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San Diego Unified Board of Education, San Diego Unified School District, San Diego Unified School District Superintendent Cindy Marten, SDUSD Trustee Richard Barrera, SDUSD Trustee Sharon Whitehurst -Payne
Another week, another disastrous San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) educational outcome for students and families.
It is clear that the total leadership incompetence, inexperience and corruption of Superintendent Marten, Trustee Tricky Dick Barrera and Trustee Sharon “Flying by the Seat of our Pants” Whitehurst Payne and the rest of their leadership cronies continues to damage the education of tens of thousands of SDUSD Students.
This Sunday Reads features an an excellent and extremely concise article from the San Diego Union Tribune (SDUT) by Ms. Kristen Taketa almost in its entirety that provides a rundown of the actions taken in the December 8, 2020 SDUSD Board of Education Meeting
We have highlighted the most SDUSD relevant excerpts from the SDUT article below but strongly urge our readers to click on the title and read the full article for themselves.
BE WELL…TAKE COVID 19 PRECAUTIONS
San Diego Unified May Cut $155 Million from Budget, Approves 370 Early Retirements
District projects budget cuts for next year while not knowing how much state and federal funding it will get
QUOTES FROM ARTICLE:
San Diego Unified’s school board approved an interim budget that projects $155 million in cuts next school year and $41 million the following year.
The board also approved early retirement incentives for 370 employees, including 130 educators, which provide an exit option for older employees who would choose not to return to working in-person during the pandemic.
The district said it now has a “qualified” budget certification, meaning that the district may not be able to meet its financial obligations for the current school year or next two years.
San Diego Unified has a total budget of $1.6 billion.
The budget projections and the qualified designation could change in coming months, once the district learns how much money the state plans to give the district next school year, district leaders said.
“All of this right now is just we hope that we will get monies for this and that … and yet we’re required to do a budget when we have no idea how much money we will get,” said Board Trustee Sharon Whitehurst-Payne during Tuesday night’s board meeting.
Even before the projected deficit for next school year, the district estimates it may overspend its unrestricted funds this year by about $48.9 million, according to district documents.
District finance officials said potential budget cuts for next year could include “program shifts,” “greater efficiencies,” a spending freeze and a hiring freeze.
Tamara Hurley, a community resident, said she thinks the district is being too vague.
“The intent of this first interim report is to explain what the district will do to remain solvent in future years,” Hurley said during public comments, which are written and are read aloud by district officials because the public cannot attend meetings in person during the pandemic. “Instead the public is left with vague references to program shifts, greater efficiencies, hiring, spending freezes and other reductions.”
Base state school funding is allocated on a per-student basis. But throughout the pandemic, the state has not decreased its base funding to schools even though many school districts, like San Diego, are reporting larger-than-usual enrollment declines due to the pandemic.
In September, San Diego Unified announced that its enrollment had fallen below pre-pandemic projections by about 2,500 students. Enrollment has appeared to continue its decline since then.
In September, the district said it enrolled 100,348 students but, as of the beginning of December, the district showed 97,756 students in its schools, according to county data.
San Diego Unified received about $115 million in federal coronavirus aid this school year, which helped fill the deficit the district was anticipating for this year. But the district is not counting on getting another federal stimulus payment, Board Vice President Richard Barrera said at Tuesday’s meeting.
The district also was anticipating roughly $30 million in additional state funding this year to pay for cost-of-living increases, but that did not materialize — which is another reason the district is anticipating a $155 million deficit next year, Barrera said.
The district offered the early retirement incentive partly to help prevent layoffs of teachers and staff amid declining enrollment, district officials said.
The district offered the buyouts in October to employees who are 55 or older and have worked in the district at least 15 years. Employees who take the buyout will retire effective Dec. 31.
Instead of a direct payout, the district will pay retirees in the form of healthcare reimbursements. The district will pay $15,000 a year to retirees if they are not in Medicare and $5,000 for retirees who are Medicare-eligible.
