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Officials say school closures can save millions
But as students leave, so does funding. Is it worth it?
Joseph A. Garcia / Star staff Camarillo Academy of Progressive Education teacher Judith Laurentowski helps students, from left, Sean Roth, Victoria Hooper, Kabir Rao and Peter West, use pennies to study measurement.
Deciding schools' fates
The Conejo Valley Unified School District board will consider closing two elementary schools in fall 2009 when it meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Thousand Oaks High School Performing Arts Center, 2323 N. Moorpark Road.
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Juan Carlo / Star staff Fourth-graders at Meadows School In Thousand Oaks learn how to clog dance with dance teacher Karen Kernan. The Conejo Valley Unified School District has targeted the school for possible closure.
The Conejo Valley school board hopes to save $1.3 million annually by closing two elementary schools, but as parents rally against the move, some say those savings are far from a sure thing.
In Camarillo, the Pleasant Valley School District continues to face fallout from closing campuses last year. Officials there expected to save about $700,000 a year. Within months of the closures, however, hundreds of students had pulled out of the district's schools.
Fewer students means less state funding, and Pleasant Valley stands to annually lose $2.4 million of it, possibly costing the district more than it saved by closing the schools.
"When you're closing a school, it's driven by the hope of saving money, and often it does," said Shelley Lapkoff, a demographer from Berkeley who advises districts on school closures. But if parents get upset and students leave, she said, those savings can evaporate.
The Conejo Valley Unified School District board is set to decide Tuesday whether to shutter two elementary campuses in fall 2009. In response, parents have been rallying for months, urging trustees to save their neighborhood schools and keep their programs and sense of community intact.
The Thousand Oaks-based K-12 district says the $1.3 million in anticipated savings would reduce a growing budget gap. Over the past five years, the district of 22,000 students has seen declining enrollment — a trend in many Ventura County districts blamed on housing costs pricing out younger families.
On top of that, districts throughout California are bracing for steep state budget cuts. The governor has proposed cutting billions from public schools, which, districts say, would force layoffs, bigger class sizes and school closures if the budget is approved by the Legislature.
Closing schools might be risky, said county schools Superintendent Charles Weis. "And yet, to balance school budgets you have got to try something."
Small schools are less efficient, and districts say they don't have the money to pay overhead and keep programs going when classrooms sit empty.
If schools here were better funded, Weis said, school closures might not be necessary. California ranked 46th in the nation in per-pupil funding, he said. While other states have elementary schools averaging 300 to 400 students, the average size in California is closer to 600 students.
If people want smaller schools, Weis said, they need to lobby the Legislature and governor to boost education funding.
A year's reprieve
Pleasant Valley likely would be losing money on the closures already if state funding based on student "average daily attendance" was reduced right away.
In California, school districts have a year's safety net when enrollment drops, allowing funding to be based on the prior year's attendance numbers. This coming school year, however, a 450-student drop will catch up with Pleasant Valley.
A breakdown of the district's actual costs and savings from the closures was not available. But "anytime you lose that many kids in a short period of time that impacts the budget," said Pleasant Valley Superintendent Luis Villegas, who was hired after the closures.
Before they closed two schools, Pleasant Valley officials predicted savings of $700,000 — from losing two principals, custodians, clerical staff and food service employees and from lower maintenance and utility costs.
After the closures, however, about 300 of the 7,020 students in the K-8 district left to join a new charter school opened by parents and teachers from one of the shuttered schools. Parents at one of the Conejo Valley campuses at the top of the closure list are talking about doing the same kind of thing.
Pleasant Valley officials said the rest of the enrollment drop — about 150 students — was partially expected, but some was likely collateral damage from the closures.
Even after laying off teachers no longer needed for those students, the district could lose more than $1 million this coming school year because of the enrollment drop. Pleasant Valley is getting about $5,500 per student in state attendance funding this school year.
"It's just not cost-effective to run schools with small enrollments," Villegas said, but closures aren't easy. "It becomes very, very emotional, for good reason. People cherish the schools where their children go."
Students leave for charters
The charter movement has made it easier for parents to opt out of a district when a school closes, said Thomas Timar, a UC Davis education professor.
But it also helps families preserve their school community and teaching philosophy while staying in public education, by forming a state-funded charter school instead of leaving for private schools, said Chris Parker, a parent and board member of the new Camarillo Academy of Progressive Education charter school. Most of its students came from the Los Senderos Open School, which Pleasant Valley closed.
Districts have to look at all of their options and decide which would do the least harm, minimize disruptions and be the least academically damaging, Timar said. Closing schools is always disruptive, he said, but it can be a good financial decision.
Districts often are caught between a rock and a hard place, he said, and parents "have to realize, too, that it's a difficult time for the schools."
Parents might think there's room in a district's budget to cut elsewhere. But in Conejo Valley Unified, Superintendent Mario Contini said, "unless enrollment and revenue increase, we don't have a choice. It's either we cut programs for 22,000 kids or save programs for about 600 to 700 students."
