Schools soar academically, survive financially [2012 Newsmaker]
Steve Riley does a call and repeat exercise with his morning class at Alta Vista Elementary on September 21. Riley and his teaching partner of 20 years, Christina Hann, will be retiring at the end of the school year. Photo
School districts in Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, and Manhattan Beach all excelled academically in 2012 and avoided drastic budget cuts when California voters approved Proposition 30. A bond measure passed in Redondo Beach will allow schools to become solar-powered while saving the district millions in utility costs, while El Camino College’s bond measure will enable an ambitious overhaul of facilities. Hermosa Beach saw a surprising uptick in student enrollment, and Manhattan Beach managed to find compromise after teachers controversially threatened to withhold recommendations from student college applications as a protest during contract negotiations.
Redondo Beach
Redondo Beach Unified School District leaders breathed a collective sigh of relief on November 6 after Measure Q was overwhelmingly passed by local voters. The $63 million bond will help the district upgrade its technology infrastructure, create an endowment to upgrade current and future technology and install solar panels at all schools. Altogether, the bond will save RBUSD’s general fund $2.2 million annually, including more than $500,000 in utility costs.
“I feel great,” said School Board Vice President Laura Emdee. “The outlook for Redondo is very optimistic. For the first time in years we can actually focus on how to better educate the kids and how to continually improve on the path we’re going on.”
State Proposition 30 also passed with 54 percent voting yes, saving schools across the state from what amounted to a fiscal cliff that would have required drastic budget cuts. Proposition 30’s quarter-percent tax-hike will generate $6 billion in revenue for the next four years and raise tax on incomes over $250,000 for the next seven years.
“[Prop.] 30’s going to save us this year, that’s the bottom line,” said Emdee. “We no longer have to have the 12 furlough days. But with 30 we didn’t get more money, all it did was save us from being cut. It’s not suddenly that we’re flush with money, but with Q next year we’ll have a $2.2 million buffer.”
RBUSD students improved their statewide Academic Performance Index Scores (API) by an unprecedented 18 points this year, far surpassing last year’s average growth of seven points bringing the RBUSD’s average score to 891. For the first year since the creation of the API, all RBUSD elementary schools received above 900 and Redondo Union jumped by 19 points, just nine points below 900.
Superintendent Steven Keller noted that the achievement was particularly impressive when compared to high-achieving Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach school districts, each which scored in the 900s but are less socioeconomically diverse than Redondo Beach.
“We are a diverse community,” said Keller. “One thing is that we have ethnic and economic diversity, and on the back side you have high achievement. Our work is significant to the children we serve. At the same time, API is just one indicator in the grand scheme of things.”
Hermosa Beach
The Hermosa Beach City School District opened the school year in September with more than 80 new students, increasing its enrollment to 1,398 students. The small school district, with two schools of kindergarteners through eighth-graders, is making plans for dealing with a larger student body. The board of education this month formed a 12-person facilities committee, with five community members and seven administrators and school staff members.
The committee will examine the possibility of using classroom space at North School, which leases the building from the district and offers a pre-school and South Bay Adult School classes for families.
The committee will also look at options to boost revenue through creative facilities planning, as well as the possibility of using modular classrooms and building permanent facilities. The committee’s specific focus is both short- and long-term facilities planning and will make its recommendations to the board of education.
This year, the school district converted the multi-purpose rooms to classrooms at both View and Valley schools in order to maintain class sizes at 25 students. An extra section of kindergarten at View and a large third grade at Valley necessitated the space, school officials said.
School officials informally interviewed parents over the admissions counter at the beginning of the school year and learned that parents are moving to the city because of the good reputation of the schools as well as because parents are moving closer to new jobs.
Manhattan Beach
In the midst of the excitement of Manhattan Beach Unified School District’s first ever iPad integration in Manhattan Beach Middle School’s classrooms, the teachers union questioned the district’s use of funds, and in late March, sparked a protest against the district’s labor negotiations. Tensions arose when Mira Costa teachers opted out of the longstanding Scholar Quiz event, among other extracurricular activities, and refused to write students’ recommendation letters. According to the union, Manhattan Beach school teachers had not received a raise since 2007, despite ongoing increases in cost of living.
After months of crossfire with the students seemingly caught in the middle, the district, the Manhattan Beach Unified Teachers Association and California School Employees Association reached an agreement in September that provided all MBUSD employees with a 3 percent salary increase for the 2012-13 school year.
In terms of performance, MBUSD continued its steady climb in the Academic Performance Index test scores this year, reaching an all-time peak at 937 out of 1,000. This marked the second consecutive year that all seven schools in the district scored above the 900 mark.
Another significant development in local education, Measure E was approved by voters, which will allow El Camino Community College to raise $350 million for new facilities. Measure E will fund a new music, theater and arts complex, a new football stadium, and new fitness, counseling and student activities centers. The funds will also renovate Marsee Auditorium and the library.
The passage of the bond will save the campus about $1 million annually in utilities through improvements to the schools heating and lighting systems, school officials said.
Related: RBUSD administrators breathe a sigh of relief after Measure Q passes
Related: Hermosa Beach school enrollment numbers increase
Related: In labor protest, Manhattan Beach teachers refuse to write letters of recommendation