Ten million dollars was cut from Ventura Unified School District last year and more losses could be seen after this year. Class size reduction has already been disgarded. Many teachers have been laid off in the process of trying to make ends meet.
According to Principal Joe Bova, 174 classes in the district have 40 students or more, and 88 percent of the district’s middle and high school students have at least one class with more than 40 students.
Two furlough days, essentially a pay cut for teachers, were established for the present school year. “This number could potentially increase to four furlough [days], and the following year, eight furlough days,” Bova said.
In order to stop these cuts from occurring, Measure H, a local school parcel tax measure, has been voted by the Board of Trustees to appear on the upcoming November 2 ballot.
If passed, Measure H will add a tax of eight dollars per month on city property owners. This will bring $4.5 million to VUSD over a time span of four years.
“Three billion dollars has [sic] been taken away from the K-12 education budget,” noted Steve Boyd, Foothill’s veteran counselor. “Measure H won’t cover all of the money VUSD has lost, but it will certainly help.”
From what administrators have been told, if Measure H does not pass, harder impacts will be felt by the beginning of the next school year.
“This doesn’t mean that the district will have to make adjustments mid year. But if the final budget comes through, and it’s worse that they thought, mid-year changes may have to be made,” Bova acknowledged.
Trudy Arriaga, the Superintendent of Ventura Unified School District, asked each school to have an emergency meeting to discuss the impending changes.
Foothill’s meeting will gather all staff on Tuesday at 3 p.m., in the media center.
“The reason for the meeting is to share information with the staff that was shared with the principals by the superintendent and cuts that could happen unless we find a way to increase revenue to the school district,” Bova said.
Boyd is the site representative of Ventura Unified Education Association for Foothill. The VUEA supports Measure H and provides labor and financial donations to the Yes on Measure H campaign.
VUEA is asking teachers to donate $16 over two months to help finance the campaign.
“From the perspective of the district, the people hit the hardest [by the budget cuts] will be the students,” Bova added. Just how the students will be “hit” will be discussed in more detail at Tuesday’s faculty meeting.