Thousand Oaks parent John Hollister, however, said Conejo Valley stands to lose a few hundred students if it closes Meadows School. The K-5 campus is No. 2 on the closure list, and, he said, families will leave if necessary. Conejo Valley gets about $5,700 per student in state average-daily-attendance funding.
"If people think that this issue won't affect them because their school is not targeted for closure, they need to sit up and pay attention," Hollister said.
Deputy Superintendent Jeffrey Baarstad said Conejo Valley plans to do all it can to help families through the transition process. A committee has spent about 18 months looking at the numbers and deciding which schools make the most sense to close.
Even after the board makes its decision, the district plans to wait an additional year before closing any doors. In the meantime, it's searching for ways to increase revenue and potentially avoid closures.
"We are not burying our heads in the sand and we know parents will leave, which only exacerbates the problem," Contini said. "In the long run, we hope many of them will return."
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Posted by lookingforfairness on March 16, 2008 at 8:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Yes, people will leave....and many will not return. It is crazy to be closing a Blue Ribbon School - BLUE RIBBON and one that is not the smallest. Some of the schools "seem" large becasue kids choice in to them. If the school board would FINALLY redraw the boundaries efficiently and calculate students in each school REMOVING the school choice numbers for accuracy, they would find their smallest schools. University is a wonderful neighborhood school. The families are being penalized for having a school that the community wants to attend. We are at 80% capacity at least with our neighborhood. We are not the smallest.
This school board needs to NOT CLOSE ANY SCHOOLS. they need to vote NO on Tuesday. Make the courageous decision and do this for the kids. There are many parents in this district willing to figure out the $$ issue and work to find it. If you announce the schools on Tuesday to close, people will leave....and so should the school board.
And other CVUSD schools.....do not think that asking University and Meadows to "take one for the team" is going to save you. You should all be fighting to keep schools open - every school. Do not sit back feeling at ease in your ignorance. Your schools will be effected too.
SCHOOL BOARD - JUST SAY NO on Tuesday...or assume that WE THE PEOPLE will say NO in November.
Posted by Carson on March 16, 2008 at 10:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
If the Revolutionaries in the government would have respected the will of, "We the People" and enacted Proposition 187 instead of deceitfully overturning it we may have avoided these problems.
There still may be time for them to redeem themselves by enforcing the immigration laws. Not only may it help them avoid arrest, it could go a long way to save some of the children’s futures.
Remember, aiding and abetting illegal aliens is a felony.
Posted by truth_be_told on March 16, 2008 at 11:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Blue Ribbon awards are not what you think. Young parents are impressed with this award, but never research it. Stop being victims in this crazy, fraudulous marketing scheme of the CVUSD. This district garnered these awards because they had the money to pay staff to do the write ups and spend money on substitute teachers during the process. Stop drinking the Kool-Ade. This federal program was discontinued in 2002 because schools didn't use it as intended, which was to evaluate where a school with lots of parent support could improve. Ask to see the reports. Meadows had SO many problems back in the early 1990's that the "spin doctors" with the ed doctorates had to do aggressive marketing to convince the public that the California public schools were better than the private schools. Ask retired teachers in the CVUSD what went on there at Meadows under former principal Tim Stephens. He is now on the Board! Call Washington DC and get it from the horse's mouth at the Federal Dept of Ed. It was deemed "ineffective", so stop bragging about an ineffective award. Start laughing every time someone tries to tell you about this "award winning district" that has had expired, ineffective, false awards, and phony claims about WASC middle school accreditation. The chickens have come home to roost. We don't believe Pres. Dorothy Beaubien, or Dolores Didio, or Baarstadt or Contini or the other spin doctors who have misled the public with incomplete statistics about the budget and the quality of education in Conejo schools.
Supt Mario Contini is full of it, threatening that student programs will be cut. He had the audacity to go to England to "study" education just this last November, right in the middle of this budget crisis. Would you take a working vacation abroad if your family were in serious financial trouble? Poor judgment, AGAIN, from Contini. There is tons of money in the $227M budget of the CVUSD. Cut the travel and conventions. Cut the meals.
Do NOT vote for EveryDay Math and the district will save close to $1M a year by not using throw away textbooks, and using the hideously expensive Successmaker computer tutoring program. I predict there will be a huge exodus from CVUSD this fall, now that parents have examined the advantages of private schools or home schooling vs the public school environment in Ventura County.
Come hear about an on-line charter high school program that is FREE on April 21st, 6 pm at the TO main library. Insight School is a national public school program open to Ventura County residents. Kids get a free laptop, scanner, and printer, and a choice of 130 courses, and a monthly stipend for software. The classes are live with 30 teachers. Yes, it is a Public Charter School! Good option for some kids. Come check it out. They can also provide us a public charter elementary school, brick and mortar, if there is enough interest. They have done this in other states.
http://insightca.net/inside_insight.asp
Posted by truth_be_told on March 16, 2008 at 12:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Just found out that Insight school is not going to be able to do a charter elementary school here. What they have in other states is something different. Here in Ventura County they are only going to do on-line charter public high schools for now. Too bad.
