The San Diego Unified School Board of Trustees and the superintendent are entirely responsible for the current budget deficit. For more than three years, SDUSD has operated with budgets that relied upon one-time money (e.g. property sales, rainy day fund, etc.) to balance the budget. The decision-makers took no action to avert this day of reckoning, resulting in a massive debt that will be balanced on the backs of children. The San Diego Unified School Board of Trustees did not exercise their fiduciary responsibility to represent their constituents. The superintendent position is intended to serve at the direction of the trustees. SDUSD has consolidated all power in the person of Cindy Marten.We, as parent leaders in San Diego Unified, demand the following: Budget solutions should be made around plans for students, not merely cutting the budget and then seeing how students’ needs fit into the district cuts. Prepare for even less revenue in the May revise due to the following: Loss of Title I at the federal level and possibly other federal cuts that will result in funds going to programs other than education in the state of California. Remove top-heavy central office layers of bureaucracy through the lens of student needs and accountability. The FACE department would be one place to cut bureaucracy. Involve parent leaders in reorganization and expenditure plans. Budget solutions ought not to depend on the centralized control of the IEP process. The notion of special education staffing allocations is largely antithetical to the spirit, integrity and autonomy of the IEP teams making student-centered decisions. Budget solutions must exclude the use of Title I money to fill the general fund deficit. Title I money is not to supplant, but supplement the needs of students in poverty. Do not balance the budget on the backs of elementary students. The elimination of the GATE supports, elementary educational programs provided during teacher prep time, and support services for English Learners is unacceptable. Include in the LCAP at least one year’s worth of growth for each student. Signed,
Moira Allbritton
Chair of the Community Advisory Committee for Special Education, Spouse of Active Duty Military Suzy Reid DAC Chair, PL Cluster parent, and registered voter Jennifer Tandy
Cluster Congress Chair, Mission Bay Cluster Board Katie Anderson
Past GATE DAC chair, LCAP participant, SSC member, parent leadership council founder, community member Lily Higman
Mission Bay Cluster Chair –Elect, GATE DAC 2nd Chair Tamara Hurley
Cluster Congress Representative, DAC Representative, Calendar Committee Member Elizabeth Nagy
Past GATE DAC Chair, LCAP Participant, SSC member, Parent Leadership Council Co-founder Amy Redding
Past District Advisory Council Chair; Member of LCAP Work group