Torrey Pines High School Aquatic Center Approved to Begin Construction
2024-25 Budget Shows Continued Deficit Spending
New Policies Approved Regarding Instructional Materials and the Director of Community Relations and Outreach (Ombudsman)
The San Dieguito Union High School District held a regularly scheduled Board Meeting on June 13, 2024.
Torrey Pines High School Aquatic Center Approved to Begin Construction
The big news from the meeting is the Board authorization to sign a contract to construct an Aquatics Center at Torrey Pines. Construction will begin this summer, and I will provide an estimated “swim-in” date later this year.
This project includes a large pool, a pool deck, locker rooms, viewing bleachers, and more. It will clearly be a “signature asset” in our school district, and something we can all look to with pride. Aquatics families have been waiting for our first pool for literally decades and through generations, and I am absolutely thrilled that we cleared the final hurdle and can begin construction.
The final Board vote to approve the signing of the construction contract was 4-1, with Trustee Katrina Young the lone dissenting vote.
2024-25 Budget Shows Continued Deficit Spending
The Administration presented the proposed budget for the 2024-2025 school year, and a multi-year outlook for the following two school years. State law requires that the budget be presented in one meeting, and then approved at another meeting, which will be June 20th.
The proposed budget continues our recent trend of deficit spending, which is troubling.
For the year ending this June 30, our deficit will likely approach $10 million on a total budget of about $200 million. This loss comes out of our reserves (savings) and puts us well below our reserve targets. The forecast for the coming three years indicates that we will likely be in deficit spending for the foreseeable future, although not as large as last year’s deficits.
Two things will work in our favor financially. First, we have declining enrollment of about 2% per year. As the number of students decline, our need for staff should fall as well. This is a small impact but is definitely a trend.
The second and much more important factor is that we will become what is known as a “community funded” district. Very simply stated, the State of California determines how much money each school district is entitled to receive based on a complicated formula driven mostly by attendance and certain student demographics. Each school district then uses its property taxes for school funding, and the state makes up any shortfall to each district so they obtain their full funding entitlement.
However, if a district’s property taxes exceed the state determined funding level, they do not give money back to the state. It just becomes “extra” money for the district. About 10% of the 1,000 public school districts in California are in this “community funded” category where local property taxes exceed the state-determined funding requirements.
Next year our district will become community funded, because our property taxes will be about $5 million more than what the state says we need. This will help us meet our financial obligations. But even with this extra funding, we still won’t have a balanced budget.
New Policies Approved Regarding Instructional Materials and the Director of Community Relations and Outreach (Ombudsman)
Other than the surprising “no” vote on the Torrey Pines pool, the only other somewhat contentious discussion centered around how parents and community members can complain about instructional materials used in the classroom.
The proposed policies require that all complaints be signed by a community member. The district will not accept anonymous complaints regarding potentially objectional instructional materials. I disagree with this because it ignores the very real concerns parents have over the possible ramifications of lodging a complaint.
In my time on the Board, I have had numerous instances where parents have reached out to me about issues that they were uncomfortable stating publicly. Although it is certainly better if an issue can be addressed directly with the complainant, I completely understand a desire to remain anonymous in some cases. After all, we have anonymous “tip lines” for safety concerns. Our legal system allows for “John Doe” and “Jane Doe” plaintiffs when anonymity is important. Yet our district will not allow anonymous complaints.
Of course, some complaints cannot be anonymous. Complaints about bullying are hard to investigate if you don’t know who is being bullied. But it is easy to investigate complaints about instructional materials. All the administration must do is look at what is being taught. It doesn’t require that you know who is complaining – that has no bearing on what instructional materials are used and if they are appropriate.
Two examples come to mind. Recently, a parent complained that in an English class their child was forced to watch the music video “This is America” by rap artist Childish Gambino. In this case the complaint was not anonymous, and the Superintendent conducted a quick investigation and determined that the video was inappropriate for that class, and it was immediately removed. This video was shown several times in the past, but no official complaints were lodged that I know of. Either parents didn’t know that the video was shown in class, or if they did know they chose not to publicly complain for some other reason.
A second example is the picture of Adolph Hitler posted in a middle school classroom on a “leadership board” that contained pictures of 20th century luminaries such as Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr., Winston Churchill, and John F. Kennedy, among others. This greatly upset a student. A strong parent publicly complained, and the photograph was promptly removed. Again, how many parents knew about the posted photo? Of those that knew and were concerned, how many did not complain because they did not want to be public?
My point is that the district absolutely does not need to know the name of the complainant to investigate what is happening in a specific classroom. They only need look at what is being taught and make a decision. To require a parent’s or student’s name is unnecessary. I know several instances where parents have approached me for help, but because they wanted to remain anonymous, the complaint was not investigated.
The Board voted on requiring the name of the complainant before conducting an investigation. This motion passed by a vote of 3-2, with Trustee Phan Anderson and me as the two dissenting votes. Anonymous complaints will therefore not be investigated.
In addition, the Board also discussed the process for approving all instructional materials. By law, all instructional materials must be adopted by the local school board. This helps ensure transparency, accountability, and appropriateness of material.
The board then voted to delegate the legal requirement for Board adoption of certain instructional materials to the administration without obtaining input from the Board. This passed 3-2, again with Trustee Phan Anderson and me as the two dissenting votes.
This brings me to the Director of Community Relations and Outreach, also known as the Ombudsman. As many of you know, the ombudsman works for the District, but acts as a parent and student advocate when issues arise. They can help parents navigate what can sometimes be complicated and difficult school issues, often confidentially. If managed correctly, an Ombudsman will improve satisfaction with our key constituents – parents and students – and allow the Superintendent and their staff to focus on improving the culture and performance of our district. Since our district will not allow anonymous complaints, I am hopeful that parents and students will be comfortable bringing issues to this Director and she will keep their name(s) confidential.
This month we have two Board meetings, so we meet the legal requirement that we first present, and then separately approve, the budget. The next meeting will be this coming Thursday, June 20th.