School zone
By Joe Piasecki , Liz Hedrick 08/07/2008
Elementary math
Subtracting sixth graders from elementary schools
could affect PUSD’s $350 million plans
As Pasadena Unified School District officials and boosters keep up calls for support of a $350 million schools-repair bond measure on the Nov. 4 ballot, others are hard at work trying to nail down more precisely how all that money should be spent.
It’s an effort intended to avoid some of the mistakes made with the last $250 million in voter-backed bonds to come the district’s way in 1997 — namely, spending money on a school only to close it down.
When Board of Education members approved a facilities repair bond in June, they also adopted plans to substantially reorganize school placements so that sixth through eighth graders would occupy middle school campuses and younger children would have their own elementary campuses.
But as elementary math would dictate, subtracting sixth graders (in some cases, also seventh and eighth) from elementary schools means smaller elementary schools — which, the district only begrudgingly acknowledges, could potentially lead to the closure of one or more of those schools.
“We’re not going to spend money on a campus that in the next several years has a potential for not remaining open,” said Stephen Brinkman, brought in early this year as chief of staff for Superintendent Edwin Diaz. Brinkman also said it was too early to tell if any closures will be necessary.
Facing a budget deficit and ongoing declines in enrollment, the school board decided in late 2005 to shutter four elementary schools, including Edison Elementary, which the district had spent some of 1997’s $240 million Measure Y bond to repair.
“That was really poor planning. I’m not going to vote for anything like that,” said Board member Renatta Cooper, who questions the wisdom of moving all sixth graders to middle schools but, due to a family emergency, did not attend the meeting in which that idea and the bond were approved.
At noon today, the Facilities Master Plan Committee — a group of citizen volunteers and district officials who convened in April to map out what the district should look like after a $350 million cash infusion — will meet at 155 S. Fair Oaks Ave. in Pasadena to discuss the impacts of shrinking elementary schools.
The group’s final report to the board on the future of PUSD properties is expected in late September.
“We want the community to know in fairly decent terms what they may be asked to pay for,” said Board member Esteban Lizardo, the only board member who voted against sending the bond to voters.
— Joe Piasecki
Portantino rallies for schools funding
With Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposing a sales tax hike and ordering the layoffs of thousands of state workers to address California’s $15 billion budget deficit, local Democratic state Assemblyman Anthony Portantino is hoping to hold the line on funding for public schools.
In an effort to rally support for that cause, Portantino is hosting a community meeting from 9 to 11 a.m. Friday at the Rose Bowl Press Box. He will be joined by Ron Bennett, an education finance expert who formerly served as a deputy superintendent with the Long Beach and Fresno school districts.
“Education is one of the most important issues for my constituents,” Portantino said. “Right now the discourse in the field of education is predominantly financial. We need to insure that this generation has the same resources that past generations have had.”
Portantino said he plans to discuss opposing the possible suspension of a 1988 law limiting cuts to state education spending, which happened once already in 2004.
“I have two children in public school, one who will be a senior in high school and one going into first grade,” he said. “I certainly have my concerns about the education that my first-grader will receive.” — Liz Hedrick
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