended to let everyone know the current state of SDCCS regarding these proposed cuts.
It’s important for everyone to understand that there are actually very few discretionary items in our budget. Of the nearly 60 budget line items we have, only about a dozen are variable costs. As you can imagine, such things as district fees, rent, insurance, and most others are basically set. Where we can, we are diligently looking for savings on even these items, but the reality is that virtually all of our budget flexibility comes from a few key areas. As a school community, we have been very budget-conscious over the past few years, so we have, to a certain extent, saved some resources for a rainy day, which should help tremendously.
What we know for sure is that the education budget will be cut, and there will be less money for all schools, probably in equal proportions. However, there is an ongoing fight at the state capitol and we don’t know if the cuts will be as severe as they were initially projected to be. The bottom line is we won’t know what the real numbers are for a little while yet, and we have to prepare for the absolute worst, which is exactly what we’ve been doing.
To clear up a misperception, we are not planning on cutting any salaries. However, even though we’ve been generally able to keep up with the district’s salary scale over the past few years, it is very unlikely we will be able to do so this year. Because of union contracts, San Diego Unified will be giving raises again this year, averaging close to 8%. However, since labor is the largest part of their budget, they will layoff approximately 10% of their workforce, both, administration and teachers, as well as increase class sizes in order to recoup these costs. If we were forced to match this scale, we would either need to lay off staff or increase class sizes, or both, none of which would be in the best interests of the school. It is unclear at this point if money will be available for any raises, but a cost of living increase may be possible.
To the extent we need to make cuts, the very last place we will look is our educational programs. Maintaining class sizes, our arts and music programs, and our social/emotional programs (counseling, PE, outreach) are all high priority items and at this point we believe we can keep them all intact.
In addition to curbing any raises, we will also be making a series of cuts in categories such as classroom funds, text books, etc. While any such cuts will obviously have an impact, we believe we can protect all of our critical programs by finding savings in these areas.
The reductions in funding for schools reflect a slowing economy including home price reductions and, as a consequence, decreasing income, sales, and property tax revenues. Not even the best of economists can consistently and accurately predict the course of the economy, but most expect this downturn to last at least through 2008 and into 2009. Prudent fiscal management therefore will limit utilization of our cash reserves to the installation of our long sought portable classrooms.
We will keep you posted as we learn more from the state about what we can expect in funding and how we are proposing to deal with these financial challenges. We will also be discussing budget issues at upcoming board meetings to which everyone is invited.
We hope this helps to clear up any questions or concerns you may have regarding the budget.
A number of groups have started letter-writing campaigns to state representatives in an attempt to have our state legislature restore some of the dollars cut. We encourage everyone to take part in that process.
Sincerely, Dr. Wendy Ranck-Buhr, Principal
Kenneth Rochells, Business Manager
Lincoln Fish, President of the SDCCS Board (on behalf of the entire Board)
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