Health insurance is one of the main factors deterring many employees from retiring before they turn 65, Superintendent Cindy Marten said during Tuesday’s meeting.
The healthcare reimbursements will last for five years.
Officials say the retirement plan will be cost-neutral over five years, but they have not said publicly how much the plan will cost or save the district each year.
Hurley said in another public comment that the lack of financial details is concerning, considering the district is approving retirement payouts while projecting the $48.9 million of deficit spending this year and a $155 million total deficit next year.
“To vote for this without more detailed financial information would be fiscally irresponsible,” she said.
Whitehurst-Payne, who previously worked in the district’s human resources department, said she proposed the idea of a retirement incentive because she had heard some staff say they could not see themselves ever going back to work in-person because of the pandemic. When the district returns to in-person school, the district may have to hire substitutes for those teachers, which would create disruptions for students, Whitehurst-Payne suggested.
“By doing the program this way, I think we’re able to help those folks to move on with their lives and to help children to have more stability,” Whitehurst-Payne said.
But some parents said they are concerned that the mid-year departure of 130 educators will cause disruptions to students at a time where they are already struggling with distance learning.
Parent Jennifer Fox said her second-grade daughter is getting a new teacher starting Jan. 4 because her school is shuffling staff due to the buyouts. She said she hasn’t been told yet who the teacher is.
“This was very cruel of the district to do in a pandemic year where the children, especially the younger ones, are already suffering enough from the failure of distance learning,” Fox said during public comments.
Marten said the district has a transition plan that aims to minimize movement of staff and disruptions to students.
The district plans to fill vacant positions by turning part-time employees into full-time ones, transferring employees internally, hiring visiting teachers to become classroom teachers, and hiring December graduates from teacher education programs, district spokeswoman Maureen Magee in an email.
She said the district is handling the early retirement plan internally, so it did not need prior board approval. The district would have needed prior approval if it were to contract with a third-party retirement plan administrator, she said.
Among the 370 employees who have taken buyouts are:
- 130 educators, including teachers, counselors, nurses and other employees
- 86 operations and support services members, which could include bus drivers and maintenance employees
- 61 classroom aides
- 58 clerical employees
- 26 administrators, including two principals and three vice principals
- Seven non-represented employees
- Two school police
San Diego Unified’s school police Chief Michael Marquez is among those who took a buyout. Marquez has been chief since 2017 and has served in San Diego Unified school police since 2001.
Also during the board meeting, President John Lee Evans appeared to respond to recent complaints from parents and the local ACLU about how the district handles public comments during board meetings. Critics had said that not all comments were being read aloud and that some comments were being edited.
Evans said the board is planning to post all public comments — in their entirety — on the district’s website.
DISTRICT DEEDS SYNOPSIS AND COMMENTARY:
So much information and so much exposure of the SDUSD leadership void in only one article!
There are 3 items in the article that really illustrate the deep seated financial and operational incompetence of SDUSD Superintendent Cindy Marten and the corrupt Board of Education (BOE).
Item 1: Budget Mismanagement
So let’s get this straight:
“San Diego Unified received about $115 million in federal coronavirus aid this school year, which helped fill the deficit the district was anticipating for this year.“
So instead of using ALL of the $115 million federal money for Coronavirus safety measures for in-person learning, Marten and the Board spent that money to coverup their $84 million budget deficit.
But even the $115 million was not enough!
Trustee Tricky Dick Barrera wanted an additional $30 million for a “cost of living” payoff to his Teachers Union political boosters that refused to go to schools for in-person learning even in the ridiculous SDUSD Phase 1/2/3 plan.
But there’s more!
“San Diego Unified has a total budget of $1.6 billion.“
The current 2020/21 budget was originally estimated to be between $1.2 and $1.3 billion. Now the budget for 2021/2022 has ballooned to $1.6 billion. That is approximately a $300 million budget increase.
On top of it all:
“The district said it now has a “qualified” budget certification, meaning that the district may not be able to meet its financial obligations for the current school year or next two years.“
In other words the SDUSD so-called “2021/22 budget” is just a smokescreen and the SDUSD continues to spend money it doesn’t have.
