Presented to the School Board 6-17-04 by the CEC. The board refused to consider the $200,000 savings, hiring 4 additional teachers and restoring Class Size Reductions to all Acton classes.
6-17-04 The Proposal
Keep Meadowlark’s Grades 4 and 5 at the Acton School
Reinstate Kindergarten and Grade 3 class size reduction
Retain approved 2004-5 boundaries to minimize impact
Acton’s grades 4-5 becomes a satellite of Meadowlark
The Benefits
Retains 20 or less class sizes in all of K-3
Employees several more teachers to improve the education quality
Three fewer modulars moved
Traffic reduced at Meadowlark
Makes academic use of an existing and almost unused campus
Moves classes from modular buildings to permanent rooms
Avoids environmental impact studies for Meadowlark
The Costs and the Savings
District Cost of about $20,000 to $30,000 per year to restore CSR above what the state CSR program provides for
One time savings of just over $100,000 in not moving three buildings and an unknown cost to add restrooms and improve playgrounds
Purchase the 15 eligible state emergency relocatables with the current budgeted rental fees for subsequent year savings of $60,000 per year
Net savings over five years of about $200,000
Optional Additions to this Plan
Hire one teacher for Acton that has administrative credentials
As each week passes, it is more and more likely that most of the Acton Elementary campus will be sitting vacant next year while our students and modulars are moved to an overcrowded Meadowlark campus.
Antelope Valley Community College (AVCC) had expressed an interest in 18 to 20 classrooms at the site, but found what it deemed a better location on Palmdale Boulevard. There also were concerns expressed by local community members regarding the parking and traffic that a satellite college campus would require. If this AVCC venture were successful, about 300-400 students at a time would have been on this Acton campus, requiring about 300-400 parking spaces. Several months ago the School Board rejected the idea of temporarily housing the Vasquez High School students at the Acton site during proposed construction of Vasquez. One of the primary issues in this decision was inadequate parking at the Acton campus. Vasquez students and staff require less than 200 parking spaces.
The idea of having a satellite college campus in our area seemed to be perceived by most members of the community as desirable. It would enable both our adult population and our high school students to enroll in local college classes. The concept is good and should not be abandoned because one community college rejected one of our sites. Both the Vasquez and High Desert campuses would look attractive to an evening college program. Although this would provide little, if any, cash flow to our district, it would still be an asset to our community. Local colleges in other districts use local school district campuses. We should continue to investigate and pursue this concept.
This proposal makes no changes to the board-approved plans at Agua Dulce, High Desert, and Vasquez High schools. Our K-8 plan for Agua Dulce, which would have restored full CSR to Agua Dulce, was placed on hold until the following year, so this proposal deals with Acton and Meadowlark schools only.
The highest and best use for the Acton School is to educate Acton students. Other possible uses that community members proposed at the 7-11 committee hearings included: a daycare, teen or senior center, boys/girls club, 4H, a charter home school program for AAD students, adult education programs or a non-public school. The only problem with any of these ideas is that no local organization has yet to step up to the plate with the money or a proposal.
The Board has filled Agua Dulce Elementary to capacity and Meadowlark will be filled to capacity and beyond. To add even more students they must add three additional modular classrooms. Moving these modulars from Acton to Meadowlark will cost the district over $100,000.
Some parents are threatening to not enroll their students in the district if CSR is not restored. Currently over 900 of the 2900 students reported on the US census in our district are not enrolled in our district.
Our district has plenty of empty classrooms, yet the current plan is to close a school and eliminate CSR in grades K and 3 (the class size is increasing from the current 20 to 30 students) to squeeze our elementary students into the remaining two schools. The state funds 80-90% of the teaching costs to implement K-3 class size reduction. About 4 additional teachers would be added to restore CSR in these grades at a net cost to the district, after receiving the added state CSR funds, of about $30-40,000 from the general fund.
How can we get the space to do this? Simply by using the permanent classrooms at the Acton School, since some of the district's alternative use proposals are to be continuing local district educational activities at the Acton School.
To restore CSR, we would retain the 4th and 5th grades at the Acton school. Keeping these grades at the Acton school will leave enough classrooms at Meadowlark for a K-3 school with class size reduction in all grades. No modulars need to be added to Meadowlark, which will save the district $100,000+. No added restrooms, play area facilities, or environmental studies are needed. The only added traffic would result from the third graders that would be added at Meadowlark. The administrative functions would be coordinated out of the Meadowlark campus with only minimal support staff required at Acton. This is very similar to the idea that Melissa Harnett proposed several months ago.
How could we pay for this? Our district has done such a good job of cost cutting that the district projects a 4.7% reserve for next year (the state only requires 3%). Not moving the three portables to Meadowlark will be a one-time savings of about $100,000 which the district is planning to spend from the reserve, along with any unknown savings from not needing new restrooms, play areas or environmental studies at Meadowlark. That $100,000 savings would more than pay the costs for CSR this coming year. If we buy the existing 15 emergency lease modulars (this purchase cost is one year’s rent and is already in the budget) that we have been renting for over 13 years, then the yearly savings of $60,000 in rent will fund CSR in subsequent years. The net savings to the district over 5 years is about $200, 000 over the existing district plan. If new students enroll or others return, we will have empty classrooms at Acton to accommodate them.
Is it too late to do this for 2004-5? No, this is a much smaller change than what is already planned. In our plan no modulars are moved to Meadowlark, the school boundaries stay where the administration approved them at Red Rover, and the 4th and 5th grades and the teachers that currently teach at Acton stay there, so really that’s no change. These students would be housed in permanent classrooms at Acton with enough room left over to accommodate one or more of the excellent community uses for the Acton School that many of our residents have suggested. The library, food services facilities and playgrounds remain in use at the Acton School for the 4th and 5th graders. Meadowlark would change from a K-2 school to a more conventional K-3 school and retain full class size reduction. This year’s 2nd graders would remain at Meadowlark for their third grade.
This is change that benefits the Acton Students, saves $200,000 over 5-year and has no effect on the other schools and should rally community support for the district.
This grade 4-5 concept was discussed in the Community Education Committee meeting on June 1st and was well received. It was formally presented to the CEC for review on June 8th. The CEC endorsed this proposal without objection and recommended that it be presented to the School Board at its 6-17-04 meeting.
Acton Agua Dulce Education Committee index
Acton Agua Dulce School District
Vanguard News Home page