We have been fortunate to have
the ability to innovate our classrooms
to increase student agency and
collaboration—skills they’ll need in
the workforce—and promote our
8th graders into high school with full
leadership as well as academic skills.”
James Dent, Principal, Gilroy Prep
High Cost of Preschool Options
For families with children aged three to five, pre-school
offers an early start on academics and provides safe reliable
daycare during work hours. Privately-owned facilities tend
to be cost-prohibitive for many young parents.
“Families are coming to us for pre-kindergarten
opportunities within the school district,” Betando added.
“Many are dual-income families who work out of the area.
This year we started a transitional kindergarten (T-K)
program at El Toro and it has grown.”
“We are also exploring options to develop our own pre-
schools on our campuses. I’m excited about this opportunity.
We’re conducting a study on this now, looking at facilities,
staffing and costs to offer this service for student families as
well as for our employees with children. We need to be
competitive with other districts where people work,
like San Jose.”
Rising Pension Costs
GUSD School Board Trustee James Pace said that as CalPRS
and CalSTRS rates continue to rise, the state has increased
school districts’ required contributions to these pension
funds.
In some cases, districts’ are seeing these costs double.
Meanwhile, teacher’s strikes like the January strike in Los
Angeles point to the challenges of low-paid teachers, over-
crowded classes and under-funded education programs faced
by many California school districts.
Pace added that locally, educators have worked through
tough negotiations to reach resolution, avoid strikes, and
keep schools operating.
36
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
Increased Special Ed Costs
Mary Ann Dewan is Superintendent of County Schools in
Santa Clara County’s Office of Education. Dewan said that
the majority of the county’s 1,674 employees in the Office of
Education are focused on special education, early learning,
and alternative education programs. Some of their services
and programs are funded through LCFF and grants, but as
she noted, special education programs are funded primarily
by the local school districts.
“We are seeing increasing enrollment of students
identified as having a disability,” Dewan said. She added
that dyslexia and autism are examples that might indicate
special education services would be needed for a student.
“In California, school districts aren’t funded based on the
number of students with disabilities. Meanwhile, the cost
of programs, staff salaries, benefits, and facilities are going
up and so, a larger portion of district budgets is needed for
special education.”
According to GUSD Superintendent Flores, “Many school
districts are under-funded by the state, yet we’re mandated
by the state to provide these services, and we want to, but it’s
a challenge. Our required contribution to special education
programs has doubled in the last five years.”
Tweaking the COLA
Every year, the state budget includes a cost-of-living adjust-
ment (COLA) to certain school and community college
programs. By law, the COLA must link to the national price
index set by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (U.S. Depart-
ment of Commerce). The index reflects the cost of goods and
services purchased by state and local governments nation-
wide, with the largest element of the index being employee
salaries and wages.
The new COLA rate for 2018-19 is 2.71 percent (up
slightly from 2.51 percent the previous year). The estimated
cost of the COLA increased to $1.7 billion—$1.3 billion for
april/may 2019
gmhtoday.com
CHARTER
recent years to reward their employees and be competitive
with other districts. But even with that, many teachers are
forced to live outside the district and commute in from
a distance.