We asked readers “If the state put you in charge of San Diego Unified School District, how would you fix things?”


Time to Get Real, By Joan Larsen

It is obvious that ALL areas of government, schools, city and State MUST make deep cuts.

There can be no immunities. We all must feel the pain. New taxes cannot be levied at this time. Common sense must prevail and that means take a percent whack at the whole budget. (10, 20 or 30 percent whatever will get the job done) There can be NO exceptions.

Get real people.

Joan M Larsen lives in Serra Mesa.


Time to Do the Unpopular, by Fran Pillersdorf

SDUSD needs to reduce the numbers of schools it operates; schools that are not being maximized should then be leased to charter schools per Proposition 39 ruling. I believe SDUSD has a lot of staff at top that could be cut. Need to change contract with teachers union, so non-performing teachers can be fired. San Diego Unified’s school board will have to make unpopular moves.

Fran Pillersdorf lives in downtown San Diego.


Make Cuts, By Barry Bernstein

Reconsider closing elementary schools and consolidate to K-8 campuses where feasible.

Sell properties. Initiate an emergency school bond measure. Reduce/eliminate busing for integration programs.

Barry Bernstein lives in San Diego.


Want to contribute to discussion? Submit a suggestion to Fix San Diego.

Dagny Salas was web editor at Voice of San Diego from 2010 to 2013. She was an investigative fellow at VOSD from 2009 to 2010.

Leave a comment

We expect all commenters to be constructive and civil. We reserve the right to delete comments without explanation. You are welcome to flag comments to us. You are welcome to submit an opinion piece for our editors to review.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.