Shoreline Unified School District’s board of trustees addressed several measures aimed at correcting the district’s badly imbalanced budget during an all-day meeting last Thursday, but also passed over certain key topics that have vexed the community since fall.
The board left two items off the agenda that were major subjects at the December meeting: a tabled resolution to reduce Superintendent Tom Stubbs’s hours and “eliminate” the principal position for Tomales and Bodega Bay Elementary Schools, and a discussion of the board’s health benefits. Many Shoreline parents, teachers and community members have called for trustees to voluntarily relinquish their Kaiser health benefits, which cost the district around $40,000 annually, at a time when staff layoffs could come as soon as mid-March.
Newly appointed board president Jill Manning-Sartori said no trustees had given up their benefits since last month’s meeting.
The board did approve a resolution that initiates a retirement incentive program for Shoreline teachers. The intent of the resolution is to encourage at least five teachers to retire this year in order to save younger teachers from receiving pink slips, a move that the district’s administration will have to make to satisfy the county.
Last September, the Marin County Office of Education demanded that Shoreline resolve its budget deficit by laying off around six teachers and a similar number of staff by the end of this school year—or the district will face a county takeover. The retirement resolution is one of two incentive packages that administrators are banking on to forgo layoffs through attrition.
(The other package is set aside for “classified” staff, which includes maintenance, transportation and administrative posts.)Eligible retirees who agree to retire between April 1 and June 30 will be credited an additional two years of benefits under the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, with costs to be recouped by the school district.
“We are hoping we don’t have to lay anyone off,” said Mr. Stubbs, speaking at an ad hoc budget meeting last Monday that preceded the Thursday board meeting. “We are more than halfway there.”
So far, three teachers out of the needed five have signed up for the package. But, according to the terms of the deal, if two more teachers do not sign up by the Jan. 31 deadline, the deal is off.
Another idea introduced at the meeting by the district’s outgoing chief business officer, Susan Skipp, was for the board to consider changing its policy regarding inter-district transfers.
Currently, Shoreline is not recognized as a “district of choice” by the California Department of Education, and as such is missing out on state funding available for districts of this designation.
School districts in California are divided into two categories: those funded by the state through the Local Control Funding Formula, and “basic aid” districts, such as Shoreline, that are funded mostly by property tax revenue.
Should Shoreline’s board pass a resolution to declare itself a district of choice, any students who transfer to Shoreline from non-basic aid districts will bring with them 70 percent of the state funding that was originally given to those
districts.
“We only get a few kids that come from basic-aid districts,” said Ms. Skipp, whose last day on the job is Jan. 31. “But at this point, anything and everything needs to be discussed.”
Were Shoreline to switch to a district of choice, it would also give up its flexibility to deny inter-district transfers, since state education code sets tougher limits on when and how districts of choice can prohibit transfers.
Shoreline trustees considered making the switch two years ago, but decided against it, citing a desire for that
flexibility.
At Thursday’s meeting, trustee Jim Lino made a quick and unofficial calculation of how much the district might receive from inter-district state funding, based on how many students transferred to Shoreline last school year. He came up with an estimated $100,000.
“Certainly, the revenue is attractive,” Mr. Lino said. “That may be an incentive for us to be more timely for making a
decision.”
The board will revisit the question during next month’s meeting.
Aside from over four hours of reports and presentations from the high school’s students and staff earlier in the morning, the board’s regular meeting in the afternoon blew by like a breeze—much quicker and smoother than last month’s end-of-the-year marathon session.
Among these presentations were positive updates on new morning exercise programs at Tomales and Inverness Elementary Schools and an impassioned plea from community members for the board to continue funding the Family Centers program through funds from the Marin Community Foundation.
The next meeting of the board is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 19 at West Marin School.