Read from bottom to top.
Meeting adjourned. Over and out!Tue Jun 29 2010 18:29:48 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
Labor leader Leticia Munguia raises a point I hadn’t heard – says a report on keeping science scores up was ignored. Hey teachers — has it?Tue Jun 29 2010 18:29:41 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
John de Beck says a restoration list would be a waste of time because the school district will just have to make more cuts next year.Tue Jun 29 2010 18:24:13 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
Without a list, Nakamura says, “somehow we forget all the people and the programs we have left behind.”Tue Jun 29 2010 18:22:40 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
What are Nakamura and Jackson worried about on those federal funds? Read our earlier article to understand: http://is.gd/d9okQTue Jun 29 2010 18:21:13 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
Nakamura asks the superintendent to come up with an actual list of things to be restored if money comes in.Tue Jun 29 2010 18:20:49 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
That is — things to restore if budgets are restored.Tue Jun 29 2010 18:20:08 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
Nakamura says the federal funding for disadvantaged students being used for counselors should be at the top of the list of things to restoreTue Jun 29 2010 18:19:52 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
Budget passes 3 to 2 with Shelia Jackson and John de Beck in opposition.Tue Jun 29 2010 18:18:53 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
Nakamura says she will change her vote in the interests of going forward.Tue Jun 29 2010 18:18:40 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
de Beck: “I think we ended up sticking it to people we shouldn’t have.”Tue Jun 29 2010 18:18:22 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
de Beck says he doesn’t agree with the strategies they’ve taken.Tue Jun 29 2010 18:18:08 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
Wow — the school board just voted on the budget and it failed. John de Beck, Shelia Jackson and Katherine Nakamura voted against it.Tue Jun 29 2010 18:17:49 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
Board member Shelia Jackson says she won’t be voting for budget because she has concerns about using fed. funds for disadvantaged students.Tue Jun 29 2010 18:17:26 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
Fun with graphs: the scale of this one goes from $4,400 to $6,000. Not to diminish the size of the cuts, but I hate monkeying with scale.Tue Jun 29 2010 18:14:34 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
To be clear, the school district also gets other funding besides this basic per-pupil allotment. But this is a big chunk of its state funds.Tue Jun 29 2010 18:13:39 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
Stover also shows how the basic per-pupil funding SDUSD gets from California had dropped from $5,787 in 07-08 to $4,957 for the coming year.Tue Jun 29 2010 18:13:14 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
If not, it will exceed $200 million, Stover says.Tue Jun 29 2010 18:12:14 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
If SDUSD makes cuts next year that carry over into the following year, the deficit it has to cope with in 2012/2013 will be smaller.Tue Jun 29 2010 18:12:02 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
Salaries and benefits will make up nearly 92 percent of the San Diego Unified day-to-day budget in three years, because of cuts.Tue Jun 29 2010 18:04:41 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
(As someone who regularly bothers the school district budget staff for data, I have to say, they have a tough job and stay nice despite it.)Tue Jun 29 2010 17:59:44 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
Interim finance chief Phil Stover thanks the budget staff for working long and hard on the budget.Tue Jun 29 2010 17:58:52 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
Using flexible funds as the school district already has passed 4 to 1 with Shelia Jackson in opposition. Is this the new split on the board?Tue Jun 29 2010 17:58:14 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
Board member Katherine Nakamura says it makes sense to track how much is being taken from programs like gifted ed.Tue Jun 29 2010 17:56:59 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
I can’t tell from her facial expression exactly what the gifted and talented programs director thinks of that one …Tue Jun 29 2010 17:56:14 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
De Beck refers to gifted advocates as “GATE-istas.” GATE is the acronym commonly used for gifted and talented programs.Tue Jun 29 2010 17:55:57 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
Foster didn’t mention this, but outside auditors also pointed out that San Diego Unified had to hold a hearing about these funds.Tue Jun 29 2010 17:55:12 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
Budget staffer Debbie Foster says they just learned about the requirement to tell the public about how it was spending these funds recently.Tue Jun 29 2010 17:54:52 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
For more background on what funding flexibility is, check out our old article: http://is.gd/d9mDOTue Jun 29 2010 17:54:11 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
Board member John Lee Evans puts it a little more mildly: “This is just an accounting of what we already did.”Tue Jun 29 2010 17:53:47 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
School board member John de Beck calls it “retroactively approving that we stole money” from those funds.Tue Jun 29 2010 17:52:32 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
Other earmarked funds? Dropout prevention clinics. 10th grade counseling. Principal training.Tue Jun 29 2010 17:51:20 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
California has temporarily given school districts flexibility on funds that used to be earmarked for specific purposes, like gifted ed.Tue Jun 29 2010 17:50:28 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
The school board is now going over what state funds have been freed up from specific purposes to use for anything.Tue Jun 29 2010 17:49:58 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
By the way @SDCityClerk, I think I went to your kid’s class. Not to be creepy or anything. They were very into proper meeting procedures!Tue Jun 29 2010 17:47:32 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
I asked her about it earlier this week and got a “no comment.”Tue Jun 29 2010 17:31:11 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
That is the same way Jackson voted in closed session when Kowba was chosen as “the sole finalist” last week.Tue Jun 29 2010 17:30:50 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
Stepped into the school board meeting late. What I missed: Board officially voted 4-0 for Bill Kowba’s contract. Shelia Jackson abstained.Tue Jun 29 2010 17:30:31 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web
Someone just thanked me for being “a principled and ethical reporter.” Thanks! Seriously … thanks!Tue Jun 29 2010 17:28:32 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web