Welcome to the State of the District Meeting organized by the Claremont Educational Foundation. We thank you for your commitment to Claremont schools. Our purpose tonight is to deliver information and, more importantly, to initiate a conversation with the community. We want to know what you value in education as we enter a very challenging period for our district.
It’s no secret that the last several years have been rough ones for California schools. Since 2007, state funding for education has been cut by more than
$5 billion. For Claremont, this means $4 millionless in state funds, with resulting teacher/staff layoffs, increased class sizes, and other reductions in services to students.
Recent proposals from Sacramento indicate that additional cuts of at least $3.4 million are imminent. While this number has not been set in stone, we have no reason to believe that the continuing cycle of cuts will end or that prior cuts will be restored.
These cuts have been very difficult for CUSD and its students, teachers and staff, especially because Claremont has always been known for its great schools. The high quality education provided here has helped to produce an educated workforce, maintain property values and create a vibrant and unique community. Over the years, the people of Claremont have time and again stepped forward to meet the financial challenges of public education, ranging from approval of a $75,000 bond in 1911 to build our first high school to the 2004 Save Our Schools (“SOS”) campaign, which raised more than $600,000 in response to threatened state budget.
The Claremont Educational Foundation organized the SOS campaign and each year supports public education in a number of ways. CEF, among other things, pays for music and art education, purchases computers for student use and gives college scholarships to deserving Claremont high school seniors. We do this by raising money each year from parents, teachers, staff, community members, businesses and other friends. Now, CEF and the community are being called upon to do more than ever before.
That is why we need your help. At this meeting you will hear CUSD Superintendent Terry Nichols speak about the current budget situation and CEF representatives explain how California school finance works. Then it will be your turn. What programs are most important to you? Have the past and impending budget cuts changed how we should use the funds we raise? What do you value the most in your child’s education? How can we best bridge the gap between the monies the state provides and the actual cost of providing a high quality and rich educational experience to every child? Please let us know what you think. |
