Real Estate Articles
FUHSD Explains Financial Dilemma
Polly Bove, superintendent of the Fremont Union High School District, told SILVAR members at this week's Cupertino/Sunnyvale District tour meeting that for many people, elementary students are more pleasing than the high school teen-agers, but after her presentation, she promised members would become enamored with the District's students too.
Bove's presentation showed that the District's students are intelligent, problem solvers, citizens of the world and active volunteers, whose recent efforts have raised over $10,000 and hundreds of pairs of jeans for Haiti relief, thousands of canned goods, clothes and toys for local community services, collected a record number pints of blood for the American Red Cross.
She indicated the District's students excel – FUHSD is the third highest performing high school district in CA; 90 percent of graduates enter college with over 55 percent going directly to four-year universities; students from all five of the district's high schools (Monta Vista, Cupertino, Lynbrook, Homestead and Fremont) perform equally as well at UCs, with GPAs over 3.0. Students from each school are also involved in various in business and community projects, and recently, Cupertino High's seniors' Kenya Dream, a project to upgrade facilities of the Nthimbiri Secondary School in Kenya in partnership with Cupertino Rotary, won the students $100,000 in the Dell Super Prom contest.
Yet, future funding for the District is uncertain. State funding is down $10.7 million. Per student funding continues to fall, with FUHSD already near bottom at $9,255 per student, compared to other districts in the region that receive between $13,509 (Palo Alto Unified) and $11, 264 (Los Gatos-Saratoga) per student.
Bove explained FUHSD is a basic aid school district funded on local property tax, which has experienced a shortfall of $1.4 million per year. Without touching the classroom, the District has already reduced staffing costs by $500,000 through careful planning and attrition, frozen salaries of all administrators, teachers and support staff since 2007-2008; cut $600,000 in ongoing District administrative costs; cut over $1,000,000 in Adult &Community Education; reduced summer school budget by 40 percent in 2009 and planning for additional cuts this summer; reduced annual compensated professional development days for teachers; leveraged construction bond projects to reduce annual utility costs and operating expenses; and collaborated with the City of Cupertino to provide fee-based programs that augment our lean summer school options. However, these actions are still not enough, and with uncertainty about future funding, all programs are threatened.
While funds from the 2008 school facilities bond may only be used to improve facilities and purchase equipment and not programs, textbooks or teachers, the $1.2 million a year savings the District will receive from solar panels and savings from water and reduced maintenance costs can. It's one way the District can supplement funds, but it's still not enough.
Bove said the District has long and short-term strategies to alleviate its financial dilemma. One partial solution would be the passage of Measure B this spring, Measure B is a mail-in ballot that, if approved, would renew the current parcel tax at the same fixed rate of $98 per parcel for the same fixed term of six years and for the same purpose - funding teachers and classroom support staff. Ballots will be mailed to voters on April 5. Voters need to mail ballots back by April 28. Voter approval of Measure B will reduce the deficit to $5 million. Without the parcel tax, the $10.2 million deficit would mean the permanent loss of vital educational programs, Bove said.
Pointing to the importance of school performance to the success of real estate in the area, Bove asked SILVAR members to support the measure. "Our kids are the future of our nation and we want to do best by them," Bove said.
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Variations of this article have appeared in local area newspapers.
For further information, please contact Rose Meily at SILVAR Public Affairs, email , or phone (408) 200-0109.