MELA, Publications Policy at Feb. 12 PVPUSD Board Meeting
We have a packed meeting tomorrow night, February 12 starting at 5:30 in the board room. Up for discussion are solutions for financial deficit due to declining enrollment at our preschools, and a number of policy revisions including PVPUSD’s publication and agenda preparation policies.
Due to a 2.2 million dollar structural budget deficit, the district is having to make cuts to the budget. I wrote about our budget study session here. The bond we passed in November can only be used for buildings, and not for operational costs like teacher salaries.
Item K1 is a discussion regarding Miraleste Early Learning Academy (MELA), which is a preschool serving children ages 2-5. The school operates entirely on parent fee revenue and does not receive state funding. MELA has been operating at a deficit for the past eight years, impacting the PVPUSD general fund.
School districts in California are not required by law to offer preschool, but they are required to offer transitional kindergarten (TK) to eligible students. I personally disagree with the state’s TK mandate and am deeply saddened at the prospect of so many sweet preschools having to close their doors because of the loss of enrollment due to kids leaving for “free TK.” But, this is the reality in which we find ourselves due to poorly considered state policies.
The enrollment trends for the district’s two preschools, MELA and VELA, are shown below compared to the TK enrollment. The green line shows TK projections, and as that line grows, the VELA and MELA lines shrink.
The Board is considering a number of options to address this financial deficit and decline in enrollment at tomorrow’s meeting. If you would like to share your thoughts, please email the board and superintendent, and/or speak in person. If more than 20 speakers request to make public comment at the meeting, speakers will be limited to one minute per person. If there are fewer than 20, each speaker will have 3 minutes to speak.
Publications and Speech Policy
In addition to discussing preschool enrollment, we will be reviewing multiple policies, including policies pertaining to student publications and free speech (Item K2).
Aligning Dismissal Times for Grades 1 through 5
Many in the community have asked me about the messages they’ve received from union reps regarding alignment of dismissal times for elementary schools. This issue is the subject of bargaining with the union. Past practice in the district has been to post every offer and counter-offer between the district and union here, and my hope and expectation is that these will continue to be posted and made public so that the community is apprised of what is being discussed and is not just hearing one side of the discussion.
The full agenda is here. Please contact me with any questions or concerns. This is just one lady’s opinion. I don’t speak for the board and no one else speaks for me.