Anybody out there making progress on how to start up a charter school, besides a Green Dot School? I found out it is very expensive for parents to start this themselves. And then you've got the problem of finding board members. I think a magnet school could be started right away at CVUSD instead of renting out the 2 locations that they want to close. Convert 2 schools to an arts school and a science/math school, and maybe you will keep this district afloat. If not, then more parents will walk away. I will NOT be supporting the bond that was on the agenda for the last meeting. It will be discussed again on Tues, but most parents will have left the room when it comes up late in the evening. I will NOT support a parcel tax, a property tax, nor voluntary contributions to the problematic private organization known as the Conejo Schools Foundation (way overdue for an audit).
Remember, EveryDay Math equals school closures. Tell the Board on Tuesday to reject this program and implement one of the other 2 math book choices. If the Board does vote for EDM, many more parents will leave, and then there really will be a horrible financial crisis here that will continue with 4 schools closing by 2010, as predicted by Jeff Baarstadt, Financial Officer and Deputy Superintendent.
Posted by Face on March 16, 2008 at 1:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The chickens have come home to roost, and on the chopping block today? The children. Let's give a big hand to our legislature and governor for this one of many more gifts to come.
Posted by SDmom on March 16, 2008 at 1:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Conejo will never go for the magnet idea and the parents will loose even more control in that scenario. Chartering is the best answer for your school. It takes a lot of time and effort from the parents. There are some start up costs that you have but then the money starts funneling from the state. If this is something that you want to do. You need to jump on it. Your best bet would be to attempt to go directly to the county or state for approval, unless you CVUSD is behind you.
CAPE was very fortunate becuase they had 2 districts in Camarillo PVSD and OUHSD.
It was very hard work but they were able to get it done in several weeks.
Under Prop39 CVUSD is required to provide a facility to the students in the charter, unfortunately the application deadline for facilty for 08/09 is Oct. 07. This is why CAPE had to rent a facility for the current year. Next year PVSD should provide a facilty for them.
There are a lot of resources out there for you. Goodluck everyone this is the exact thing we exeperienced last year. CAPE was the best thing that could have ever happened to our kids.
Posted by hemlock1262 on March 16, 2008 at 5:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Prop 13, anyone?
Posted by spokenit on March 16, 2008 at 9:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
What happened to the LOTTO money?? LOL. Why is our gov. cutting the budget from public schools?? As I see it its quite simple. California is drowing in illegals and they are allowed to enter our school system and get everything free. There isnt enough $$$ to go around so the legal citizens of this great state will take it up the A** again. Our children are the ones suffering from over crowded, no books,no lockers etc... but hey lets shut down their schools, People will loose incomes/homes/ credit but hey it will save some money in the long run! And???
Posted by aloparc on March 17, 2008 at 11:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
CVUSD enrollment is not declining because of demographics. The National Center for Education Statistics indicates that K-5 aged children are projected to increase 9% through 2016. (See pg 5 of the pdf file - first paragraph)
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2008/2008060.pdf
Would any public school official ADMIT that declining enrollment is due to crummy academic programs implemented in the government run schools? Not likely, but the plain truth is that the converse of the old adage that parents flock to schools with outstanding programs is equally true.
In March of 2005 CVUSD had the highest enrollment figures it had ever obtained. Real Estate prices had peaked and were beginning to level off. (Note all these kids are already living here). But by the fall of 2005 something changed drastically. Over 500 fewer k-5 students returned to CVUSD classrooms in the fall of 2005 (enrollment dropped at ALL GRADE LEVELS). So what changed?
In March of 2005 parents went before the school board and asked to be given a choice for students to use traditional math instead of the “whole math” program called Everyday Math.
http://www.toacorn.com/News/2005/0324...
http://www.toacorn.com/News/2005/0331...
But the board rejected the parents request in May of 2005. By June of 2005 parents were writing to tell of their intentions to leave the district because of Everyday Math.
http://www.toacorn.com/news/2005/0602...
By Sept. 2005 over 500 fewer K-5 students returned to CVUSD classrooms - enough to close one school. (figures per Jeff Baarstad)
In the summer of 2006 the school board election again highlighted the district’s grossly inferior Everyday Math program along with the lagging API Similar Schools scores for CVUSD that are 40% dependent on student math achievement.
By the fall of 2006 an additional 400 K-5 CVUSD students left the district, enough to close a second school.
CVUSD uses a "whole math" program that does not teach the standard algorithms and does NOT require mastery of the basic fundamentals of mathematics to automaticity. CVUSD’s Everyday Math program is crippling the ability of many of our students to go into the fields of medicine, science, and engineering.
In an affluent community, any school district which refuses to provide the academic challenge its customers want, will find itself on the loosing end of that battle and suffering declining enrollment.
Raising taxes will not reverse declining enrollment, nor will it keep all of CVUSD schools open. The district continues to make poorly advised academic and financial decisions with little regard for the consequences.
EVERYDAY MATH = DECLINING ENROLLMENT = SCHOOL CLOSURES
CVUSD needs to reject Everyday Math this spring when it comes up for renewal.
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