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When the LA Unified Board of Education meets on Tuesday, the first gathering time since the summer break, Superintendent John Deasy and his staff will present options for hiring more teachers, counselors and other employees — complete with price tags.
“We will present for the board’s information the cost, for the year, of the some two dozen things the they wanted,” he told LA School Report. When asked what the cost would be, Deasy said: “It’s expensive.”
When the Board last met, in June, it voted 5-2 to direct the Superintendent to draw up plans to hire a slew of employees, with the goal of bringing student-to-teacher and student-to-counselor ratios back to levels that preceded the recent recession, which forced the Board to make draconian budget cuts.
Deasy made no secret that he was against the proposal, preferring to raise the pay for current teachers, but it passed anyway. And so on Tuesday, Deasy will present his options to hire additional employees, and the board will vote on them at its next meeting, scheduled September 10.
The Board’s relatively light agenda includes a few other noteworthy items, such as a vote on approving the $113 million budget, which reflects money from the state to help students, teachers and administrators transition to the Common Core curriculum. The budget includes, over the course of the next two years, $10 million for summer school and $24.4 million for professional development for English and math teachers.
A resolution by Tamar Galatzan to make sure individual school sites have greater control over how new revenue is spent was postponed by the Board in June. It has been postponed again, according to Tuesday’s agenda, which was released this week. Deasy previously indicated that at least some of the spending options he’ll present to the Board will incorporate the local spending idea.
Board member Bennett Kayser has long pushed for the board to prioritize projects in its spending plan. That resolution has been postponed a number of times and has again popped up on this week’s agenda.
A number of resolutions are set to be introduced, though not voted on until September, including one from Kayser and Steve Zimmer to restore funding to physical education, a program that was deeply cut during the recession.
Tuesday’s meeting will be the first for the board’s newest member, Monica Ratliff, as well as the first at which Richard Vladovic will preside as president.
Previous posts: Vladovic Defeats Galatzan for Board President; Marathon Board Meeting Signals Changes to Come; Conflicting Options at Tomorrow’s Board Meeting; Board to Consider Hiring, Formula Issues; Deasy Wants to Revamp Local School Funding Formula