Deficit budgets, teacher turnover, military children, test results, and solar project progress all supplemented the agendized business of the Morongo Unified School District Board of Education, which was dispatched in slam-bang fashion at Tuesday night’s meeting. Dan Stork reports…
Morongo Unified School District Assistant Superintendent Sharon Flores presented the unaudited actual revenues and expenditures for the previous school year. Deficit spending reduced the unrestricted ending fund balance by about $4.5 million. This is better than earlier estimates, but Flores warned that deficit spending is not a desirable long term situation. Going forward, declining enrollment, technology acquisition, Common Core texts, and the Yucca Valley sewer system present financial challenges.
Morongo Teachers Association representative Terry Weitz asked why 50 teachers left the district this past year, 30 of them for purported “green pastures.” Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Doug Weller said that some left for easier commutes, and a state-wide and nation-wide shortage of teachers has produced a volatile teaching labor market in general.
Marine Corps liaison Tom Cruz briefed the Board on the Interstate Commission on Education Opportunity for Military Children, which seeks to smooth out the differences in enrollment, eligibility, placement, and graduation for military children.
Testing and assessment coordinator Jennifer Beasley said that District students matched state-wide results and exceeded San Bernardino County averages on the first-ever Common Core-oriented California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, as reported earlier on z1077.
Superintendent Tom Baumgarten acknowledged delays in solar implementation due to steel fabrication and inspection, and promised a project status update at the first October meeting of the board.
We asked Baumgarten for comment on a District parent’s public complaints about the treatment of her child. He told us that the District is continuing to work with the parent on an Individual Education Plan (IEP) for the student.
SCHOOL BOARD IN A SLAM-BANG SESSION LAST NIGHT