Apparently even $1.6 BILLION isn’t enough for the corrupt SDUSD Superintendent and Trustees.
Sharon “Flying by the Seat of our Pants” Whitehurst Payne renewed her nickname from April 2017 with the following comment:
“All of this right now is just we hope that we will get monies for this and that … and yet we’re required to do a budget when we have no idea how much money we will get,” said Board Trustee Sharon Whitehurst-Payne during Tuesday night’s board meeting.
EDITOR NOTE: Don’t bother looking for 19/20, 20/21 or 21/22 budget information on the SDUSD’s horrible excuse for a website. The SDUSD “Budget” page profiles the two year old 2018/19 budget:
The SDUSD Budget Page is just like the SDUSD leadership…Three years late and 300 million dollars short!!!
Item 2: Huge Enrollment Erosion
The article mentions SDUSD enrollment as follows:
In September, San Diego Unified announced that its enrollment had fallen below pre-pandemic projections by about 2,500 students. Enrollment has appeared to continue its decline since then.
In September, the district said it enrolled 100,348 students but, as of the beginning of December, the district showed 97,756 students in its schools, according to county data.
This is a total lie to the County and to all SDUSD Stakeholders. With attendance based on one logon per week required, “asynchronous learning” and SDUSD Students moving to homeschooling, charters and other school districts, does anyone really believe that the SDUSD has lost only 2,592 students this school year?
In fact another article by Ms. Taketa titled “For Many Teachers, Distance Learning is a Constant Fight to Get Students to Engage” only a fraction of students actually attend class and/or participate every day! At what point should they be considered not to be actually enrolled?
The question is:
Why would the SDUSD lie about enrollment?
The answer is:
Money!!!
Every SDUSD Student represents money from the State and Federal governments. If the financially incompetent and corrupt SDUSD leadership was honest about enrollment they would have an even LARGER budget deficit for this school year and next!
Item 3: Total SDUSD Leadership avoidance of operational and budget transparency.
The quote by SDUSD Stakeholder Tamara Hurley says it all:
“The intent of this first interim report is to explain what the district will do to remain solvent in future years,” Hurley said during public comments, which are written and are read aloud by district officials because the public cannot attend meetings in person during the pandemic. “Instead the public is left with vague references to program shifts, greater efficiencies, hiring, spending freezes and other reductions.”
The response to the the statement by Ms. Hurley is simple.
Sharon “Flying by the Seat of our Pants” Whitehurst Payne renewed her nickname from April 2017 and answered Ms. Hurley with the following comment:
“All of this right now is just we hope that we will get monies for this and that … and yet we’re required to do a budget when we have no idea how much money we will get,” said Board Trustee Sharon Whitehurst-Payne during Tuesday night’s board meeting.
It is clear that the insolvent SDUSD is headed for a financial, operational and enrollment crash and they don’t want anyone to know it.
The day will come in the near future that Marten, Barrera, Payne and their six figure cronies will not be able to cover it up and Students, Teachers, Staff and all other Stakeholders will end up paying for it by further layoffs and elimination of important student support and enrichment services,
That is one fact that is “Unstoppable”.
The real truth is:
Now our Quote of the Week:
““When dealing with two-faced people, it is difficult to know which face is uglier, the real one or the manufactured one.” ― Matshona Dhliwayo
#UNCONSCIONABLE
MARTENSGOTTAGO
#BARRERASGOTTAGO
#PAYNESGOTTAGO
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IF
- Your family has been injured by the San Diego Unified School District, go to the District Deeds Complaint Forms page to find instructions to fight for your Civil Rights!
- YOU ARE TIRED OF THE COVER UPS AND LIES BY SUPT. CINDY MARTEN…
Please Click the Link Below and sign the Petition Today and READ the COMMENTS to Support the REMOVAL of Marten by SDUSD Stakeholders!
District Deeds 