Santa Rosa School District is looking at a multi-million dollar budget cut after a steady decline in enrollment. The decrease in the budget creates financial stress for the school district to provide special programming to specific groups of students as well as keep jobs related to that special programming.
This cut will affect English language learning programs due to a decrease in two currently staffed positions. While enrollment has gone down, these programs are still of great value to the school district. These positions travel throughout the schools in the district in order to provide this special programming.
Along with the two positions for English language counseling, 17 positions in total have been proposed to be trimmed at the March 11 school district meeting according to the Press Democrat. The district’s meeting agenda posted after the said meeting states, “Particular kinds of service recommended for reduction are based upon program needs and student enrollment.” Staff with the least seniority would be the first notified of their release from employment after the school year ends. This comes at a time when teachers and school employees are more important than ever as the country faces a teaching shortage, as reported by the Economic Policy Institute.
However, the district is faced with a difficult decision in this process to release employees as their annual budget continues to decline. The district contends with a large deficit of 13 million over the next 3 years, as stated by Yousef Baig of the Press Democrat. This means they must recover ways to save that money or face turning their finances over to the state. While there has been a steady decline in enrollment since 2015, there is hope that the district can turn around as they continue to outreach their plans to create a stronger district education system.
According to Baig, there was an “agreement reached with teachers in 2019 to provide a 7% raise over two years,” which means that the teachers who currently work for the district will be compensated more appropriately for their work. However, it does not help the overall budget of the school district. In the words of Early Childhood Education student, Domenic Fauria, “It is great that teachers are getting paid more, as they should, however, I do see how this declining budget for the school district can make it difficult to keep positions and programming open.”
However, this budget crisis is not just limited to Santa Rosa’s school district but the entire state. According to Santa Rosa Deputy Superintendent Rick Edson, the budget-cutting and difficult decision making for school districts is “a California State Problem.”
On a positive note, the school district passed a measure on March 11 to approve the resolution of National Women’s History Month as March. This means the school district will be including more history on the accomplishments of women and in the words of the school district, “honor their role in shaping the course of our Nation’s history.” This will allow students of Santa Rosa City Schools to receive a stronger education on the roles and achievement of women which will, in turn, give students a more well-rounded education that will set them up for success through the rest of their lives.
According to the district’s website, these meetings are held twice a month on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday, except for July, November, and December, when they are only held once. These meetings are important due to the many problems the school district faces with the declining enrollment numbers.
These board meetings are also open to the public to raise their concerns as well. However, those interested must reach out to the Board Secretary prior to the meeting. Agendas of each meeting are offered online in detail for those curious as to what challenges the school board is currently faced with.
